Doc Antle Charged in Tiger Escape-Tiger Preservation Station

I don't normally post anything that doesn't pertain to Primates, However....... I have come in contact with Antel more times than I'd like to remember. Not only does he buy and sell Primates but also sells and dumps baby tigers that aren't perfect. (personal experience seeing 3 of his cubs locked in a trailer for months). He uses his primates and tigers for commercials though says he is a preservation. He allows people to handle the small tigers to get their photos taken when IN FACT these animals should be with their moms, not hung onto like a stuffed animal. Talk about dangerous!!!!!!

Boy does he have the public snowed.........................

I can't even imagine being at his place when this happened! The fine he got, well, with all of the money this guy has, that's nothing to him, it's like a 5 dollar bill. Jail time would have nice.

Story;
August 29, 2010 Miami, FL: Visitors to Miami's Jungle Island stampeded over each other to avoid an escaped, 3 yr old, 500 lb. tiger named Mahesh. A monkey escaped while being transported through the zoo and 500 lb. Mahesh bounded over the 14-foot fence into the public area according to the Miami Herald. The attraction's three big cats -- which include a liger and a white tiger -- have been confined to a "night kennel," while the park investigates. "We were really scared. There were people crying,'' Miami mom Dorothy Evans told the Herald, adding that people knocked each other down as they sprinted toward the shelter. "People were running for their lives," Larry Rhodes, 46, of Pompano Beach, told the Sun Sentinel. Miami Fire Rescue Lt. Ignatius Carroll told the Herald that several people were injured while running, including a mother who fell on top of her 15-month old baby. Another guest was taken to a Miami hospital after suffering a panic attack. Bhagavan (Kevin) Antle, who also owns T.I.G.E.R.S. in Myrtle Beach, SC and who is the owner of Mahesh, was charged with one count of maintaining captive wildlife in an unsafe condition, resulting in threats to public safety. Park owner Bern M. Levine was charged with two second-degree misdemeanors for conditions resulting in the animals' escape. The charges for both men have a maximum penalty of $500, FWC officer Pino said.

Story Credit and Video here 

Pet Orangutan, Saima, Finally Gets Temporary Home at Ragunan Zoo

Saima is a female young orangutan that had been taken as baby from her mother and brought from Central Kalimantan to spend four years in a small cage in Cibubur area, Java, as a pet. Far away from home she lived here isolated, never meeting other orangutan friends, never climbing a tree. Saima was literally growing out of her cage and the owners tried to relocate her elsewhere. It is a sad fact that still people seem to be so uneducated and unaware of the fact that orangutans are critically endangered and protected under the Indonesian Biodiversoity law Nr 5, 1990 and that orangutans as other wildllife simply belong in the wild. What is worse is that it took such a long time to relocate the orangutan despite there are many NGOs active to help orangutans and not even the forestry department had been responsive to relocate the orangutan. And since the Indonesian rescue centre network stopped fully operating in 2006, it became harder to find good post-confiscation places. Saima is now living in Ragunan Zoo, where Ibu Ulla, cares for many orangutans already. At least Saima can play with other orangutans and enjoy better food as she used to eat rice only. Ragunan zoo though is only a temporary solution; a transit. JAAN will strive to relocate Saima to Kalimantan. Where she belongs. Ibu Ulla is a german lady living in Ragunan zoo for fifty – plus years. She has a heart of gold for the animals and a strong and remarkable personality, striving hard to improve the conditions for the animals in Ragunan Zoo.. JAAN helps Ibu Ulla and her orangutans whenever possible. In the beginning of October we helped to repair and weld cages at Ibu Ulla’s place. Its also a sad fact that it is always a long and complicated process to relocate an orangutan back to its habitat. But JAAN is determined to bring Saima home. If you wish to help the orangutans at Ibu Ulla or Saima please do contact us by email.
Source

Monkey Breeder, Matthew Block, For Labs Says AR Groups Deserve No Media

Should he be forgiven? NO!

Just another form of Abuse now.

By Deirdra Funcheon

It's been almost 20 years since the notorious "Bangkok Six" incident, when investigators at a Thailand airport intercepted a crate marked "live birds," only to find that it contained six tightly-packed endangered orangutans destined for Russia from Indonesia. Only two of the orangutans survived.

