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- Cherokee bear zoos get reprieve from tribe for now
- Cherokee bear zoo debate roars on
- Cherokee entertains idea of bear sanctuary
- Cherokee bear zoo fined and suspended over violations
- PETA protests bear zoos in Cherokee on heels of undercover video
- Bear zoo charged with violation of Animal Welfare Act
- Violations stack up against Cherokee bear zoo
- Cherokee leaders to PETA: back off our bear zoos
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has sued the Bureau of Indian Affairs for failing to hand over what it maintains are public documents under the Freedom of Information Act pertaining to the lease agreements for bear exhibitors in Cherokee.
PETA maintains about 30 bears are kept in what it characterizes as roadside zoos “in cramped, barren enclosures with no opportunity to express natural behavior.”
PETA maintains the Bureau of Indian Affairs is responsible for managing the lease agreements governing Indian trust lands — including those in Cherokee — and is required by federal law to release these agreements. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court.
Cherokee bear pits have been the target of PETA over the past two years, from sidewalk protests to billboard campaigns, as well as vocal appeals to tribal government to shut down the attractions.
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Here they are, books yammering for review: a hillock of books on the floor by the desk; more books stacked on the desk itself, squeezed between a basket of spectacles and a coffee cup filled with pens and pencils, the cup itself bearing Jefferson’s remark, “I cannot live without books;” two more books for review keeping company in the trunk of my car; a lone rider of a book on the arm of the sofa by the porch door.
