The state director of the Humane Society of the U.S. says the county should be denied a state permit to acquire two Bengal tiger cubs for the Panaewa Zoo and Gardens, while the zoo’s director says the organization is basing its opposition on misinformation.
The state director of the Humane Society of the U.S. says the county should be denied a state permit to acquire two Bengal tiger cubs for the Panaewa Zoo and Gardens, while the zoo’s director says the organization is basing its opposition on misinformation.
The state Department of Agriculture’s Advisory Committee on Plants and Animals is set to review the zoo’s request to bring in the endangered tigers from an Oregon breeder at a meeting today in Honolulu. If the committee approves the request, it then would go before the state Board of Agriculture for final consideration.
The county facility on Hilo’s southern outskirts is looking to replace its star attraction, Namaste, a white Bengal tiger euthanized Jan. 16, 2014, after a year-plus illness.
“Our position is that they did not provide adequate care for Namaste and they should not pursue any more of these complex, potentially dangerous species,” said Inga Gibson, Hawaii director of HSUS, a national animal advocacy organization not affiliated with the local humane societies. “These are endangered, wild animals that require specific care.”
Gibson said the tiger likely died of complications brought on by a broken right rear leg he suffered in late 2012, not complications from hip dysplasia and advanced age, which were cited by the county as the reasons for the 15-year-old feline’s death. She referred to a Dec. 10, 2013, report by U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector Dr. Gwynn Hallberg, which noted the zoo’s decision to not have Namaste undergo surgery on the broken leg, as was recommended by a veterinarian specializing in big cats consulted by the zoo’s attending vet, Dr. Lisa Wood. Hallberg also wrote Namaste’s health “has been declining, especially over the past two weeks” and concluded the noncommercial diet being fed the cat might have caused a calcium deficiency which could “result in the type of illness currently being seen in this tiger.”
“These animals (white Bengal tigers) are inbred and genetically inferior,” Gibson said. “He suffered a broken leg. In those reports, you’ll note these vets noted he seemed very ill; he wasn’t receiving a proper diet. So, this was not a natural death simply due to some genetic condition.”
“That is not correct,” countered Pam Mizuno, the zoo’s director, who released to the Tribune-Herald a memo dated Tuesday by Wood about Namaste’s condition, which was written for Mizuno’s presentation before the committee. “He had a broken leg, but it had healed. That is not what caused his death. Dr. Wood said that for a year or slightly over, he had been suffering from renal (kidney) failure.”
Wood wrote in the memo that Namaste’s blood, including samples taken in October and December 2013, showed normal levels of calcium, phosphorous and alkaline phosphate.
“No evidence was found for underlying (metabolic bone disease),” wrote Wood, who cited articles about the disorder, which is caused by poor diet. “The final decision to humanely euthanize ‘Namaste’ was based on his deteriorating quality of life. This was likely brought about by a combination of factors including the fracture of his right femur, degenerative joint disease in his hips and advancing renal failure.”
Gibson also questioned the zoo not being accredited by the Association of Zoos &Aquariums, asking, rhetorically, “If you don’t have the facilities, the resources to be accredited, then should you be in the business of taking in these large and potentially dangerous species?”
Mizuno said AZA accreditation is “extremely expensive” and the zoo is in the process of applying for accreditation by another organization, the Zoological Association of America.
In addition, Gibson took issue with the breeder the county contacted for the tigers, CJ’s Great Cats World Park in Oregon, citing several citations by the USDA for alleged mishandling of big cats. She also noted reports that CJ’s owner, Craig Wagner, whom she described as “notorious,” is reputed to have starved animals and beaten one tiger with a two-by-four after the starving animal killed and partially consumed a leopard 25 years ago in Wisconsin. Wagner was found guilty in 1993 and received a suspended jail sentence, according to the book “Animal Underworld: Inside America’s Black Market.”
After the episode, Wagner moved to Minnesota, where he opened a big cat facility, and later to Oregon.
Wagner’s onetime business partner, Cynthia Gamble, was mauled to death in Minnesota by a tiger authorities said was starving, according to the April 20, 2006, edition of the Askov (Minn.) American newspaper.
“This is a county zoo. Is the public aware of where these animals are coming from?” Gibson asked. “I feel that, as a municipally funded agency, the public has a right to know about this. But for (the county), they’re surely looking at it as a way for them to bring people to the zoo to see these animals. And they’re not looking at the larger issues of where these animals are coming from and if they can provide adequate facilities.”
Mizuno said CJ’s Great Cats is “taking very good care of their tigers.”
“They have a veterinarian on their staff that the USDA vet (Dr. Carolyn McKinnie) is recommending we consult,” she said. “Why would a USDA vet do that?”
“Basically, (today) at the meeting, I’m going to state the facts,” Mizuno continued. “The zoo serves as an educational as well as a recreational facility. For a lot of kids on this island, that will be their only chance to see (a tiger). We provide that experience for a lot of the schoolchildren. There are students on this island that never even make it to Honolulu Zoo.
“The Humane Society of the United States is … bringing all of this up at a meeting for the state to issue an import and exhibition permit. That is not the state’s role. … The USDA decides who’s in compliance with the Animal Welfare Act. So, that’s two different things.
“We’re allowed to import the animals per their administrative rules. We’re a government zoo, and per their conditions, if we abide by their conditions, we should be allowed to import these animals. The Humane Society of the United States is asking the Department of Agriculture not to issue that permit based on things other than the Department of Agriculture’s administrative rules.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.