A Miami primate dealer named Matthew Block -- proprietor of World Wide Primates, who'd started his business of raising animals for research while still in high school -- eventually pled guilty to charges for his role in the case, paid a $30,000 fine, and was sentenced to 13 months in prison. He then began cooperating with authorities, working as an informant to rope in illegal animal traders. In 1993, he helped arrange the arrest of five Mexican zoo officials who traveled to Miami in hopes of buying a gorilla on the black market. (During that incident, a Fish & Wildlife investigator dressed in an ape suit to fool the zoo guys into a takedown.) Around the same time, he also helped ensnare a Jacksonville dealer who was holding rare Australian cockatoos.

In spite of Block's work on the side of law enforcement, some animal rights activists have never forgiven him or forgotten him, instead engaging in their own form of retaliation. In 1994, 33 crab-eating macaques were stolen from Block's property. Last year, intruders cut holes in several monkey cages, letting the animals escape. And this week, the Animal Liberation Front received a communique that activists targeted a Miami Beach house they believed to belong to Block's wife Brooke. "We punctured 4 tires on a car in the driveway and poured red paint over the car and on the front door of the house," authors of the communique stated. (Matthew Block, now in his late 40s, is no longer a registered agent for Worldwide Primates; rather, his wife Brooke and mother Gertie are listed officers on the paperwork.)


Matthew Block spoke to New Times briefly, confirming the incident -- and clarifying that the vandals missed their target. The house and car, he says, "belong to my 80-year-old mother. This is their third time getting it wrong, and one of those was a firebombing a few years ago. They're going to end up killing or hurting someone."

When Block spoke to us last September after intruders released the monkeys, he noted that "These monkeys never lived a day in their lives" out of his company's care. "They have no clue how to behave in the wild. No clue how to get food and water." Block said it was cruel to free them -- to them let them "sit in the wild and starve to death." Other primate experts said that the animals can be unpredictable and aggressive, and it was fortunate that the released monkeys did not run into and hurt or maim humans.

Records received from the United States Department of Agriculture in response to a Freedom of Information Act request indicate that World Wide Primates has had its license renewed regularly with few violations. In the years since 2002, inspectors noted a missing tile, a rusted cage, and a note that "In July 2005, non-human primates succumbed to heat exhaustion when HVAC system in Room C failed." In 2004, investigators noted that an adult male capuchin was housed alone; the law required he be able to see and hear nonhuman primates of his own species.

Perhaps the most revealing detail to be gleaned from the sparse paperwork is that business has been good: In 2003, a year the company bought 319 animals and sold 182, the reported gross income from sales totaled $340,295. In 2007, when the company bought 1123 animals and sold 1270, that figure peaked at more than $5 million.

Block noted that his company imports animals for research purposes but does not conduct any research. Although his line of work remains a topic for ethical debate, Block in turn argued that "these people [the vandals] do not deserve publicity." Last year he stated, "ethically, the media should not be giving accolades to people who violate federal law." He added that in the search for the perpetrators, "the FBI is very much involved." The agency considers animal rights extremism "domestic terror" and in 2006, revisions to the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act toughened penalties for related crimes.

Source

Orangutan Janey Used to Live With Tom Jones

Janey likes to see what's inside. Sit quietly on the ledge and open your bag. Rifle around a bit like you've lost your keys, find them, take them out, change your mind and look again. Maybe take out some Chapstick and put it on. In a moment, Janey will come to see.

---

---

Janey used to live with the Vegas singer, Tom Jones. It's not unusual..or maybe it is. As the story goes she was with him for 20 years and landed in the San Diego zoo on some sort of immigration issue. That was 20 years ago, and might account for her interest in humans and our vanities.

---

In her eyes you find unexpected warmth, a maternal gentleness, a flicker of amusement. When one of her fellow orangutans gave birth, Janey acted as the middle of the night midwife. Her own birth was in the Borneo forest. Does Janey recall her mother's death as we file past the glass? Probably not, or perhaps only in shadowy dreams. A smell, a scream, falling, crushed leaves.

---

Source