End Animal Cruelty at Papanack Zoo

By Pedram Afshar

Target: Connie Mallory, Chief Inspector, Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Goal: Stop improper treatment and cruelty of the animals captive at Papanack Zoo

In Papanack Zoo near Ottawa in Ontario, Canada, hundreds of animals are suffering from improper care and mistreatment.  Former employees of the zoo have been trying to bring attention to this problem in an effort to have the zoo closed. According to these employees, the animals at the zoo suffer horrendous living conditions and often die as a result. Either the conditions at Papanack must greatly improve or the zoo must be shut down and the animals rescued.

A recent thread on Reddit by user businessninja9 highlighted the mistreatment of the Papanack animals. The graphic images depict badger cages full of feces, bears unable to hibernate well into February due to frigid temperatures and excessive light, tigers forced to eat frozen turkey without drinking water, dead animals fed to tigers to dispose of their bodies, and a general sense of squalor and neglect pervading the zoo. And while regulation of exotic animals in Ontario is relatively lax, many of these atrocities are in fact in violation of the few scant regulations that do exist.  Worse, this problem has been persisting for some time.

As Zoo Check Canada reported in 2011, the situation at Papanack is not a recent phenomenon. At the time, Zoo Check issued a report on the state of six zoos across Ontario of which Papanack was one. In the report Zoo Check identifies several concerns with regards to the safety of the animals and of the visitors. Shoddy construction is evident throughout the zoo, which may have been the cause of an escaped tiger in 2005. The poor construction also allows the large cats in different pens to attack one another. The animal cruelty and safety risks and Papanack Zoo are intolerable and must be stopped. Sign the petition below to demand they either improve conditions at Papanack Zoo or shut it down altogether.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear Chief Inspector Connie Mallory,

The current state of animal care and treatment at Papanack Zoo is unacceptable. The animals that are captive there are subject to what amounts to torture. Animals are kept captive in cages filled with their own feces, fed other animal’s corpses, held without drinking water and poorly secured from one another and the public. Many of these conditions are in direct violation of regulations concerning the keeping and treatment of exotic animals in Ontario.

This situation has been an ongoing problem for nearly a decade. Zoo Check Canada reported on the safety risks associated with the conditions at Papanack in 2011. Moreover, former employees of the zoo have come forward to shed light on the treatment of the animals. Their goal is to see the zoo closed. Given the state of Papanack, vast improvements need to be made or the zoo does in fact need to be shut down.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo credit: greenowl via imgur