Caged for Life

For exotic animals in roadside zoos, life’s not easy

By: Jacob Harris

You may have passed by it while driving to Murphy or Blairsville. Across from the Foster’s Flea Market, sits the King Kong  Zoo. A place where exotic animals are kept in captivity to draw a few bucks from curious tourists. Here the animals are crammed into a space hardly big enough to turn around in.

They are kept in unsightly, inadequate conditions where they suffer countless problems, including abuse, neglect, malnutrition, incompatible social pairings, unfitting climate, and lack of veterinary care.

With little or no opportunity for mental stimulation or physical activity, animals often become dejected and develop abnormal and self-destructive behaviors, known as zoochosis. These behavioral distresses include but are not limited to swaying, rocking, pacing, bar-biting, pulling out hair, and biting themselves.

There are thousands of below par exotic animal attractions across the U.S, spanning from so called “sanctuaries”, backyard menageries, and roadside zoos. They claim to be rescue, conservation, or rescue facilities, but in reality these roadside zoos are among the worst abusers of captive exotic, rare, and endangered species. Still over the past 30 years, the private zoo business has skyrocketed.

These profit-hungry zoo operators have attempted to clean up the corrupt image associated with roadside zoos, by proclaiming themselves as “conservationist.”

About the only thing people learn from these exhibitors is how animals behave in captivity, and a grudging acceptance of how wild animals are able to survive in bored, cramped, lonely conditions where they are kept far from their natural environment.

Then too, the public is misled by a show of meaningless certifications such as “federally licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture”.

While federal permits are required to exhibit, breed, or sell exotic animals, it appears they will be issued to anyone who pays a minimal fee and fills out a half page questionnaire that consists of your name, address, and and an animal inventory. Nothing is asked of the owner’s qualifications. While the USDA enforces the Animal Welfare Act, their standards are minimal, rarely addressing an animal’s psychological needs.

At King Kong Zoo, I was completely in awe by the large number of wild and exotic animals. I was appalled by their living conditions.

Almost every animal there was enclosed in a space by themselves, with the exception of the lions and tigers which were paired by twos for apparent breeding purposes. I found no cubs in the zoo, although

I have been told there were cubs there last year. Is it possible the cubs have been sold for thousands of dollars.

I am told that sometime these animals bring more money dead than alive for their hides. While the process of killing them is unethical and unlawful, a practice sometimes used to avoid damaging pelts, animals are killed by shoving ice picks through their ears and into their brains or suffocating them by wrapping plastic bags around their heads, and drowning them. I’m not accusing the local zoo of this behavior, but it seems suspicious that there have been several cubs born in the zoo, and now they are no where to be found.

During my visit, of the eight large cats I saw, only one was up pacing back and forth against the bars of its enclosure. The others were lying down seemingly exhausted and bored. Of the two bears at the zoo, one of them, an Asiatic Black bear, and the other, a neurotic brown bear, continuously paced back and forth pawing in the corners as if trying to get out. How exhausting that must be?

My greatest concern was for the Chimpanzee. I was shocked to see this human-like primate in such a small zoo. He was named Archie and lived alone in his small cage. His sad eyes and lack of hair down the front of both his arms suggested that he had been pulling out his arm hair, perhaps due to boredom and frustration. I am told this is a fairly common neurotic behavior in captive primates living alone in stressful environments.

Before leaving the zoo, I briefly stepped into the Reptile Room to glance at the smaller creatures. What I found was not only a room full of rare and dangerous reptiles, but an open door to the back room apparently for access the animal tanks. After taking a closer look I found that not only had this door been open, but it was accessible for children to browse about with the Tarantulas and Boas. There was no lock on the door to keep out children or even some curious adults.

Since September, 2007 the King Kong Zoo has undergone four USDA inspections, these inspections were minimal due to the lack of regulations, as well as, insufficient inspectors across the U.S. There are only 100 USDA exhibit inspectors for approximately 10,000 roadside zoos across the nation.