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Animal Haven Zoo is a decrepit roadside zoo in Weyauwega, Wisconsin, with a long list of Animal Welfare Act (AWA) violations dating back at least a decade. In 2024 alone, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has already issued the facility a dozen citations. These failures mean animals there have been denied water and veterinary care and some have sustained life-threatening injuries. At least two animals died.
12 Federal Citations for Animal Haven Zoo, and That’s Just in 2024
This seedy roadside zoo routinely fails to repair sharp metal edges in enclosures, mend leaning and broken fences, and fill in holes, so animals have been injured, killed, and have escaped due to issues that were entirely preventable. Just look at some of the egregious violations below.
An Emu Cut ‘Possibly Down to the Bone’ Had to Be Euthanized, and More
- The USDA slapped Animal Haven Zoo with a critical citation in July because an emu was cut “possibly down to the bone” on the right side of her body, apparently by either a leaning fence post or a piece of loose tin with exposed edges on a shelter. The wound was so severe that a veterinarian recommended euthanasia.
- In the same month, the feds also gave the shoddy zoo repeat citations for failing to do the following:
- Notify the veterinarian of a limping sheep with a lump on the neck
- Repair the leaning primary fence and detached posts in a bison enclosure where a tree had fallen a month earlier
- Install a latch or a lock on the enclosure confining goats and alpacas
- Repair leaning fence posts with exposed corners and a piece of loose tin with sharp edges on the shelter in the fallow deer enclosure where the emu had been injured
- Dispose of waste properly after inspectors found a 4-foot-deep pile of “thick, wet manure” in the Dall sheep and zebu cattle shelter, which had not been cleaned all summer, preventing the animals from using it
- Drain a large muddy green puddle that the brown bear had to stand in to reach the drinking water receptacle
Lack of Vet Care Leads to Decomposing Body
- In April, the government gave the dilapidated zoo a critical repeat citation for failing to observe the animals daily and report any issues to a veterinarian after inspectors found the dead and decomposing body of a lamb with maggots underneath it in the Dall sheep pasture barn. The facility staff “did not know how long it had been there” because “the barn isn’t checked every day,” but the inspectors suspected the lamb had been there for at least several days.
- The facility received a direct repeat citation for failing to provide vet care to a limping peacock with an abnormal foot and citations for failing to do the following:
- Provide adequate barriers between animals and the public after inspectors found a gap between the wolf enclosure’s fence and a trailer that visitors could possibly enter, allowing them to come close to the wolves
- Fix gaps in the fencing around the kangaroo enclosure that could allow visitors to reach in and touch the animals
- Clean the surfaces of primate enclosures daily after inspectors found a buildup of excess feces on the perch inside the macaques’ shelter
- Repair a rusted fence panel with sharp points between lion and tiger enclosures
- Repair or remove a rusted piece of metal and a sharp wire point sticking out of a black bear’s shelter
- Remove an exposed screw in a cougar’s shelter that could have injured the animal
A Lion and a Liger Left Freezing and Groaning in Despair
- In January, the roadside zoo received a direct citation for failing to provide two big cats (a lion and a liger) with warm, insulating bedding in 10-degree weather. The lion had a thin layer of frozen hay covering the floor inside his shelter and there were 12 inches of snow inside the enclosure in front of the shelter. Inspectors noted that “at the start of the inspection, the lion was hunched up inside the shelter, intermittently raising his paws off the floor and groaning.”
- The facility also received a direct citation for failing to provide the male lion with drinking water for 2 days. The water in his bowl had frozen and a facility representative claimed that the lion “doesn’t walk out to his water dish when there is snow on the ground.”
Feds Previously Imposed a Fine for Multiple Violations
In February 2022, the USDA issued Animal Haven Zoo a $6,450 penalty for eight egregious violations that occurred between November 2020 and November 2021, including failing to give a liger water for roughly 20 hours, failing to provide adequate veterinary care to a thin lamb who had symptoms of diarrhea and a rabbit with eye and ear discharge, and letting an employee take a 3-week-old tiger cub to a local school to be passed around like a toy.
You Can Help the Animals Confined at Animal Haven Zoo
Please urge Animal Haven Zoo to send the animals there to accredited sanctuaries, where they could finally get the care they desperately need:
