Irene’s Rant
It has been nearly a month now since we have been forced to shut our doors to the public. At first it was a difficult adjustment, but we are getting used to it…in fact we have even found a few advantages.
Although we miss the interaction with the visiting public, we find that getting our daily chores done is not under time restraints anymore. We no longer have to hurry and get the jobs done before the crowd arrives.
My kids have been enjoying the hot weather and in fact were able to run around our yard and even into the zoo butt naked. There was no one to care, no one to judge. Kind of nice actually. I felt envious of them really.
We have much more family time. As the women of the house, I think I am probably the only one who notices or cares.
But it also gives us lots of time to contemplate the injustice we have been subjected to. For instance, it seems odd to me that in the two months up to the date they shut our doors to the public we were subjected to 9 inspections from various departments of the Alberta government including Fish and Wildlife, ASPCA, Alberta Health Authority and Sustainable Resources and Development to name a few; and not one gave us a report indicating we had violations, infractions or deficiencies. Then, one inspection was done by an out of province agency and BOOM. We were shut down, declared unsafe for animals and people and suddenly a disease risk for everything living thing on the planet.
Wow. Boggles the mind doesn’t it.
Lynn, Bill and I shake our heads at these so called animal lovers who pressured the government to close our doors. What did they REALLY think would happen to the animals? They have no idea what it is like finding homes for exotics. They think you just ship them away to a rescue or sanctuary like it is as easy as finding a home for a house cat. Well, we all know about the million of house cats in shelters all over North America waiting to either be adopted or euthanized. If homes can’t be found for all the common felines, where do these people get off thinking there will always be homes available to lions and tigers and cougars?
We have a snow macaque, a adolescent male who can’t be housed with his troop because he could breed with his mom. So we have been hoping to re-home him to another place where he can have a troop to live with…however…we have been looking for a home for him for three years. No one will have him. We even approached ZooCheck to help us find him a home and they indicated they wouldn’t. That is just one example. Tigers can’t be shipped spur of the moment down to the USA because of CITES, the same for any of the endangered animals housed here. Bears on the other hand are a dime a dozen. There are hundreds of orphaned bears each year and any zoo who wants bears can easily acquire one. That was how we got our bears. But zoo are up to their ears with bears. There is no place for our bears to go. The same can be said for our raccoons, coyotes, foxes and wolves.
If there are any animal lovers who are reading this then this is for you; the solution is not closing places like ours down, the solution is creating more zoos and sanctuaries to house orphaned wildlife, or unwanted exotic animals.
Of course our animals here are properly taken care of, but if you are of the mind that we are not doing it right; for the sake of the animals you shouldn’t be trying to close us down. You should come here, get involved and share your ideals of how you would like to see these animals cared for. What difference if the animals live behind bars here or you send them to some place to live behind bars somewhere else? They are still behind bars, they are still in cages and they are still captive animals being used for public display.
The world needs more animal sanctuaries, not, in our case, one less.
Just my rant.
Irene
Comment Rules
GuZoo Related Links
16 comments:
You and your family have been dealt a terrible injustice. Please know that the Guzoo is in our prayers. To fight the system takes courage, determination and money. I can't fault anyone who would give up facing Goliath. But, please if you think you can, you do it for everyone even the animal rights people who would throw our civil rights in the garbage. Most of them can't even draw this connection. Bless you and your family.
Good job Irene! Well said!
I hope these people get a brain and understand that they their actions are not helping, but harming these animal.
I hope you can get this published in your local news paper as an article.
God bless you and Guzoo!
Syed
Not really been following this story, but if as you say, your animals are properly cared for, then why are you being closed down?
We don't know why we have been shut down. The government never gave us a reason, written or verbal as to why they shut our doors.
It's not really true that you don't know why you were shut down. You have lists of deficiencies dating back to the inception of the Zoo Standards, and complaints long before that. Lynn was shown on TV with the 60 day decommissioning order in his hand, so it's also a lie that you never received a written notice.
You know that there are homes for all of the animals, even those whose overpopulation you have contributed to by irresponsibly breeding. These include the big cats and the bears. You are lying when you say they have nowhere to go.
Neutered animals don't breed with their mothers. A couple of hundred bucks could have saved that snow macaque from the solitary existence that ultimately drove it insane.
It's a blatant falsehood to say that Zoocheck declined to help re-home that macaque. The truth is Guzoo declined Zoocheck's offer because it asked for a commitment that the macaque not be replaced. A completely reasonable request under the circumstances.
Your animals are not properly taken care of and they never have been. Guzoo has never had the staff, the expertise, the money, or, most importantly the desire to properly care for its animals, and all of the volunteer cage-cleaning brigades in the world won't change that. That's why I don't go out and help.
It's a lie to call Guzoo a sanctuary. Sanctuaries do not breed and sell already overpopulated animals. They are not generally open to the public with no supervision, they don't keep their animals in tiny cages with no enrichment. They are not operated by misguided, arrogant people who feel that animals were put here for hem to do as they please with.
I know you have no shame, but you should be ashamed of yourself for the way you treat and think of those animals, for the way you rob of them of their dignity, and for the people you dupe into believing you care for the animals. You should lie awake at night.
We agree on one thing: that the world needs more sanctuaries. And if every roadside hell-hole like Guzoo could be replaced with one, that would be a great start.
It's not really true that you don't know why you were shut down. You have lists of deficiencies dating back to the inception of the Zoo Standards, and complaints long before that. Lynn was shown on TV with the 60 day decommissioning order in his hand, so it's also a lie that you never received a written notice.
