June 29th, 2021 by WCBC Radio

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear a petition from the Tri-State Zoological Park, upholding a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals determination in favor of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in its federal Endangered Species Act lawsuit, which resulted in three big cats being removed from the zoo last year.

The appeals court ruled PETA had standing in the suit because “the roadside zoo created the misimpression that the conditions in which the animals were kept were lawful and consistent with animal welfare and because PETA’s mission demanded that it take action to correct that misimpression.”

In a media release Monday afternoon, Caitlin Hawks, PETA’s deputy general counsel for litigation, said another lawsuit against the zoo was already in the works.