News
ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUP DECRIES ZOO APPROVALS; THREE AREA ZOOS WERE CLEARED DESPITE VIOLATIONS, THE GROUP CHARGED.
The London Free Press
Wednesday, September 6, 2006
Page: B4
Section: City & Region
Byline: BY RANDY RICHMOND, LONDON FREE PRESS
Angry animal rights activists will appeal to politicians after a Ministry of Natural Resources investigation found nothing wrong with conditions at three area zoos.
"Clearly the Ministry of Natural Resources is not following its own regulations," Melissa Tkachyk, campaigns officer for the World Society for the Protection of Animals, said yesterday.
"I am shocked."
The ministry's own regulations require zoos to keep animals in enclosures that allow them to "exercise natural behaviours" and "achieve a full range of body movements and physical movements normally performed," she said.
Yet the ministry found nothing wrong with wild animals held in tiny enclosures without room to run, with next to no privacy and little protection from the elements, Tkachyk said.
Ministry spokesperson Melanie Dufresne confirmed inspectors had checked out conditions at Lickety Split Ranch and Zoo in London, Greenview Aviaries Park and Zoo in Ridgetown and Pineridge Zoo in Grand Bend. The inspectors found the zoos met standards, she said.
A letter from the ministry to the animal rights group dated Aug. 29 said "no violations of the current condition relating to animal enclosures were identified."
The owner of Lickety Split said she wasn't surprised the investigation cleared the operation. "I wasn't thinking there was anything wrong," Shirley McElroy said.
The ministry conducts regular inspections, she said.
"It's just the animal rights groups playing their little games."
Lickety Split, Greenview and Pineridge were inspected by the animal rights group, which says it represents more than 660 humane societies and animal rights groups.
In June, the group submitted a 10-page complaint to the ministry about the three zoos.
For example, at Lickety Split, a fox was held in a small cage.
"This animal clearly has no room to run," Tkachyk said at a news conference yesterday, pointing at a large photograph of the fox. "It was baking in the sun. It is a nocturnal species and is in an open exhibit with just a dog carrier as a shelter."
At Greenview, bobcats, lynx and a cougar were also held in small enclosures with no room to roam, Tkachyk said. Three albino raccoons were kept underneath a busy staircase in an enclosure that appeared poorly cleaned, she said.
At Pineridge, "we saw cages unlocked, barriers not adequate," Tkachyk said.
Besides the stress on animals, "it doesn't seem as if the Ministry of Natural Resources is at all concerned about public safety," Tkachyk said.
"I am surprised because these are the worst examples. If the ministry does not care about these, what hope is there at the other 45 roadside zoos in Ontario?"
The group will appeal to Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay and MPPs for help, Tkachyk said.
The MNR thinks a fox in a box is an appropriate environment for
Ontario’s wildlife.
There are no rules for keeping exotic animals like this kangaroo
in captivity.
|
News 
