Shame on you, Miami. Shame on you.
Chimpanzee Abandoned by the Miami Metrozoo, Left to Live in Misery
During a recent PETA investigation of a hideous roadside zoo in Texas, we discovered a chimpanzee named Edith living in squalor, along with other chimpanzees, and being fed a diet of dog food and rotten produce. Edith was born into the zoo community and lived at the Miami Metrozoo from March 16, 1982, to June 22, 1987. The Miami Metrozoo passed Edith on to a breeder and dealer of exotic animals who ultimately discarded her at this Texas hellhole.
Edith is yet another casualty of the zoo industry's disgraceful practice of breeding animals and then dumping them once their income-generating or reproductive value diminishes. Presumably once a loved and crowd-pleasing figure at the Miami Metrozoo, Edith now languishes-abandoned, depressed, and nearly hairless-in a filthy pseudo-sanctuary. Edith will be 40 years old this August. To date, her life has been managed and manipulated by the zoo community, which ultimately abandoned her to spend her "golden years" living in filth and neglect. Edith deserves to live the rest of her life in peace and with comfort and dignity. That's not too much to ask.
The roadside zoo where Edith now lives masquerades as a refuge in order to collect donations from caring citizens. It tears newborn animals away from their mothers in order to use them for photo shoots and exacerbates the homeless exotic-animal problem by breeding and selling exotic animals. PETA's investigation revealed that animals at the facility were living in filthy, barren cages that contained piles of rotten food and feces, swarming with flies and maggots. PETA also documented numerous other instances of chronic abuse and neglect. For more details on our investigation, please visit PETA.org.
The Miami Metrozoo must take responsibility for its role in Edith's miserable situation, immediately retrieve her from the roadside zoo, and send her to an accredited sanctuary.
Please write a polite letter to Miami Metrozoo officials. Ask them to rescue Edith immediately and send her to an accredited sanctuary, and in order to ensure that this tragedy is never repeated, request that the zoo implement a policy of providing lifetime care for all animals born at or acquired by the Miami Metrozoo:
Eric Stephens, Director
Miami Metrozoo
1 Zoo Blvd.
12400 S.W. 152nd St.
Miami, FL 33177-1402
305-251-0400
305-378-6381 (fax)
http://www.miamimetrozoo.com