From loyal Ashvegas reader Kayla. Background here.
I just got back from a weekend trip to Cherokee and Tennessee. On our way back home to Georgia we decided to stop in the town of Cherokee to give this bear exhibit and petting zoo a look. Well, I wished I would have never given my money to support such inhumane treatment of animals, and not just your regular everyday animals either.
I was shocked and horrified at the confinement of such beautiful creatures. I am an animal lover and I couldn’t imagine doing something like this for a living! The exhibit was soooo tiny. They had at least 4 or 5 bears in one concrete holding cell. When I was giving them treats some of the other bears would fight the ohter for a small piece of food.
The bears were sadly pacing back in forth, some of them wouldn’t even look up because they were constantly pacing in the small quarters. The bears were licking the concrete slabs for water! They kept on making a sad moaning sound when they were pacing. The bears weren’t the only ones pacing, ALL the animals were pacing in their small confinements. They had two adult tigers in what looked like a 10×20 cage with chain link fencing over the top. The tigers were pacing back and forth back and forth. The tiger kept trying to paw at the roof to get out.
None of the animals were attentive like many animals we see at the zoo or in the wild … all they wanted to do was escape. Then there was the monkeys…and like the other animals they were pacing too…one of the male monkeys was constantly acting out, and one of the workers came out and said that the monkey doesn’t like men, and he acts out because of it, causing the male monkey to beat up the female monkey because he can’t get to the people.
The female monkey was missing fingers, and she was hiding in the back of the cage behind another object. I looked into her eyes and felt her pain. It made my heart weep. I would have and still would do anything I can to put an end to this mistreatment.
I would like to know of, if there are any, animal activist groups in the Cherokee area. I think that would be a good place to start. If anyone knows of a place I can relay my information on this issue please email me at wonderwoman_711_x@yahoo.com. Thanks!
2 Comments
Because the Reservation is soverign, any protest or public stance against the wildlife in cages will be quickly quietened. So the most effective way to to address this issue is on the web and and the roads leading to Cherokee. Bottom line is that as long as the tribe can profit in any way regardless of the condition of the animals, nothing will change. For the Res, it’s all about the almight dollar!
Good luck with that the Chief ordered Bob Barker and peta of Cherokee soil. Yes its a shame what they are doing to the animals over there but it brings up an important note, Cherokee is SOVERIGN soil. So tread carefully, going on the rez is like going into another country, they CAN AND MAKE you leave just like The chief made peta.
And don’t be so naive and bleeding heart, you know Asheville if full of brainwashed activists that worship at the Altar of NPR.
The people you need addressing is not the Natives its the people that own the businesses mostly white that own those places. I know Cherokee is my home.