Two Adult Bobcats Rescued from Alabama's Mobile Zoo
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

BigCatRescue.org
March 2017

We do know quite a bit about the sordid history of the Mobile Zoo and its owner. The Mobile Zoo was shut down and its license revoked by USDA in November 2016. Earlier this week (March 16, 2017) the owner of the zoo, John Marks Hightower, was arrested on 28 counts of animal cruelty. The Mobile County District Attorney’s office filed charges after a search warrant was served at the zoo and Mobile County Animal Control and veterinarians assessed the condition of the animals remaining at the facility. The Mobile Zoo, located in Wilmer, Alabama, was closed and its license revoked by USDA last November after numerous complaints of animals being mistreated.

Big Cat Rescuers have just gotten on the road with 2 adult bobcats rescued from The Mobile Zoo in Alabama. Officers with Mobile County (Alabama) Animal Control seized the bobcats and other remaining animals from the zoo this morning in a secret raid.

We could not give you details about this rescue until Jamie, Afton, Alyssa and Lauren G. were safely on the highway leaving Alabama with these precious bobcats. The bobcats will arrive at their forever home at Big Cat Rescue in Tampa this evening. Our team is also on the ground at the sanctuary readying their new spacious enclosure.

We don’t know a lot about these bobcats. We’re told they are both four years old; one is male and the other is female. They have been living in the same cage at the Mobile Zoo.

We do know quite a bit about the sordid history of the Mobile Zoo and its owner. The Mobile Zoo was shut down and its license revoked by USDA in November 2016. Earlier this week (March 16, 2017) the owner of the zoo, John Marks Hightower, was arrested on 28 counts of animal cruelty. The Mobile County District Attorney’s office filed charges after a search warrant was served at the zoo and Mobile County Animal Control and veterinarians assessed the condition of the animals remaining at the facility.

The Mobile Zoo, located in Wilmer, Alabama, was closed and its license revoked by USDA last November after numerous complaints of animals being mistreated. The most recent inspection found cages with dried feces, an accumulation of pests in the animal enclosures, unstable den conditions and possible blood stains that were never cleaned up.

At its peak, the zoo housed more than 75 animals, ranging from bears, to tigers and lions as well as monkeys and birds. USDA had repeatedly cited the zoo for rotted food in a refrigerator that had maintenance issues, and rotted meat in the enclosures with the lions and tigers. Since Hightower owned the animals, not all of them were immediately seized and taken, but his arrest this week signaled that the investigation into the facility found conditions were not adequately improved for Hightower to keep the animals.

Can we count on you to help us fund the rescue of these 2 bobcats and their ongoing care at Big Cat Rescue? This is your chance to REALLY make a difference in the lives of these precious wild cats! It’s because of wonderful donors like YOU that we can continue to rescue and provide a permanent home for exotic cats.

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