Travel // Deadly Destinations

Deadly Destinations

Deadly Destinations “Habitats” made by humans may appeal to visitors who only look at them for a few minutes, but they’re still cages for the animals who are forced to spend their whole lives in them. We buy our cotton candy and move on with our lives; the animals are there to stay. They are housed in cages that don’t come close to the jungles, deserts, savannahs, and forests that are their natural homes. They have no choice in their diets, mates, or living companions. Every aspect of their lives is controlled and manipulated.

A few fleeting moments of distraction for humans mean a lifetime of misery for animals. This summer, if you care about animals, avoid animal exhibits like you would avoid poison ivy. Here are a few of the saddest summertime spots for animals:

Disney’s Wild Animal Kingdom

Orlando, Florida
Disney’s Wild Animal Kingdom is more like a funeral parlor than a theme park. Before the park even opened, 31 animals died because of neglect and carelessness, including two West African crowned cranes who were run over by safari trucks, four cheetah cubs who swallowed a toxin found in antifreeze, and two Oriental small-clawed otters who ate poisonous seeds from loquat trees planted in their exhibit.

At Orlando Weekly’s invitation, PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk visited Animal Kingdom on opening day to survey the park. A nocturnal kinkajou was trying to sleep in a glass case with glaring lights and thousands of gawking people outside, a dove was trying to incubate her eggs while on display, and a number of baby animals were separated from their caged mothers. Parrots are forced to perform on cue, and lizards are carted around in containers at the pseudo-African theme park.

Sea World

San Antonio, Texas; San Diego, California; Orlando, Florida
At Sea World, orca whales perform tricks for food; swim endless circles in small, barren concrete tanks; and live far short of the 60-year lifespan that orcas enjoy in the wild. In the wild, these whales live in tight family units, with bonds that may last a lifetime.

In their ocean homes, dolphins swim together in family pods up to 100 miles a day. At Sea World, their home is reduced to a virtual bathtub.

Sea World, which owns most of the captive orcas and dolphins in the United States, has one of the worst histories of animal care. At least 39 orcas and 54 dolphins have died at U.S. Sea World facilities. The aquarium industry worldwide has claimed the lives of at least 150 orcas and 963 dolphins. And until it was exposed to the public, Sea World routinely shot and killed hybrid ducks who flew in and joined Sea World’s resident bird population.

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom World

Vallejo, California
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom World can’t even keep its own employees happy, much less its animals! In March 2001, two former Discovery Kingdom World employees filed a report with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) alleging animal beatings, neglect, suffering, and terror caused by inadequate veterinary care, improper housing, mishandling by untrained and unqualified personnel, and exposure to noise from thrill rides and growing crowds at the park.

Since 1995, eight elephants have died at Discovery Kingdom World. Elephants are forced to perform tricks and give rides to park visitors. Elephant handlers and visitors to the park have been injured by elephants on four separate occasions. Despite these serious incidents, Discovery Kingdom World continues to use cruel, outdated circus-style training methods, in which elephants are beaten with bullhooks (rods with sharp metal hooks on the ends) if they don’t perform on cue.

Six Flags Wild Safari

Jackson, New Jersey
There are 31 Six Flags parks in North America; Wild Safari is one of two that exhibits elephants (see Six Flags Marine World, above). The elephants are kept in a drive-through exhibit, which means that they are subjected to a constant stream of vehicles, exhaust, and unsupervised visitors.

In one three-month period, 26 animals died at Six Flags Wild Safari. The causes of death ranged from neck and skull fractures to hypothermia, tetanus, pneumonia, and drowning. While drive-through wildlife parks give the impression that they’re “sanctuaries,” Six Flags Wild Safari has sold “surplus” baboons to biomedical researchers and exotic hoofed animals to hunting ranches.

Three Bears Gift Shop

Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
Visiting the Three Bears Gift Shop is more like a nightmare than a fairy tale. The bears are housed in barren concrete pits. Three Bears has been penalized, for a total of $5,500, by the USDA for repeatedly violating the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). It consistently fails to provide the bears with their minimum space requirements, shelter from inclement weather, and clean food and drinking water. All the bears live in small, barren concrete enclosures.

Saint Louis Zoo

Saint Louis, Missouri
Animals are dying to entertain you at the Saint Louis Zoo. A polar bear named Churchill died in May 2005 after ingesting foreign objects that were thrown into his enclosure. Another polar bear, named Penny, died a month later from peritonitis. The zoo was unaware that Penny was carrying two dead fetuses until after a necropsy was performed.

Born at the zoo in 1983, a chimpanzee named Reuben was torn from his family when he was only a year old and sent to the Folsom Children’s Zoo in Nebraska. Two years later, he was transferred to Zoo Nebraska, where he spent the next 14 years of his life alone before the zoo acquired other chimpanzees. In 2005, zoo workers failed to properly lock the chimpanzees’ cage after cleaning it, and all four chimpanzees inside made a break for freedom. Reuben was killed when he was shot nearly a dozen times.

In 2005, the Saint Louis Zoo announced that a dead elephant calf was decomposing in an elephant named Sri’s womb. The zoo could only wait and hope that Sri would expel the corpse.

A chimpanzee named Edith, who was born at the zoo in 1964, was discovered years later at a roadside hellhole in Texas. The Saint Louis Zoo has refused to intervene in Edith’s behalf, and she continues to live in misery.

See our list of other animal-unfriendly spots to avoid.

Come Home Happy, Not Heartbroken

Summer vacations should hold only happy memories. Instead of tainting your trip by seeing tortured animals, why not simply hit the beach, take a cruise, or visit a museum? There are loads of eco-tourism companies that offer cruelty-free excursions.