- Home
- Main Category
- Questions mount over Jackson animal kingdom
Questions mount over Jackson animal kingdom
- By Author Specified in Link
- Published 06/29/2009
- Main Category
- Unrated
Besides leaving a musical legacy, Michael Jackson orphaned an array of
exotic pets with some of them unaccounted for and even his beloved
chimpanzee Bubbles depending on donations.
In what was once seen mostly as a harmless eccentricity, Jackson at
the height of stardom amassed a private zoo of giraffes, tigers and
other foreign animals at Neverland, his sprawling fantasy estate in
California.
Nearly all of the animals have been moved to new homes in the past few
years as Jackson's personal and financial woes worsened, with animal
rights activists saying some have become roadside attractions in
uncertain conditions.
Bubbles, once the world's best known ape who slept in the superstar's
bedroom and mastered his Moonwalk dance, has lived since 2005 at the
Center for Great Apes in Florida, the head of the sanctuary said.
Jackson did not provide financial support for Bubbles and, despite his
stated desire, never visited him there, said Patti Ragan, director of
the Center for Great Apes.
...
Lisa Wathne, PETA's specialist in captive exotic animals, voiced
particular concern about two of Jackson's orangutans sent to a private
owner in Connecticut and reptiles at a roadside zoo in Oklahoma.
She said Jackson's case showed why wild animals should not be kept as pets.
"All too often even people who start with good intentions, as Michael
Jackson certainly did, don't have the ability to properly care for
these animals," she said.
"And unfortunately in Michael Jackson's case he did apparently run
into financial problems that ultimately led to his animals being
disbursed to places all over the world. We don't know, frankly, where
most of them ended up."
--
full story:
http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-world/questions-mount-over-jackson-animal-kingdom-20090629-d21g.html
exotic pets with some of them unaccounted for and even his beloved
chimpanzee Bubbles depending on donations.
In what was once seen mostly as a harmless eccentricity, Jackson at
the height of stardom amassed a private zoo of giraffes, tigers and
other foreign animals at Neverland, his sprawling fantasy estate in
California.
Nearly all of the animals have been moved to new homes in the past few
years as Jackson's personal and financial woes worsened, with animal
rights activists saying some have become roadside attractions in
uncertain conditions.
Bubbles, once the world's best known ape who slept in the superstar's
bedroom and mastered his Moonwalk dance, has lived since 2005 at the
Center for Great Apes in Florida, the head of the sanctuary said.
Jackson did not provide financial support for Bubbles and, despite his
stated desire, never visited him there, said Patti Ragan, director of
the Center for Great Apes.
...
Lisa Wathne, PETA's specialist in captive exotic animals, voiced
particular concern about two of Jackson's orangutans sent to a private
owner in Connecticut and reptiles at a roadside zoo in Oklahoma.
She said Jackson's case showed why wild animals should not be kept as pets.
"All too often even people who start with good intentions, as Michael
Jackson certainly did, don't have the ability to properly care for
these animals," she said.
"And unfortunately in Michael Jackson's case he did apparently run
into financial problems that ultimately led to his animals being
disbursed to places all over the world. We don't know, frankly, where
most of them ended up."
--
full story:
http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-world/questions-mount-over-jackson-animal-kingdom-20090629-d21g.html
