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Zoo owner charged with mistreating animals
June 19, 2015
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/local/zoo-owner-charged-with-mistreating-animals-document-1.492957?tc=cr
GULF BREEZE — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has filed a complaint against Eric Mogensen, the owner and operator of the Gulf Breeze Zoo.
The complaint charges Mogensen and his daughter, Meghan, with multiple violations of the Animal Welfare Act at the Gulf Breeze facility, as well as two other facilities that Mogensen owns in Virginia.
The Humane Society of the United States, which monitors reports of animal cruelty, contacted the Daily News regarding the complaint.
"We think it's important that people understand what goes on at these roadside zoos," said Lisa Wathne, a captive wildlife specialist with the animal welfare organization. "The charges in the complaint are pretty heinous."
Among the charges included in the report are allegations that the zoo failed to establish an adequate veterinary program, failed to handle animals as carefully as possible to prevent harm to the animals and the public, failed to separate incompatible animals, and failed to provide adequate ventilation for the animals.
Efforts to contact the Mogensens were unsuccessful. Valerie Samu, a marketing specialist at the Gulf Breeze Zoo, was not aware of the charges.
"This is the first I've heard of it," Samu said on Friday afternoon.
The complaint included several examples. In one incident, an attendant was not present when the public, including children, had contact with camels, goats, and llamas, resulting in a child being bitten by a camel. In another case, a tiger enclosure was found to have rusted, jagged and sharp edges, while a lion enclosure had exposed nails.
According to the Humane Society, Meghan Mogensen pleaded guilty to animal cruelty while working at the Reston Zoo in Virginia, and was barred from making decisions about animal care and euthanasia. She later transferred to the Gulf Breeze Zoo.
The complaint also contained several charges related to activities at the Reston Zoo and the Virginia Safari Park in Natural Bridge, Virginia. Those charges include euthanizing an animal by drowning, and mishandling of a spider monkey that resulted in its death due to hypothermia.
According to Wathne, the Mogensens will have an opportunity to respond to the charges.
"Ultimately, they may have to appear at a hearing," she said. "The outcomes could be many, from fines to having their licenses suspended or revoked. If that happens, they will not be able to operate the facility."
USDA: Zoo violations were extensive
The USDA has charged the owner/operator of the Gulf Breeze Zoo with the following violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act:
- Failure to establish an adequate program of veterinary care. Used expired medications to treat and vaccinate animals and identified and employed gunshot as a means of euthanasia (without adequate training and documentation).
- Repeated failure to handle animals as carefully as possible to prevent harm to the animals and the public. An attendant was not present when the public, including children, had contact with camels, goats and llamas, resulting in a child being bitten by a camel, and a short-tail opossum escaped from an enclosure that was not covered and was found dead the next day.
- Repeated failure to safely handle and house primates. There was not sufficient distance and/or barriers to restrict the public from having contact with squirrel monkeys, tamarins, and/or marmosets.
- Repeated failure to maintain animal enclosures. An enclosure housing golden-headed lion tamarins had protruding nails, an enclosure housing a Patagonian cavy had buried wire mesh with sharp ends that protruded into the enclosure, a door in an enclosure housing tigers had rusted, jagged, and sharp edges, and an enclosure housing raccoons had very rusted and corroded wire as well as wood that was splintered and warped.
- Failure to separate incompatible animals. Rabbits were housed in incompatible groups, resulting in newborn rabbits “being eaten, chewed upon, or otherwise injured by the other rabbits in the enclosure,” and causing the newborns to die or be euthanized due to their injuries.
- Failure to provide shelter from sunlight or inclement weather to goats and sheep.
- Failure to ensure that food was clean and wholesome when food for marmosets was prepared at a sink that was dirty and had dead insects and mouse droppings around the sink’s perimeter.
- Failure to provide adequate ventilation in facilities used to house tigers at night.
- Failure to clean food receptacles for lions and tigers.
- Failure to maintain records of acquisition and disposition for a white rhinoceros, a short-tailed possum, goats and a Virginia opossum.
Gulf Breeze Zoo owner charged with mistreatment of animals
June 21, 2015
The owner of the Gulf Breeze Zoo is allegedly mistreating animals, according to a complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
According to the Northwest Florida Daily News, Eric Mogensen and his daughter Meghan have committed "multiple violations of the Animal Welfare Act at the Gulf Breeze facility, as well as two other facilities that Mogensen owns in Virginia."
"We think it's important that people understand what goes on at these roadside zoos," Lisa Wathne, a captive wildlife specialist with The Humane Society of the United States, told the Daily News. "The charges in the complaint are pretty heinous."
The father and daughter will be required to appear before an administrative law judge and could be forced to pay a fine or have their licenses revoked if they're found guilty.
When contacted by the newpaper, marketing specialist Valerie Samu said she's wasn't aware of the charges made against the zoo.
"This is the first I've heard of it," she said Friday.
Florida Zoo Owners Charged With Drowning, Shooting Animals
June 21, 2015
Federal officials filed a complaint accusing the owners of a Florida zoo for failing to properly kill for their animals, including euthanizing them by shooting and drowning them.
The charged filed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture say the 50-acre Gulf Breeze Zoo wasn’t properly supervised when a child was bitten by a camel, STL Today reported. Rabbits were separated so they at their babies, became injured, or had to be euthanized. The tiger enclosures did not have proper ventilation and other animal enclosures had rusted fences and nails exposed, according to the complaint.
The charges also allege the zoo, which is home to hundreds of animals and recently gained a newborn giraffe, didn’t use proper veterinary care and relied on expired medications and even shot an animal as a form of euthanasia. An opossum escaped from an improper enclosure and was later found dead. Lion and tiger food bins weren’t properly cleaned and goats and sheep didn’t have adequate shelter from rain and sun, the complaint also stated.
Owner Eric Mogensen and his daughter, Meghan, were charged with multiple violations of the Animal Welfare Act at the Gulf Breeze facility, as well as two other facilities they own in Virginia including the Reston Zoo and the Virginia Safari Park in Natural Bridge. Complaints involving the Virginia facilities include euthanizing an animal by drowning them, and mishandling a spider monkey which ended up dying of hypothermia from the incident.
The Human Society of the United States said Meghan Mogensen pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges while working at the Reston Zoo in Virginia, and was barred from making decisions regarding animal care and euthanasia.
The Northwest Florida Daily News reports she later had transferred to the Gulf Breeze Zoo. Emails and phone messages to the zoo were not immediately returned Sunday.
