USDA penalizes Catskill zoo for animal welfare violations

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Times Union

By J.p. Lawrence

Cramped cages, deteriorating fences and sad chimpanzees. That's what Catskill resident Harry Matthews said he saw when visited the Bailiwick Ranch and Animal Park.

"It was not a happy sight to see," Matthews said. "The cages were really flimsy and didn't look like they were being taken care of."

Visits to the Catskill zoo by Times Union reporters found animals with open wounds and rusty and feces-filled enclosures. Federal inspectors have put the heat on the family-run zoo, which has enclosures an expert believes may lead to injury or to an animal escaping.

In July, Bailiwick was fined $1,350 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture after the zoo "failed to maintain housing facilities in good repair to protect the animals from injury and to contain them."

FULL story at link.


IMAGE 7 OF 17 Bailiwick Ranch and Animal Park. (Era Bushati/Times Union)

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-local/article/USDA-penalizes-Catskill-zoo-for-animal-welfare-9147003.php#photo-10766811

[TygrBright]

1. Link's subscriber-only. n/t

[secondwind]

2. I really hate zoos, especially the family-run zoos... they don't really care about the animals - we

visited an "Animal Sanctuary" here in northern Florida, and we were appalled at the condition of the cages, the lions were in cages that were too small, etc. there were foxes [why do they need to be in a sanctuary?], tigers, etc.. all very sad looking... I learned that they get fed twice a week, and that the other days of the week the place isn't even open.. so they just sit around in their cages, looking out and not hearing a voice or a sound.. it was very despairing... This place was also a privately-owned "sanctuary"...

[lonestarnot]

4. Did you report on your way out to something that would do something?

[benld74]

3. Need to have authority to SHUT them down! take the animals to distribute just like Humane Society

[Judi Lynn]

5. Thank goodness someone who cares finally discovered these helpless, innocent animals. n/t