You know that there are homes for all of the animals, even those whose overpopulation you have contributed to by irresponsibly breeding. These include the big cats and the bears. You are lying when you say they have nowhere to go.
Neutered animals don't breed with their mothers. A couple of hundred bucks could have saved that snow macaque from the solitary existence that ultimately drove it insane.
It's a blatant falsehood to say that Zoocheck declined to help re-home that macaque. The truth is Guzoo declined Zoocheck's offer because it asked for a commitment that the macaque not be replaced. A completely reasonable request under the circumstances.
Your animals are not properly taken care of and they never have been. Guzoo has never had the staff, the expertise, the money, or, most importantly the desire to properly care for its animals, and all of the volunteer cage-cleaning brigades in the world won't change that. That's why I don't go out and help.
It's a lie to call Guzoo a sanctuary. Sanctuaries do not breed and sell already overpopulated animals. They are not generally open to the public with no supervision, they don't keep their animals in tiny cages with no enrichment. They are not operated by misguided, arrogant people who feel that animals were put here for hem to do as they please with.
I know you have no shame, but you should be ashamed of yourself for the way you treat and think of those animals, for the way you rob of them of their dignity, and for the people you dupe into believing you care for the animals. You should lie awake at night.
We agree on one thing: that the world needs more sanctuaries. And if every roadside hell-hole like Guzoo could be replaced with one, that would be a great start.
I'd really like to leave this comment under my own name, but in your cowardice and refusal to believe that you have been wrong, it seems to have blocked.
I posted your comment out of good faith, just so I can address you comments.
Yes we were given a written decommission order, but we have NEVER been given a reason for the order. No letter of explanation was ever presented indicating why a decommission decision was made or why we were no longer to allow visitors to our facility.
I have not been made aware of facilities who can take our cats and bears. I did receive one email from a fellow in Texas who offered to take our male lion. You may or may not know that Texas is renowned for its hunt farms. But I might ad he didn’t offer to pay for our lion, he just assumed we were giving our animals away. Are the facilities that you have in mind for our cats and bears prepared to pay for them, or do they also expect us to just give them away? These animals are worth money, we invested a lot into them, and we have the right to sell these animals to feed our own family and pay our living expenses.
You suggest neutering our macaque and placing him in his troop? That’s shows complete lack of understanding of animal behaviour on your part. For instance, using an example that is more familiar to many people, a gelded horse would never be put into a pasture with mares and a stallion. Why? The stallion will recognise the gelding as a rival male and a threat to his harem. The stallion will kick the snot out of the gelding because, as a male horse without hormones, he has lost the will to fight and can’t properly defend himself.
You put a neutered primate in with a troop and the dominate male will tear him apart. That certainly wouldn’t be acceptable.
Zoocheck is an artist when it comes to public appearance. Sure, they offered to help find a home for that macaque, but ONLY UNDER THE CONDITION that Lynn sign a document drafted up by their lawyer stating that Lynn would NEVER acquire ANY more animals as long as he lives. Who is Zoocheck to dictate who can and can’t possess animals? I think Zoocheck takes themselves a little too seriously. They also insisted that Lynn surrender all is large cats to them as well. Of course Lynn isn’t going to enter into a contractual agreement with them and Zoocheck new that. But it sure makes them look good when they neglect to inform the public of the conditions of their help.
Sanctuary is a term that has difference meanings for different people. If you think sanctuaries shouldn’t breed their animals, then open one and apply this principle to your sanctuary. We define a sanctuary as a place where unwanted or displaced animals can come and live out the rest of their lives in comfort and peace. Some of our unwanted or displaced animals are endangered and breeding them is an asset to the species. We also believe a sanctuary is a place for human education. Since it is unsafe for the public to handle a full grown tiger or wolf, we welcome offspring so the public can experience the wonders of these magnificent animals up close. How better to get an appreciation of the strength of a tiger then to play tug of war with a three month old one?
to all those people who are ranting and raving to shut down a place of animal protection love and care to those who mock my friends and in some case threaten them (lynn family )shame on you.I must ask you at vantage point are you viewing from are you tv or computer bound or are you walking with lynn as he tells you the history of the different animals
like the tiger that was under weight.look at him now he is flurishing.lynn has several animals
that hes rescued asking the question where would those animals be if he hadnt.
these are my own words no imput from any Guzoo staff member was inputed.Dion
"you should be ashamed of yourself for the way you treat and think of those animals, for the way you rob of them of their dignity"
Dignity? Are you kidding me or do you just not understand the meaning of this word?
Maybe you could elaborate on how one robs an animal of its dignity.
By shoving it in a cage that's cramped, dirty and lacking food and showing it off to the public when it is so vulnerable?
Mackenzie, what cramped cage are you referring to?
Excellent article, very well said.
Excellent article, very well said!!
Excellent article, very well said
Mackenzie Evans you should be ashamed of yourself. There is nothing wrong with the cages and if you think there is then get your rear end out EVERY WEEKEND helping out. So in the nicest way possible SHUT YOUR PIE HOLE AND GO HELP OR LEAVE THEM THE HELL ALONE. as well as
the Anonymous people who are speaking bad about Guzoo I say the same to you.
The anonymous people who think like me, we need more of you.
Indeed I have been to the zoo, the cages are not tiny or anything but still not appropriate for the size or number of animals in the compounds. Big animals need a lot of space for exercise or they become lethargic and ill. Also I live and work on a large farm and am cleaning dozens of stalls for horses daily. And volunteer at a shelter cleaning cages. So please don't tell me I don't put in the elbow grease.
Post a Comment