Florida: Horrifying new PETA sting video shows abuses of animals, including baby tigers, at Dade City's Wild Things

FLORIDA -- Not that any of us needed another reason to be outraged and/or depressed these days, but a new undercover video taken at a local "zoo" is utterly disheartening.

In 2015 and 2016, someone affiliated with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) volunteered and worked at Dade City's Wild Things, a somewhat popular — if not exactly accredited or respected by other animal-centered attractions in the area — roadside zoo that features a diverse array of animals, including the famous Mystery Monkey that eluded authorities for years in the Tampa Bay area.

A key attention getter at the 22-acre Pasco County attraction?

Pay a little extra, and they'll let you swim with a baby tiger.

In 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture filed multiple warnings and ultimately a complaint against the "zoo" because of the distress that causes tiger cubs as well as unacceptable living conditions for other fauna on the property.

From the complaint:

"Despite having received multiple inspection reports identifying noncompliance with the Regulations and failures to comply with the Standards, and the receipt of an Official Warning, respondent [Dade City Wild Things] has continued to mishandle animals, particularly infant and juvenile tigers, exposing these animals and the public to injury, disease, and harm. Respondent held or participated in events that included allowing members of the public to handle young and juvenile tigers, to paint the fur of young and juvenile tigers, and to force young and juvenile tigers to 'swim' and to 'play' with members of the public."

The violations include handlers forcing a little tiger to swim in the pool "despite the tiger's obvious discomfort," exposing them to "rough or excessive handling," exhibiting monkeys and tigers at unsafe distances from the public and failing to keep enclosures in decent repair (including excess water in cages and loose electrical wires).

The PETA video backs up those claims and then some.

And it's very hard to watch.

Included are clips of staff manhandling newborn tiger cubs, separating them from their mothers by trying to pull them out through their cages. The body of tiger cub who didn't make it is callously left on the ground. A tiger cub being trained to swim with guests can barely keep its head above water. Another is dragged through the mulch in an attempt to force it into interacting with guests.

Near the pool during a training session, the video shows an employee slapping a tiger cub, then shoving it into the water.

When they're too old to perform, tigers are confined to small cages with little to no stimulation.

When they're no longer able to be used in "tiger encounters", they may be sold off to "canned hunt" facilities in which they're somewhat tame, but kept inside caged/fenced areas for rich people to come by in a Jeep and then shoot and kill them for sport. There is no way for the animal to escape and the paid client is guaranteed a "kill".

Deer are kept in close confines during mating season until a fight breaks out, after which an employee fires a gun into the air in an effort to scare them into stopping the ruckus.

A monkey suffers from self-inflicted wounds, likely due to mental distress, but gets no care. A parrot lies sick in a container for weeks, later dying when management refuses to give it medical care.

Too big to be handled and used for encounter and
photo ops, tigers live in cages until sold off to
be used in canned hunts or bred for more baby tigers

And so on.

MOST PEOPLE DON'T KNOW WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON AT PLACES LIKE THESE

PETA hopes the video will compel potential visitors to stay away from the property.

"Dade City's Wild Things is churning out tiger cub after tiger cub to be manhandled and exploited as props in photo ops and then left to suffer in barren cages," PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet said in a media release. "PETA is calling on the public to refuse to support this cruel tourist trap's abuse and exploitation of endangered animals."

The nonprofit notes the cruel irony of how tigers bred in captivity at such attractions can never be released back into the wild when they become too big to "perform" yet wild populations in areas of the world where they're indigenous face extinction.

All right, humans, we had a shot. And we blew it. Royally. Time to let the octopi take it all over.

Staff/management at Dade City's Wild Things did not return a call asking for comment as of Thursday night.

VIDEO:

Note: If you can't view the embedded video, you can click HERE to go directly to YouTube's page with the video.

(Creative Loafing Tampa - Oct 20, 2016)