Special Memories Zoo in Greenville keeps animals in ‘squalid conditions,’ Animal Legal Defense Fund claims in lawsuit

GREENVILLE - The Animal Legal Defense Fund is suing the owners of Special Memories Zoo, claiming animals are kept in "squalid conditions" and lack many basic necessities.

The animal rights group, which works to "protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system," according to the group's website, filed a 37-page complaint in federal court Wednesday, accusing the Greenville-based zoo of keeping animals in "cramped enclosures" and forcing them to "live in complete or near-complete social isolation."

"By inflicting needless pain and suffering on the wide variety of endangered species and other animals," the zoo violated federal and state laws, the group alleges in the complaint.

A member of the group visited the zoo, the complaint says, observed a wide variety of animals and was "distressed and upset due to the animal mistreatment and suffering" that she witnessed.

"The ongoing conditions and mistreatment of animals at Special Memories Zoo is a nuisance repugnant to the interests of the Wisconsin public at large," the complaint says.

The owners of Special Memories Zoo, Gene and Dona Wheeler, "categorically deny" the allegations in the lawsuit, Chris Sitzmann, an Appleton-based attorney, told The Post-Crescent on Friday afternoon.

The complaint lays out detailed accusations against the zoo related to the treatment of a number of specific species, including ring-tailed lemurs and red-ruffed lemurs, which the group claims are housed in "extremely cramped and filthy" conditions, without enough food, water or "psychological enrichment objects," the complaint says.

The habitat for gray wolves kept at the zoo is "small and lacking variety," the complaint says, and the animals often don't have access to clean water.

"The impact of the inhumane living conditions are palpable: people observed the wolves fighting and one wolf whimpering," the complaint says.

The zoo doesn't provide the tigers kept in captivity with basic necessities, the complaint says, and "the water tanks are full of algae, the food is infested with maggots and the straw is left soiled and unchanged for up to months on end."

"There is no space for the tigers to swim, run or even stretch their legs — let alone engage in a normal range of social or stimulating activity," the complaint says.

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The zoo keeps Canada lynx in "tiny, barren, unclean and foul-smelling enclosures," with no cover from snow, the complaint says. 

A pair of Japanese macaques, named Bill and Sheri, are kept in isolation in filthy enclosures "far smaller and barer than even the most minimal home ranges that Japanese macaques typically inhabit," the complaint says.

As a result, the Japanese macaques exhibit a number of stereotypical behaviors, such as "circling back and forth, rocking their cages, acting aggressively and sitting depressed in a corner," the complaint says.

The complaint claims there have been multiple reports of animals harming each other at the zoo, "specifically, male animals harming smaller females due to unnatural housing arrangements," the complaint says. 

The zoo doesn't instruct staff to follow any type of cleaning schedule, the complaint says, and as a result, several animals' cages go uncleaned for months at a time. 

A live rat was found in a bucket of meat that was to be fed to the "big cats, wolves and fishers," and water bowls and tanks for numerous animals are reportedly filthy, the complaint says.

The zoo has no system for monitoring the food, water and supplements for any animals and the manager has rejected employee suggestions to implement such a system, the complaint says. 

"This can result in animals suffering from extreme thirst to the point they attempt to drink from visitors' water bottles," the complaint says.

The complaint also describes numerous incidents in which animals escaped from their enclosures, including when "a tiger once was loose for 15 minutes outside of its habitat," the complaint says.

The group has asked the court to prohibit the zoo from possessing or acquiring any endangered or threatened species, to terminate all ownership and rights to possess the animals, to appoint someone to find appropriate placement for the forfeited animals and to keep the zoo from obtaining other animals.

Contact Chris Mueller at 920-996-7267 or cmueller@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AtChrisMueller.