Lynn Gustafson shows off his new babies with paternal pride. Brother and sister, six weeks old, they spend most of their time sleeping. Gustafson, in his early sixties, is already the father of five grown children, so he's thrilled that the new arrivals are lion cubs. And on this day, visiting children are gently petting the baby wildcats, all of them ecstatic about touching a real live lion, while Gustafson supervises. For a few months, the lion cubs can be safely handled and with the other new babies--skunks, raccoons, guinea pigs, wolf cub and New Guinea singing dog pups--they create a huge tourist draw (let's face it--the only tourist draw) for the nearby town of Three Hills, Alta., 140 kilometres northeast of Calgary.
Gustafson's zoo--called Guzoo--is no ordinary menagerie. First of all, it's privately owned--the largest private zoo in Alberta, with 400 or so animals, ranging from guinea pigs and hamsters to birds, pot-bellied pigs, camels, farm animals and large carnivores--like Siberian tigers, lions and bears. Unlike larger, more elegant municipal operations, Gustafson's zoo is often the last resort for many creatures: those off-loaded by other zoos that no longer want them or dropped off by movie studios after their celebrity careers are over. Even unwanted exotic pets are welcome at Guzoo. And they all thrive, says Gustafson. The proof? In the last two months alone, dozens of babies, just like these lion cubs, have been born. "Only healthy animals reproduce," he says.
The satisfaction he feels letting children have the opportunity to have this kind of authentic encounter with animals is the main reason Gustafson was inspired to open up his family farm to the public, in 1990. And it's probably the main thing that keeps him fighting against all those who have been trying to shut him down ever since. Over the past two decades, Guzoo has been harassed by constant complaints, mostly generated by animal welfare groups and animal rights activists. In the past three years, Zoocheck and the World Society for the Protection of Animals have aggressively lobbied the Alberta government to shut Guzoo down. It hasn't worked--yet. But Gustafson believes they're making progress. Lately he has had difficulty renewing his permit through Alberta's Fish and Wildlife department, a division of the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Development, which he believes is the direct result of an organized campaign the animal rights militants have undertaken against him, bombarding the government with complaints to pressure them into closing Guzoo. There's plenty of evidence to suggest that he's right.
Guzoo requires a zoo permit under the provincial Wildlife Act to possess indigenous wildlife and exotic animals. Usually permits are granted annually. But in the spring, Fish and Wildlife granted Guzoo a permit good for just two months. Then in June bureaucrats renewed its licence for just six months. Gustafson says he's certain the province is truckling to the eco-activists' letter-writing campaign. "Is my renewal based on public opinion or the Wildlife Act?" wonders Gustafson.
Whether their opinion is widely shared by the public or not, animal activists are unabashed about their position on Gustafson's private zoo: it's their aim to put him out of business. Calgary Animal Rights Coalition president Michael Alvarez-Toye has said of Gustafson: "He needs to be shut down--period." The World Society (which has, among other things, advised all Canadians to stop eating meat, dairy and eggs) has also publicly called for Guzoo to be put out of business.
But since Guzoo is such a popular attraction--more than 20,000 people visit it each year--the animal rights activists find their most powerful weapon is lobbying government bureaucrats to make life difficult for Gustafson. Animal activists routinely spy on Gustafson's zoo, trying to dig up any evidence they can use to convince Fish and Wildlife officials to refuse him the licence.
Western Standard has obtained copies of some of the complaints sent to wildlife officers. One criticizes a sign in the zoo that reads, "Handwashing is strongly recommended" after visitors handle zoo animals. The complaint notes that it has not been made a requirement among visitors. "How can I force people to wash their hands?" asks Gustafson.
Another letter complains the carnivores are fed dead animals. "That's what lions eat," says Gustafson with a chuckle. Another complaint says monkeys are kept alone in enclosures despite being "incredibly social animals who require a large amount of interaction" with other monkeys. With wild monkeys, Gustafson agrees, sociability is important. But all the monkeys at the Guzoo are rescue animals--either orphans or cast-off pets that have been in solitary captivity all their lives. "They'd kill each other if they were put together," he says.
Ultimately, says Gustafson, the complaints are not about anything he does at his zoo in particular. Rather, they are motivated by "an underlying notion that animals in captivity is wrong." Not surprisingly, many of the grievances reflect ignorance of the realities of animal husbandry. "People rarely see behind the scenes at a major city zoo," says Gustafson. "People don't see the lions being fed." A visitor to Guzoo, on the other hand, might see a pack of foxes devouring rooster heads or lions stripping the meat off of a horse leg. It's visceral, but it's how the animal kingdom really is, says Gustafson. "Carnivores are wild animals."
While the harsh realities of the animal kingdom don't seem to irk the thousands of tourists that flock to Three Hills every year, animal rights groups and journalists in the mainstream media have shown themselves to be less unflappable. Last year, when an animal rights activist turned up at The Calgary Sun with photos of hundreds of dead chickens in a field on Gustafson's property, the Sun ran a story quoting the photographer, animal-rights advocate Gabriele Barrie, accusing the zookeeper of running "a concentration camp for animals." But Barrie's snapshots of the chicken cadavers weren't from inside the zoo; she had ventured onto the Gustafson's private farm. The day before, 4,000 dead chickens had been dropped off there unexpectedly by nearby Hutterites, and the cadavers were about to be composted into the soil. Gustafson's lawyer is preparing a statement of claim against the Sun, for defamation.
