OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has determined Wild Florida Safari Park violated the federal Animal Welfare Act after two incidents where animals escaped their enclosures and were killed.
The ruling and accompanying fine came exactly one year after a News 6 investigation uncovered the details surrounding the shooting death of a white rhino on Wild Florida’s property in southern Osceola County.
White rhinos are classified as “near threatened,” according to the World Wildlife Federation.
Watch News 6′s investigation
According to an initial report compiled by Florida Fish and Wildlife, “dispatch received an anonymous tip that a rhinoceros had just been shot at Wild Florida” at 11:45 a.m.” on Sept. 19, 2022, which was just days before the park was scheduled to debut its new rhino exhibit to the public.
Body-worn camera footage showed General Manager Jordan Munns explaining to investigators that the rhino broke out of its initial enclosure just one day after it was delivered, which forced him to close the park to visitors.
He said the next morning, he and other staff members watched as the animal worked to escape from its secondary enclosure.
Once it was free, he said the rhino ran into a grove of cypress trees inside the park.
Munns told FWC investigators his staff shot the rhino, but he kept running.
He said he and other staff members chased it while shooting at it for about one-third of a mile inside the park.
The body camera footage showed Munns explaining they fired approximately 15 rounds, using three different calibers, before the rhino dropped dead.
As part of News 6′s original investigation, Co-owner Sam Haught provided a statement, which read in part: “In September 2022, a new rhino began to pose an imminent danger to the park at large, and after consultation with leadership and Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) guidelines, we made the difficult decision to humanely euthanize the animal.”
The other incident included in the USDA report concerned the escape for four Aoudads, also known as Barbary Sheep, which escaped the park in 2020.
Two were killed by hunters, according to a previous investigative report, and two were later euthanized.
“We believe that you violated the Animal Welfare Act,” read the USDA Settlement Agreement posted to the USDA website on Wednesday.
The agency imposed a civil penalty of $9,000 to resolve the case.
In paying the fine, Wild Florida would not be admitting or denying any violation and would also waive their right to hearings on the matter.
Wild Florida refused to comment on the settlement.
