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Reasons to go to a museum:
To learn? ✔️
To have fun? ✔️
To experience new things? ✔️
To support traumatizing animals??? ❌
Seeing animals suffer should never be on the agenda. Yet, the American West Heritage Center in Utah is hosting two of the worst roadside zoos in the region at its annual Baby Animal Days events: Utah Petting Zoo and Yellowstone Bear World.
Just how bad are these roadside zoos? At Utah Petting Zoo, a six-month-old zebra named Zoey needed to be euthanized after falling out of and being dragged by a transport trailer, a kangaroo needed to be euthanized after a zebra escaped his enclosure and kicked the kangaroo in the head, a fox escaped his enclosure and has never been found, a kinkajou named Kiki was crushed to death by a shelf in her enclosure, and a camel named Caeser was found dead and stuck under a metal shed. 😱 It’s a straight-up death trap.
Yellowstone Bear World is no better. The shady facility breeds black bears, takes weeks-old cubs from their moms, and forces them into expensive and dangerous human interactions. This messes with the long-term health of every cub born there—because ofc being torn from your mom as an infant will traumatize you. The cubs are often seen suckling on workers’ chins, necks, or arms, a behavior in animals who were separated from their moms at an early age. 😢
Hosting these roadside zoos keeps their cruelty in business—ask the American West Heritage Center to do the right thing for animals and no longer partner with Utah Petting Zoo and Yellowstone Bear World in the future!