More recently, the Edmonton Journal ran a story about Gustafson's licence renewal. The June 3 story stated he had been convicted of charges of animal cruelty. It's not true. Gustafson is still debating whether he will take further action against the Journal for defamation. It wouldn't be the first time some source has mischievously put this fabrication in the ear of a journalist too careless to check the facts. In 2001, Maclean's magazine published "Animal Wrongs," a cover story claiming that Gustafson had been convicted of animal cruelty and served 30 days in jail. Both statements were false. After receiving a letter from Gustafson's lawyer, Maclean's printed a full retraction.
Gustafson says he has continually improved his operation over the past two years, and government officials have yet to find any serious deficiencies. Back in 1999, Drumheller Fish and Wildlife officer, Byron Jensen, told reporters Gustafson was meeting provincial standards. A February inspection also concluded the facility was "clean and reasonably well-maintained." No animal care issues were identified by the SPCA, according to the region's wildlife management head, Ron Bjorge.
The unrelenting pressure from animal rights groups has begun to wear on the provincial bureaucrats nonetheless. The Western Standard has obtained an internal letter written by Bjorge on March 30, alluding to the difficult situation into which his agency has been placed by the controversy around Guzoo. "Acknowledging that animal care and husbandry concerns are not included within the Fish and Wildlife Division's mandate, we continue to be drawn into this contentious issue by being the recognized licensing authority," writes Bjorge. "We are faced with the expectation of being responsive to the public's concerns."
On June 1, Bjorge, a wildlife biologist, wrote a letter to Gustafson saying it was important that "everything reasonable" be done to "minimize public complaints." Yet in a letter to Bjorge, Jensen wrote last September that "Complaints will never completely stop, as a number of people and interest groups do not support private zoos. The bottom line is we must find a certain standard as acceptable for our department regardless of complaints."
When asked by the Western Standard if the Fish and Wildlife department has ever felt pressured to revoke or turn down Guzoo's licence, department spokesman David Ealey replies, "We work in response to legislation. That's not an acceptable question." He does admit, however, that in this case, things may not be so clear-cut. "The standards are not laid out in the legislation," he concedes. "Every zoo is different. We're always trying to find ways of doing a better job. But it's not arbitrary; it's not based on whim. It's based on the expertise of our staff. You can't come up with one standard for each species."
Gustafson worries that the government has been developing their standards with an eye to satisfying interest groups, specifically Zoocheck, an animal rights activist group, which, among other things, has fought to ban circuses across Canada. A March 29 e-mail from Julie Woodyer, Zoocheck campaigns director, to James Skrenek, the head of Fish and Wildlife, obtained by the Western Standard, reads: "Hi Jim, Thanks for your note the other day. I would recommend that your office take measures now to stop the situation at Guzoo from continuing any longer by revoking the licence . . . it is unfortunate that your annual break is the same week the [Guzoo] permit is to be reassessed."
But department spokesman Ealey maintains that Gustafson's licence problems are because his zoo plan is "not adequate." When asked what is missing, Ealey replies, "The bottom line is that [the plan] is to look at the zoo as a whole; its development over the long term, its attention to public safety and to care and handling of the animals." But the department can't provide much guidance to Gustafson in preparing an acceptable plan, and there is no precedent for him to follow. Ealey says there are "no comparable private zoos in Alberta that would have meaningful zoo development plans to compare with."
An April 11 letter written to Gustafson by Bjorge is only slightly more helpful. "The zoo plan is what we use to help answer letters that we received and it simply needs more update and review," he writes. "However, I did not see this as a big task, just something that needs to be done to put us in a proactive position."
Instructions from Fish and Wildlife sent to Gustafson in a March 2004 letter instruct him to "address enclosure size and enrichment issues to ensure industry guidelines standards are met." The zoo owner notes he meets or exceeds every cage size as recommended in material he was given by Fish and Wildlife in 1999. All the enclosures were, in fact, approved by the provincial department before animals were acquired. Ealey responds: "Well, they might have changed."
But when Red Deer area superintendent Clark Merriman inspected the facility in late February, he found "the overall state of repair to fencing . . . sufficient to prevent the escape of animals." He noted gates were equipped with padlocks and pens containing animals were secure. Animals with the potential of biting had "stand-off barriers which appear adequate." Merriman's report concluded there were "no significant deficiencies precluding the zoo permit from being renewed." Nevertheless, he did decide it was "desirable" to renew Guzoo's permit for only six months to "provide us greater flexibility in addressing issues as they arise." He added: "We should also continue communicating our very clear expectations with respect to reducing the number of public complaints."
In other words, it seems that as long as activist groups keep up the pressure, the government will probably continue to feel uncomfortable letting Gustafson run his legal, healthy and popular zoo in peace. And that's exactly what Gustafson expects, he says. "These animal rights terrorists have vowed to not stop till I'm out of business." And with the government playing right into their hands, Gustafson wonders if one of these days they might just succeed.
Exclusive to the Western Standard
August 30, 2004
