{"id":31524,"date":"2025-07-02T03:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T03:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/31524\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T03:15:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T03:15:09","slug":"grizzly-bear-among-animals-transferred-to-alaska-zoo-following-raid-at-haines-wildlife-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/31524\/","title":{"rendered":"Grizzly bear among animals transferred to Alaska Zoo following raid at Haines wildlife center"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) &#8211; A grizzly bear named Kitty is one of several animals transferred to the care of Alaska zoo staff, the nonprofit\u2019s executive director confirmed, after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/883173697\/06-28-2Grizzly-bear-among-animals-transferred-to-Alaska-zoo-following-raid-at-Haines-wildlife-center5-1143-AM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/883173697\/06-28-2Grizzly-bear-among-animals-transferred-to-Alaska-zoo-following-raid-at-Haines-wildlife-center5-1143-AM\">a search warrant obtained<\/a> by Alaska\u2019s News Source showed dozens of animals were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alaskasnewssource.com\/2025\/07\/01\/owner-wildlife-center-haines-compares-situation-tiger-king-state-confirms-active-criminal-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.alaskasnewssource.com\/2025\/07\/01\/owner-wildlife-center-haines-compares-situation-tiger-king-state-confirms-active-criminal-investigation\/\">seized from Kroschel Films Wildlife Center<\/a> last week. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201c[Kitty] is being monitored very closely by our veterinary and animal care staff and I\u2019m happy to report that she\u2019s adjusting well,\u201d Alaska Zoo Executive Director Tristan Thon said, adding the bear is currently separated from other animals as she adjusts to her new surroundings. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">While Thon did not talk about the conditions or how many of Kroschel\u2019s animals that zoo staff is caring for, she did say in addition to Kitty they received wolves, foxes and \u201ca couple of other smaller species.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Video obtained by Alaska&#8217;s News Source shows a grizzly bear named Kitty at the Alaska Zoo, after she was removed from the Kroschel Films Wildlife Center.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">In addition to Kitty, a copy of a Wildlife Trooper<b> <\/b>search warrant, signed by a Juneau District Court judge, lists 36 other animals removed from Kroschel\u2019s Haynes property:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"list | article-list\">\n<li>1 moose<\/li>\n<li>1 porcupine <\/li>\n<li>3 wolves<\/li>\n<li>1 wolverine<\/li>\n<li>5 foxes<\/li>\n<li>10 mink<\/li>\n<li>6 marten<\/li>\n<li>3 lynx<\/li>\n<li>2 ermine<\/li>\n<li>1 red tail hawk<\/li>\n<li>3 snowy owls<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Department of Public Safety spokesperson Austin McDaniel told Alaska\u2019s News Source the warrant was associated with an \u201cactive and ongoing\u201d criminal investigation. As of Monday, no arrests had been made.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cTroopers completed their search on June 27th and released the property back to the owner,\u201d McDaniels wrote. \u201cWildlife Troopers did not euthanize or relocate any animals at the property during their search.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cI\u2019m fighting for my life right now,\u201d Kroschel told Alaska\u2019s News Source Monday, saying he believes he may be charged with animal cruelty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cIt\u2019s a horrible feeling\u2026 one you can\u2019t shake. It\u2019s not a dream. This is real life,\u201d he added, saying he was forced to close his facility to the public last summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">A letter sent to Kroschel by Division of Wildlife Conservation Director Ryan Scott in Dec. requested he work with the state to \u201crelinquish\u201d some animals and reiterated a USDA notification saying he would not be able to secure a new federal license, citing animal enclosure safety concerns and failed inspections.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">A \u201chighly concerned\u201d Scott also wrote in the letter Kroschel\u2019s \u201canimal welfare practices do not comply with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/crs-product\/R47179\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/crs-product\/R47179\">Animal Welfare Act<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The letter goes on to cite a May USDA inspection noting inadequate living conditions for animals in his care, including enclosures with damaged or inadequate fencing, exposed nails and wiring and disease risks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe have located facilities that are qualified and willing to accept nearly all animals currently in your possession,\u201d Scott wrote to Kroschel on Dec. 27, 2024. \u201cTo minimize your financial burden, and to ensure their humane care, I think it\u2019s best we work together to move animals at the earliest feasible date.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Kroschel called the state and USDA\u2019s claims to be \u201coutrageously false\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThe animals were cared for beautifully because they come first in my life, they always have,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">A Fish and Game spokesperson had not returned multiple requests for comment at the time of publication.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alaskasnewssource.com\/2025\/07\/01\/grizzly-bear-among-animals-transferred-alaska-zoo-following-raid-haines-wildlife-center\/mailto:web@ktuu.com\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.alaskasnewssource.com\/2025\/07\/01\/grizzly-bear-among-animals-transferred-alaska-zoo-following-raid-haines-wildlife-center\/mailto:web@ktuu.com\">web@ktuu.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"copyright |\">Copyright 2025 KTUU. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) &#8211; A grizzly bear named Kitty is one of several animals transferred to the care&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":31525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[26638,26639,159,26637,67,132,68,837],"class_list":{"0":"post-31524","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-alaska-tiger-king","9":"tag-joe-exotic","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-tiger-king","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114781469372058281","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}