Bite spurs mother to push for more oversight at park

Elizabeth Ross went to Buffalo Beals Animal Park on Labor Day with her brother and grandfather, hoping to see a few animals and have a good time.

Her grandparents, who live in Conover, asked if she and her 3-year-old brother, Nathan, wanted to go to Buffalo Beals, and Nathan said yes. Elizabeth agreed.

"It's fun to go look at all the animals," Elizabeth said, who's been to the park several times before.

But the 9-year-old didn't expect the day to end with a trip to the emergency room, with most of a finger on her right hand missing, bitten off by one of the animals at the animal park.

The attack

On Sept. 7, they paid to go into the park and bought some food to feed the animals.

"We saw goats, snakes and some big deer," Elizabeth said.

They had been at Buffalo Beals for about 20 minutes before they went to see the zebra. Elizabeth got some pellets out of a machine to feed it, and put it in a flattened palm for the zebra to eat.

"My grandpa has horses, so I know to feed them with my palm out," she said. "I was feeding it, and it ate all the food and then grabbed my hand above the wrist and wouldn't let go."

Elizabeth's grandfather had to hit the zebra several times to make it release Elizabeth's arm. When the zebra finally did, they could see she no longer had part of her pinky finger on her right hand.

"It didn't hurt that much because I was in shock," Elizabeth said. "It was a clean bite. I could see the bone."

Elizabeth's mother, Kristy Ross, said she is upset with how ill-prepared Buffalo Beals was for any kind of emergency.

"They didn't have any kind of first aid kit in the office when they went in there for help," Ross said. "They gave her a napkin and asked her if she wanted Neosporin. Her grandfather asked them where the nearest EMS station was, since they were in Maiden, and they didn't know. They weren't prepared."

Elizabeth's grandfather rushed her to the hospital, where she had to spend more than five hours, waiting for animal control to take a report on the incident and get her wound treated. She also had to get an antibiotics shot, two shots to prepare her for rabies treatment shots and the first of seven rabies shots. The following day, Elizabeth spent more than four hours with a surgeon.

The aftermath

Since then, Elizabeth has completed all but one of her rabies shots, getting the sixth in the series today. She must get the shots at the hospital instead of at her pediatrician's office. Each time they go, they must wait at least three hours, said her dad, Jonathan. She also was on antibiotics for 10 days.

Elizabeth has had about half of the 40 or so stitches taken out of her hand, and will hopefully have the other half taken out Wednesday.

Her dad is worried about how Elizabeth will react when the rest of the stitches are removed, and the bandage will finally come off her hand. Although she seems OK with missing part of her finger now, he's not sure how it will be once she can actually see it.

"I don't think she understands the impact yet," he said. "It's hard enough these days for kids to blend in."

Her parents have helped Elizabeth with her homework, as well with daily tasks people take for granted. Elizabeth is right-handed.

"I've had to help her write some of her answers. The teacher lets her do some things orally. She's been doing some things with her left hand," Ross said. "I've had to give her baths, because she can't do it. This has taken some of her independence away."

Elizabeth also was to start piano lessons. Those have been postponed, Ross said.

Ross said she and her husband want to make the community — particularly other parents — aware of what happened to Elizabeth so they know just how little oversight there is at Buffalo Beals.

"I'm not after them to shut them down, I just want more rules. I expect them to watch out for the kids and they're not," Kristy said. "At Buffalo Beals, you pay, they sell you food and that's it. You could jump the fence and get in to see the animals and they wouldn't know. There's no one out there watching you."

She compared Buffalo Beals to the Lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville. There, employees escort visitors around, and visitors can feed animals, but out of buckets. Employees also supervise visitors so the animals don't get out of control, Ross said.

Buffalo Beals' response

Ross said she is upset the owners of Buffalo Beals don't seem to take what happened to her daughter more seriously. They didn't call to check what happened to Elizabeth or apologize until four days later, on Sept. 11.

"The call was very short," Ross said. "She seemed nervous. She said she was just wondering how she was."

Kim Beal, co-owner of Buffalo Beals Animal Park, disagrees. She said she is concerned about what happened to Elizabeth.

"We're very sorry it happened," Beal said.

She said she also apologized to Elizabeth's grandparents the day she was bitten.

"I'm sorry. I feel bad," Beal said.

The zebra has been quarantined, as required by Catawba County Animal Services, since the incident.

It has remained on Buffalo Beals' property. The quarantine ended Friday, but the animal is still being kept away from the public while Beal and her husband decide how to ensure their guests' safety, Beal said. They're considering putting the zebra behind a barrier fence to prohibit people from getting close enough to touch it.

Ross said she's terrified they're going to put the zebra out for public viewing again without any restrictions.

Elizabeth said she did look for warnings against the zebra that day.

"I always look around for 'do not feed' signs, and there wasn't one up," she said of the zebra.

Elizabeth added she and her family were not told how to properly feed the animals the day they went.

Beal said she instructs children in school groups on how to hold their hands flat to feed the animals, but doesn't usually give instruction to individual visitors.

She said she does give instructions to visitors to use caution when feeding the donkeys, horses and zebra.

