Tiger Attacks G.W. Zoo Worker

Update:
A G.W. zoo worker was reportedly attacked
by a tiger on Saturday after putting her arm inside the tiger’s cage. She was injured
so severely that she nearly lost the arm. The zoo’s operator, Joe Schreibvogel,
blamed the worker, saying that it was “her fault” and that there was “no other way of avoiding this other than handcuffing my
employees’ hands behind their backs.” This is not
the first time that one of the frustrated big cats at G.W. zoo has lashed out: Numerous
visitors have been injured, and Schreibvogel himself was bitten on the hand by
a cougar in 2002, nearly severing his thumb and a finger. PETA has filed a
complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture urging it to
investigate the latest attack.

Originally
posted September 27, 2013:

The
name may have changed, but The Garold Wayne Interactive Zoological Park,
formerly known as G.W. Exotic Animal Park, is still up to the same old
tricks—abusing animals. And PETA is still fighting to shut this hellhole down.

We’ve
called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to refuse to renew the
Oklahoma menagerie’s Animal Welfare Act license, citing the facility’s long
history of animal-care violations, including the recent deaths of two tiger
cubs born at the facility as well as the deaths of nearly two dozen other tiger
cubs in a seven-month period. Joe Schreibvogel, who holds the license
authorizing G.W. to exhibit animals, has also incurred enormous debts, totaling
between $1 million and $10 million, which inhibit his ability to care properly
for the more than 100 big cats and other animals at the facility.

PETA
conducted an undercover investigation at the roadside zoo back in 2006 and documented
horrific neglect and abuse, including dead, dying, and injured
animals; extremely crowded conditions; a serious lack of basic necessities,
such as food, water, and veterinary care; inadequate cages; and untrained and
insufficient staff, who were intentionally cruel to numerous animals. We
documented the following abuses, among others:

• Animals
  were routinely hit, kicked, sprayed with cold water, struck with rakes and
  shovels, and blasted with fire extinguishers to break up frequent fights.
• Incompatible
  animals were not separated, and many were seriously injured from fighting with
  one another.
• In
  one gruesome attack, a lion named Julie’s front leg was torn off and eaten by
  two tigers. She ripped out the stitches in her stump and was given nothing for
  the pain.
• Two
  healthy adult tigers were killed, and their teeth were reportedly cut out to be
  given away as gifts.
• Animals
  frequently escaped because of inadequate cages and careless personnel.
• Two
  badly injured horses in excruciating pain, including one formerly used for
  racing who had a broken leg, were dumped at the zoo, and staff let them suffer
  for days before they were butchered.
• Lit
  cigarettes and cigars were given to primates.
• Lion
  and tiger cubs born at the facility were typically removed from their mothers
  immediately after birth and then were often declawed—a practice that the USDA
  has now banned—and taken on the road.
• Employees
  were instructed to falsify paperwork required by the USDA regarding animal
  feeding schedules as well as environmental enrichment for primates.
• The
  “contingency plan” for escaped animals during storms was to shoot to
  kill.

PETA’s
investigator witnessed this litany of horrors just one month after Schreibvogel’s
license was suspended for 18 months and he was fined $25,000 as a result of
more than 197 Animal Welfare Act violations.

What You Can Do

Please
join PETA in contacting the USDA, and ask that
the agency not renew G.W.’s federal license.