Lief the Sitatunga (2016-2024)
Obituary
Leif died at Brights Zoo in rural Tennessee after choking on a squeezable food pouch left by a visitor.
Leif, a 7-year-old sitatunga, a species of antelope, died at Brights Zoo in rural Tennessee in June 2024 after choking on a squeezable food pouch left by a visitor. Sitatunga live throughout the swamps and forests of Africa, including in Cameroon, Central African Republic, and Botswana. Three other sitatunga are still held at the zoo.
In 2023, Brights Zoo received five citations from the US Department of Agriculture for Animal Welfare Act violations. The zoo was cited for:
- Rusting metal and peeling paint in the monkey enclosure.
- Poor ventilation in the nonhuman primate housing which left the animals vulnerable to extreme heat. On the day the USDA inspector visited, the temperature was 96 degrees outdoors and 92.7 degrees inside, with a humidity of 72%.
- The presence of hundreds of flies in the enclosures housing squirrel monkeys, lemurs, and colobuses.
- Unopened bags of feed stacked on pallets with large amounts of cobwebs stretching between pallets.
- A large container of food with moldy fruits and vegetables that was about to be fed to pigs and a feeder in the giraffe enclosure that was full of white powder which was later determined to be disintegrated old feed.
Brights Zoo made news in 2017 when it attempted to sell a baby giraffe to a business with ties to canned hunting ranches. The sale was halted after national outcry.
World Animal Protection urges everyone who loves antelopes to avoid zoos and petting zoos and instead enjoy them in the wild or at an accredited sanctuary.
Photo credit: Facebook/Brights Zoo
