[FEL-L] RE: Zoo Dynamics

[Bigcats10 at aol.com]

Habitat trial is delayed
By Kent Miller       
And the delay continues.

A representative for Texas  Attorney General Greg Abbott's office confirmed 
Friday that the attorney for  Marcus Cook and his organization, Zoo Dynamics, 
has requested and received a  continuance in the AG's civil case against the 
exotic animal  exhibitor.

This thing has rocked on for a long time now,” press spokesman  Tom Kelly 
said. “We need to get on with this.”

The case was set for a  Monday trial date in the 86th State District Court in 
Kaufman but the action by  Cook's attorney means Abbott's pursuit of Cook 
faces yet another delay. The case  has now been set for trial on Nov. 13.

“It's been a long and arduous  journey to get this through the courts in 
Kaufman County,” Kelly said last  month. “We thought in 2003 that we had a strong 
case against Mr. Cook and we  still believe that today. We just want to get 
this in front of a jury.”      
Zoo Dynamics found itself the target of unwanted publicity  last month when 
one of its animals, a 300-pound Bengal tiger escaped from its  caged enclosure 
and mauled a worker at the complex located between Terrell and  Kaufman off 
State Highway 34. The victim of the June 16 attack, Don Roberts, was  
hospitalized following the incident and needed 2,000-odd stitches to close the  numerous 
wounds,

Abbott's office, though, has been interested in Cook and  his organization 
since obtaining an emergency court order in the summer of 2003  against ZooCats 
Inc., Cook's former organization.

State District Judge  Howard Tygrett later dissolved the order, writing at 
the time that “the place to  establish rules and regulations for the exhibition 
of animals is through the  U.S. Department of Agriculture, health authorities 
or by statute, and not  piecemeal through the courts.”

Abbott's suit seeks damages for alleged  violations of the Deceptive Trade 
Practices Act and the Texas Nonprofit  Corporations Act

Zoo Dynamics has exhibited animals at the Terrell  Heritage Jubilee in three 
of the last four years       
According to the animal-rights organization, People for the  Ethical 
Treatment of Animals, the attack outside Terrell isn't the first time  one of Cook's 
big cats has caused injuries. In 2005, a visitor to a Florida car  dealership 
was bitten by a tiger cub belonging to Zoo Dynamics and in 2002, one  of the 
organization's tiger cubs bit an employee at Six Flags Over Texas,  spurring the 
amusement park to close the exhibit, PETA said. 
_http://www.terrelltribune.com/articles/2006/07/26/news/news02.txt_ 
(http://www.terrelltribune.com/articles/2006/07/26/news/news02.txt) 
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