Frost-bitten primates at NC animal farm lost tips of their tails, lemur’s hand injured, USDA report says | State and Regional News

The unique animal farm, operated by a North Carolina county commissioner, has been repeatedly cited by federal inspectors.

The latest citations, involving a black and white ruffed lemur, a De Brazza’s monkey and a capuchin, were issued in March by the U.S. Division of Agriculture against Zootastic Park of Lake Norman, The Charlotte Observer reported.

“The lemur’s hand was wounded and continues to be contracted while the De Brazza’s and capuchin endured the decline of their tail strategies,” in accordance to a duplicate of the federal inspection report, acquired by the animal-welfare team PETA.

Scottie Brown, the Iredell County commissioner who owns the park outside Charlotte, didn’t reply to a cellphone message from the newspaper on Thursday.

In yet another instance, the inspector observed a youthful howler monkey “hugging a are living electric twine that was related to a heating pad within its enclosure.” That could have hurt or killed the monkey, the inspector wrote.

The USDA also cited Zootastic for medicating animals without having a veterinarian present, enabling site visitors unsupervised access to some animals and failing to doc its purchase or disposal of at the very least a dozen animals, the inspection experiences exhibit.

Federal officers requested Zootastic to repair all of the difficulties by late March, but didn’t great the park for the violations.

In August 2021, a USDA inspector located that maggots experienced eaten the flesh of 3 wolves and that unique squirrels confirmed indications of “self-trauma,” in accordance to the newspaper.

An exotic tri-colored Prevost’s squirrel, native of Southeast Asia, experienced a superficial wound that Zootastic failed to report to its attending veterinarian, the inspector noted in her report.

The squirrel a short while ago experienced its tail amputated at a veterinary medical center “due to evident ongoing self-trauma,” the inspector wrote. An additional Prevost’s squirrel earlier had its tail amputated for the same rationale, the inspector wrote.

By summer months 2021, the USDA experienced inspected Zootastic 27 times due to the fact 2014, agency documents reviewed by the Observer present. Inspectors cited the zoo for numerous animal-welfare violations on 14 of the visits, in accordance to the paperwork.

In 2016, the USDA fined the zoo $7,450 for 9 violations, like a improperly developed enclosure that allow a kinkajou escape. A lion cub at the zoo killed the tropical rainforest mammal, the inspection data showed.