PETA recently sent a letter to David Meeks, the executive director of the Hollywild Animal Park, following a horrible fire that took the lives of 27 animals at the Primate Barn at the Hollywild Animal Park in South Carolina.

PETA was spurred into action by the horrific loss of life. Brittany Peet, the Deputy Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement for PETA, was the person who had sent this letter to Meeks requesting that the animals who had survived the fire, two baboons and one ring-tailed lemur, be sent to a reputable sanctuary to live out their remaining lives in safety with humane treatment. A formal complaint was also sent to the USDA about the facility.

In an interview with Animal News Examiner Peet expressed that it was not a surprise that this happened. Reputable parks have employees who monitor animals off and on throughout the night and working alarms and smoke detectors. This to insure that emergency situations can be dealt with in a quick manner.

The fire on Friday January 9 was caused by faulty wiring. It killed 27 animals, but 14 animals survived and are now receiving treatment for smoke inhalation. Hollywild has a bad history and has been under PETA's watchful eye for many years. They have had several welfare violations for failing to add environmental enrichment to the chimpanzees.

The letter that Peet wrote to the Hollywild facility spoke to PETA's position in sending their condolences for the losses of the animal's life and hope that Hollywild will do the right thing. They are ready to place the two surviving animals in a reputable facility and pay all the costs of the transfer.

In all the fire took the lives of four chimpanzees, two baboons, two capuchins, two mangabeys, seven lemurs, one bear cub, three tortoises, four wolf hybrid puppies, one African-crowned crane, and a barn cat.

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