ALBUQUERQUE, NM (KRQE) — Albuquerque City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn says animals at the Albuquerque Biopark are neglected and suffering and says she has witnessed the conditions for herself. Councilor Fiebelkorn came to Wednesday night’s city council meeting armed with damning pictures of the animals at the Biopark’s Heritage Farm.
Those pictures showed no shade outside the horse stalls, a rooster with overgrown spurs and missing his tail, pictures from different days showing filthy water in the turkey exhibit, and chickens with all of them missing their feathers. “There are three reasons that I’ve been told that all the chickens could have this bad of missing feathers. It’s either a bad ratio of male to female, and they’re actually pecking each other. It’s stress, and they’re pecking themselves, pulling out their own feathers, or it’s a bad diet,” said Fiebelkorn at the meeting.
It continued to get worse. “There on display are a bunch of sheep, and again, on my personal visit on the 14th there was no water, I was there for 45 minutes. It was so hot that my phone overheated, and I was unable to take additional photographs, yet these animals were there without any water, again, not appropriate,” said Fiebelkorn.
The Biopark defended the animal’s care in broad terms. “These animals are all under veterinarian’s care, they’re been receiving care, antibiotics, topical ointments, high calcium diet, and this is something we are working to correct,” said Brandon Gibson, Biopark Deputy Director.
Councilor Fielbelkorn says the animal’s conditions are so bad, she wants the city to consider sending them to a sanctuary, “I am officially requesting that these animals be seen by an actual veterinarian, clearly not the veterinarians who are caring for them now. I would like an independent survey of if they are okay, I would like to be present at that visit, and I would like to discuss a plan to release these animals to sanctuaries because they are clearly not getting the care they need.”
Councilor Fiebelkorn got pictures of the problems at the Heritage Farm from a constituent who was visiting. She then to the farm herself to take her own photos.
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