For Immediate Release:
October 13, 2021
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Newberry, Mich. â The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has just filed a formal complaintâwhich could result in fines and/or license suspension or revocationâagainst Oswaldâs Bear Ranch over an incident in which two bear cubs escaped from their enclosures, leading to one of them being shot and killed, among other concerns. The roadside zooâs owner, Dean Oswald, provided false information about the cubsâ escapes, which the USDA argued was evidence that he had ânot shown good faith.â The USDAâs action comes after PETA uncovered Oswaldâs lies from public records and urged the agency to investigate the matter.
The cubs escaped from Oswaldâs Bear Ranch during a power outage on April 12, 2019. One was quickly recovered, but the otherânamed Sophieâwas shot and killed when she was found three days later ripping screen windows off a neighborâs home and climbing onto his car. Oswald lied to USDA officials regarding when the bears had escaped and how long they had been at large, claiming that the power outage lasted until April 15, the day that Sophie was found. The agency later determined that the outage ended on April 12.
âThe bears suffer greatly at Dean Oswaldâs dishonest, dysfunctional operation, and the government is doing something about it,â says PETA Foundation Deputy General Counsel for Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet. âPETA urges the USDA to hold exhibitorsâ feet to the fire and asks the public to do its part by avoiding facilities that exploit baby animals for profit.â
PETA notes that Oswaldâs Bear Ranch regularly misleads the public by marketing itself as a rescue facility despite having bred 13 cubs in the past 25 years and purchased or acquired 77 more from dealers, including at least a dozen bears in the past three years alone, for use in photo ops.
The USDAâs formal complaint also alleges that Oswaldâs Bear Ranch violated the federal Animal Welfare Act by feeding bears unhealthy and inappropriate food, including ârestaurant scraps, donated meat, produce and dog food.â PETA previously alerted the agency to this issue as well.
PETAâwhose motto reads, in part, that âanimals are not ours to use for entertainmentââopposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on the groupâs newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
Source: Peta.org