Zoo owner lashes out at animal welfare commissioner, threatens to have her removed

Tuesday, 8 December 2020, 13:14 Last update: about 4 years ago

Zoo owner Anton Cutajar has lashed out at the newly-appointed animal welfare commissioner, Alison Bezzina, after she spoke against the caging of wild animals.

In a highly-charged Facebook post, Cutajar, the owner of the (illegally built, later sanctioned) Arka ta’ Noe zoo in Siggiewi, said he will act to force Bezzina out of her post if she makes a move against his zoo, as this is a “conflict of interest.”

“I will send the letters to who I need to send them to, in order to to remove you from your post, and make sure that your time as commissioner is up,” Cutajar threatened.

This comes after Bezzina’s said in an interview that “the only so called benefit that zoo animals get from being handled and petted is that they get used to being around people and being handled by them.”

She added that, “this is more beneficial to people than to the animals themselves who should not be caged in the first place.” Bezzina stated that the ideal situation would be that of having no zoos in the country.

Cutajar, who is also well-known for his anti-migration views, published a 24-minute live video on Facebook, in which he directly attacked and questioning Bezzina: “What is your goal in banning these animals? What are we doing that is so wrong?”

He said it would be better if Bezzina devoted her time to initiatives such as organising fundraisers to help these animals.

Cutajar also attacked the Nationalist Party, civil society NGOs, the press as well as the Labour Party.

“Although Prime Minister Robert Abela appointed you as the animal welfare commissioner, you do not understand animals and do not care about them. You are only concerned with removing zoos and with picking on me,” Cutajar said.

He threatened Bezzina once again that she would be removed from her position if she made a move against zoos, as he stated that, “we can’t keep going down this path.”

“The more you attack me, the more I’m strengthened because I was raised as a Mintoffjan,” he said.

Cutajar added that he would even run for politics with the Labour party if need be, but he doesn’t do so because he claimed that he doesn’t have the time for it. “But rest assured that if I had the time, I would go into politics and I would get the most votes,” he said.

“It is unacceptable that the Labour party elects a commissioner in this way,” he continued, adding that Bezzina does not have the right qualifications for her role.

He argued that a ban of this kind should not take place and that families should be left to enjoy such animals.

Controversy erupted a few weeks back when the government put up new draft regulations on the keeping of wild animals for public consultation. Animal Rights Minister Anton Refalo had initially said that the controversial practice of animal petting would be banned, but this was changed barely 24 hours after the draft regulations were published, in what is an apparent goverment u-turn. The ministry has now told The Malta Independent that the first version that was put online was the incorrect one.

Activists believe that the government reversed its original decision after facing pressure by zoo owners.

The growing number of voices against zoos includes ADPD, which said today that these establishments are just vanity projects with no benfits for conservation.