She said Buffalo Beals offers carrots for people who want to feed the animals, but aren't sure they want them to munch feed out of their hands.

Not the first bite at Buffalo Beals

This is the fourth time an animal has bitten someone at Buffalo Beals since the park opened four years ago, Beal said. She said 15,000 people visited the park last year.

According to Beal, the other bites came from a donkey, a horse and a lemur. The lemur bit a zoological intern who was in the cage with it. The horse and the donkey bit guests at the park. Beal said the zebra bite was the most severe and the other three didn't require stitches.

Jay Blatche, director of Catawba County Animal Services, has records of four bites: from a monkey, donkey, horse and zebra.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has no record of the other three bites, but they do know about the zebra bite.

Blatche said animal services and the USDA are conducting a joint investigation into the zebra bite and will coordinate with each other about the results of their findings.

Immediately following the bite, a veterinarian gave the zebra a thorough examination to ensure it was healthy, Blatche said. The quarantine was to ensure the zebra was not a danger to the public.

Catawba County Animal Services hasn't completed its findings yet, Blatche said, and neither has the USDA. He did not have any timeframe for when the USDA would complete its report.

Buffalo Beals' past violations

Buffalo Beals Animal Park has had numerous routine inspections by the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The results, which are posted online, show that the facility had spotty maintenance of some of its animal enclosures during 2007 and part of 2008.

The first report posted was March 8, 2007. The report states the brown rabbits, squirrel monkey and juvenile macaque (monkey) all had open wounds, scabs and hair loss. A veterinarian hadn't seen them. In addition, 10 rabbits didn't have proper shelter from the cold, two rabbits didn't have water and water for another set of rabbits was caked with feces and bedding. In a rhesus macaques (monkey) enclosure, a swing was torn down, leaving a bolt protruding several inches that they could get injured on. In the rhesus macaques facilities, there were no "enrichment materials," such as perches, swings or mirrors. One couldn't see other primates — all this is necessary to ensure psychological well being, according to the report. This affects 19 animals. The perches and bars in the tamarin (monkey) area needed to be cleaned to reduce odors. Additionally, there were several areas with inadequate or no shelter to protect animals from the elements, affecting 60 animals. The pig enclosure had a cement floor with no bedding. The prairie dog area had an excessive amount of feces and needed to be cleaned and the reptile house had an excessive amount of flies.

Aug. 16, 2007: The enclosure for the mandrill, two baboons, snow macaques and vervets didn't appear to have been cleaned for a few days, with several piles of feces and decaying fruit that attracted multitudes of flies. There were multiple areas of fence in the fallow deer and water buffalo enclosure that were torn up, which could injure the 35 animals in the enclosure. Additionally, there were still several enclosures with inadequate or no shelter from inclement weather. This affects 60 animals.

Dec. 13, 2007: The inspector arrived at the facility at 11 a.m. and there was no one there. "Each exhibitor must have someone available during regular business hours to allow officials to conduct inspections."

March 28, 2008: The snow macaques enclosure hadn't been cleaned in several days, with several piles of feces, affecting two animals. There is a singly housed tamarin, who couldn't see or hear other primates, and only one perch and a hanging toy. It had little to no hair on its tail. It must have extra enrichment to ensure mental stimulation and psychological well being, according to the report.

Additionally, the fence between the zebu enclosure and the llama enclosure had separated where the pieces meet.

May 6, 2008: There was no public barrier for the Binturong (Asian Bearcat), kinkajou (honey bear), provost squirrels, singing dog, porcupines, genets (cat-like animals) and marmosets (small monkeys). There needed to be a barrier with sufficient distance between the animals' enclosures and the public. This affects 11 animals. The snow macaques' enclosure also had not been cleaned for at least four days, according to the owner. There were piles of feces on the perches and in the corners, affecting two animals. In the pig tail macaque enclosure, there was a small wading pool with stagnant water filled with mosquito larvae, affecting two animals.

Sept. 3, 2008: No non-compliances noted during this inspection.

The animals at Buffalo Beals

Beal said her animal park is safe. She lets her children and grandchildren come to the park without hesitation.

"This is a safe place for kids to come and see exotic animals at a reasonable price," Beal said. "I would never have anything that wasn't safe for people."

She does concede the animals should be treated with caution.

"They're all wild animals. I wouldn't turn my back on any of them while I'm in the pasture," Beal said.

Ross said she wants the Beals to take more preventative measures to protect the public — especially since so many elementary schools come to the animal park on field trips.

"I hope they'll put their own restrictions up and rules, if they see I'm taking this seriously," she said. "I didn't give birth to a healthy girl so something could take parts of her away."

Elizabeth has been fairly resilient about the ordeal. She still runs around the house, playing with her two cats. She said the worst part has been getting her stitches out. She describes the pain she's feeling on Sunday as a "three" out of 10. The day after it happened, it was a "five" — but she was on pain pills.

Elizabeth, too, thinks Buffalo Beals needs to be more cautious.

"I think they need to put up a 'do not feed' sign for animals that are harmful and can hurt you," she said.

Richard Gould, Record staff writer, contributed to the story.