The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon continues to feature wild animals despite knowing about the cruelty inherent in doing so. That’s why PETA is calling on kind people to urge Jimmy Fallon to ban wildlife exhibitors from his show.
Most recently, Fallon featured numerous wild animals on his show, including Roxy, who was kidnapped from the wild as a baby and shuffled from exhibitor to exhibitor, including the Tarzan Zerbini Circus, which has a lengthy history of animal-welfare violations and even got in trouble for not providing Roxy with proper veterinary care for a swollen foot and for keeping her chained in a barn. She’s now rented out and carted from city to city for events. Elephants such as Roxy and other wild animals can become distressed and anxious when hauled around like this, and boisterous crowds can be very traumatic.
Elephants and other wild animals also pose a serious danger to humans. Roxy has been quarantined for tuberculosis (TB) and then re-exposed to the disease. Her exhibitor has been cited for publicly exhibiting an elephant who had tested positive for TB and had not completed treatment for the disease. Elephants carry the human strain of TB, which is highly transmissible to humans, even without direct contact. In addition, Roxy critically injured a woman by stepping on her and crushing her pelvis. And in May, Roxy’s exhibitor, was fined after an elephant she was exhibiting grabbed the arm of a woman with his trunk and pulled her into the metal bars of his enclosure, causing a collapsed lung, liver and kidney lacerations, spleen damage, and broken bones.
This same episode of The Tonight Show also featured a monkey named Marcel and a tiger cub named Himesh, supplied by the notorious Zoological Wildlife Foundation (ZWF). ZWF breeds, buys, and sells exotic animals and exhibits them wherever it is paid to do so. It’s operated by Mario Tabraue, whose long criminal history as a former drug kingpin includes convictions for dismembering and burning the remains of a former federal informant. His exotic-animal business served as a front for his drug-smuggling enterprise. ZWF has repeatedly violated the federal Animal Welfare Act, including by keeping animals in unsafe enclosures and failing to provide them with clean drinking water.
All these animals were handled by Jeff Musial, a frequent guest on The Tonight Show, who has also been repeatedly cited for animal-welfare violations, including denying animals adequate space, holding primates in solitary confinement, and filthy enclosures.
Please help animals such as Roxy, Marcel, and Himesh by sending an urgent note to Fallon urging him to ban wildlife exhibitors. A few moments of your time will go a long way for animals.