Animals flee vandalized Guzoo
CALGARY — Donkeys running loose. An emu and sheep face to face with large, lumbering buffalo. Coyotes roaming free in the night.
The owners of a controversial roadside animal attraction in Three Hills woke up to a chaotic scene Sunday after holes were cut in enclosures separating numerous animals.
GuZoo owners allege it was the handiwork of a vandal with a beef against the facility.
“It gets you on edge,” said Bill Gustafson. “They (culprits) don’t care about the animals. They believe the animals are better off dead than in captivity.”
Someone accessed the property at around 2:30 a.m. and snipped about 11 holes in wire fences, Gustafson said, adding RCMP have been notified.
Some animals escaped and are still at large. Others ended up in pens with mammals several times their size and strength.
Gustafson said either his father or son woke up to find donkeys running loose around the property. When they investigated, they discovered a hole at the far end of their pen.
An enclosure housing five coyotes had also been pried open. Gustafson said they managed to retrieve one coyote, but sharp wires around the hole in the fence had sliced through the skin of its belly.
He said he fears for the missing animals. None were tagged with identifiers.
“They’re sending these coyotes to death,” he said. “They know enough that people are super afraid of them and somebody will shoot them.”
Gustafson said the culprit also carved openings in fences separating sheep, buffalo and Mike the emu. They all ended up in the same pen.
“There’s a lot of animals that were potentially put in danger through this act,” Gustafson said.
Signs along Highway 21 giving directions to the zoo were chopped down. Gustafson estimates it will cost thousands to repair the damage.
Three Hi l ls RCMP could not be reached for comment.
This isn’t the first time that GuZoo has alleged the business has been targeted. Last May, two timber wolves were found dead at GuZoo and the owners feared they were poisoned to hurt the facility.