OMAHA ACTIVISTS: Your Help Urgently Needed
As you may have heard, a bear recently escaped from Kipling’s Animal Refuge in Omaha. It is not uncommon for exotic animals to escape from backyard menageries masquerading as rescue facilities or sanctuaries, as the enclosures for the animals are often unsafe and inadequate. This bear was recaptured before the animal or any humans were injured. Such is not the case in many other instances; bears kept in substandard captive situations have attacked and seriously injured, even killed, several people.
It appears as if the operator of Kipling’s Animal Refuge keeps this bear (and possibly other animals) without the required permit to do so. Please send a letter or e-mail to the Wildlife Division Administrator of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to ask that the facility be inspected and, if animals are being kept illegally, that the operator be charged and prosecuted appropriately. Letters and e-mails should be polite and brief:
Jim Douglas
Wildlife Division Administrator
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
2200 N. 33rd St.
Lincoln, NE 68503
jdouglas@ngpc.state.ne.us
Because Nebraska's state law regulating the private ownership of wild animals contains loopholes and may not be adequately enforced, it is important that Omaha enact an outright ban on the possession of exotic and dangerous animals. We have asked the Omaha City Council to help ensure that other potentially deadly incidents don’t occur by passing such a ban. We need your help. The council needs to know that local residents understand the dangers that keeping exotic animals poses and recognize that animals suffer when stuck in a cage and deprived of everything that is natural to them.
Exotic animals like primates, big cats, reptiles, and bears are often acquired on a whim by individuals with little or no knowledge of their care. As a result, the animals often end up suffering from malnutrition, an unsuitable environment, loneliness, mutilation, and the stress of confinement. Many animals are discarded after their novelty wears thin and may end up as curiosity displays in roadside or traveling “attractions,” set lose in the naïve hope that they will be able to fend for themselves, sent to hunting ranches or laboratories, or “recycled” back into the pet trade.
Please tell the city council members that this is no life for any animal and that many states and localities already prohibit the private possession of exotic animals due to the safety risks these animals pose to humans. Point out that many bears, big cats, reptiles, primates and other dangerous animals have bitten, scratched, attacked and mauled their handlers or bystanders and that many people, including children, have been killed by exotic animals. Zoonosis, or animal to human disease transmission, is also a serious problem associated with exotic animals. For more information, please visit www.wildlifepimps.com.
Please call, write, or better yet, set up an appointment with the city council member that represents your district. You can find names and district locations of, and contact information for, each city council member at http://www.ci.omaha.ne.us/departments/city_council/default.htm.
As you may have heard, a bear recently escaped from Kipling’s Animal Refuge in Omaha. It is not uncommon for exotic animals to escape from backyard menageries masquerading as rescue facilities or sanctuaries, as the enclosures for the animals are often unsafe and inadequate. This bear was recaptured before the animal or any humans were injured. Such is not the case in many other instances; bears kept in substandard captive situations have attacked and seriously injured, even killed, several people.
It appears as if the operator of Kipling’s Animal Refuge keeps this bear (and possibly other animals) without the required permit to do so. Please send a letter or e-mail to the Wildlife Division Administrator of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to ask that the facility be inspected and, if animals are being kept illegally, that the operator be charged and prosecuted appropriately. Letters and e-mails should be polite and brief:
Jim Douglas
Wildlife Division Administrator
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
2200 N. 33rd St.
Lincoln, NE 68503
jdouglas@ngpc.state.ne.us
Because Nebraska's state law regulating the private ownership of wild animals contains loopholes and may not be adequately enforced, it is important that Omaha enact an outright ban on the possession of exotic and dangerous animals. We have asked the Omaha City Council to help ensure that other potentially deadly incidents don’t occur by passing such a ban. We need your help. The council needs to know that local residents understand the dangers that keeping exotic animals poses and recognize that animals suffer when stuck in a cage and deprived of everything that is natural to them.
Exotic animals like primates, big cats, reptiles, and bears are often acquired on a whim by individuals with little or no knowledge of their care. As a result, the animals often end up suffering from malnutrition, an unsuitable environment, loneliness, mutilation, and the stress of confinement. Many animals are discarded after their novelty wears thin and may end up as curiosity displays in roadside or traveling “attractions,” set lose in the naïve hope that they will be able to fend for themselves, sent to hunting ranches or laboratories, or “recycled” back into the pet trade.
Please tell the city council members that this is no life for any animal and that many states and localities already prohibit the private possession of exotic animals due to the safety risks these animals pose to humans. Point out that many bears, big cats, reptiles, primates and other dangerous animals have bitten, scratched, attacked and mauled their handlers or bystanders and that many people, including children, have been killed by exotic animals. Zoonosis, or animal to human disease transmission, is also a serious problem associated with exotic animals. For more information, please visit www.wildlifepimps.com.
Please call, write, or better yet, set up an appointment with the city council member that represents your district. You can find names and district locations of, and contact information for, each city council member at http://www.ci.omaha.ne.us/departments/city_council/default.htm.
posted by kelly at
2:23 PM
