USDA: Revoke Convicted Wildlife Trafficker’s License!

Notorious wildlife trafficker, Jason Clay, is operating a roadside zoo in Texas, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is providing his license to do it!

Clay has a long-documented history of USDA violations, including inadequate veterinary care, filthy conditions, and unsound enclosures, with animals subjected to unsafe handling, drugged during the taping of a staged “reality” TV show, denied adequate psychological enrichment, improperly sold or transferred between facilities, and simply lost.

Email the USDA using the form below urging them to cancel Clay’s USDA license.

Twice now, in 2022 and 2024, the Animal Legal Defense Fund has submitted complaints urging the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to investigate and revoke, or refuse to renew, the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) exhibitor license for Clay, who is doing business in Texas at the Franklin Drive Thru Safari.

As recently as November 2023, Clay was cited and fined over $5,000 for AWA violations. And in December 2023, he pleaded guilty to violating the Endangered Species Act for illegally transporting an endangered juvenile chimpanzee across state lines.

Clay has been cited for the following AWA violations on four separate inspections of his animal exhibitor facilities:

• Failure to maintain records for the acquisition and disposition of dozens of animals, including a jackal, a zebra, a savannah cat, and a muntjac.

• Inability to ensure that his facilities provide adequate potable water, including in an enclosure containing 23 animals.

• Failure to prevent injuries, such as a pig with long hooves curling upward on their hind feet, which a USDA inspector noted “can lead to discomfort, pain and crippling in animals.”

• Inadequate veterinary care resulting in deaths and injuries of animals.

Laws only protect animals if they are enforced. Thank you for speaking up and helping us hold this government agency accountable.