G.W. Exotic Animal Park Rescues 3 Tigers from Near Death

    WYNNEWOOD, OK, April 17, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Last Friday afternoon the rescue team from the G.W. Exotic Animal Park out of Wynnewood, Oklahoma headed out for a facility in western Oklahoma after receiving a call for help.

Upon arriving at the location just south of Lawton, Oklahoma the team found 3 tigers that had been in their cages without a proper diet for so long the skin was just barley attached to their bones. The owners of the facility stated they had just fallen on hard times and could not afford to feed them. The call had came into the park a couple of weeks ago but with no open compounds and no other facilities accepting large cats it took the G.W. Park time to get new cages open so the rescue could take place.

"The cages were filled with filth and the cats are in some of the poorest shape of any rescue we have done in the past 11 years," said John Reinke, Park Manager. "I am surprised they made the move alive. But the 3 cats are settling in quite well. With shrunken stomachs they are not able to eat a lot at one time until we get their stomachs stretched back out to hold the amount of food they need. It is going to be a long road ahead for these cats before they look like the rest of the tigers we have on the park," he added.

The Park Director, Joe Schreibvogel, is outraged that the USDA does not have enough inspectors across the United States to make sure that the animals are taken care of. "What I think is the major problem here is the USDA inspectors do not all play by the same rules. What applies to one should apply to all," said Joe Schreibvogel. "I have filed a complaint publicly online about the same abuse going on at a facility near Tampa, Florida. Tens of thousands of dollars are being brought into sanctuaries to help animals and the money is not being spent where it is being donated for, the animals' care. There is no reason these animals should have been left in this care under the direction of the USDA for so long before someone intervened. And then it took an outside agency to do it."

Joe Schreibvogel would like to see the Federal Government start making it a federal law for states that pass ban laws be financially responsible for the care, transportation, and rehabilitation of all animals affected and left homeless from such laws.

"It's time the private sector stops having to pay the price for the politicians fast passing laws in this country when it comes to worthless animal ban laws. In a six-year study there were more people killed by cows than any animal on the planet. With a total of over 200 people being killed by cows and only one a year by a tiger or other exotics. It's time we start thinking about what were passing before we pass it," said Mr. Schreibvogel. "I think we have enough laws on the books to follow up on before we pass anymore. Take a good look at these tigers, they should have been protected by our government and the government let them down. It's criminal and in my book the inspector over this region should be held as criminally liable as the owner," he added.

The G.W. Exotic Animal Park is a not for profit 501-c-3-organization; for more information, visit us at www.gwpark.org.

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