While Justin Bieber and family seemed to initially have been on board for a Bowmanville Zoo fundraiser to take place on August 28 to raise money to relocate the animals since the controversial zoo is shutting down after nearly 100 years, it now appears they will not be a part of it.
“My family is in no way affiliated or supports any zoo. Nor are we apart of or the host of any fundraiser,” Jeremy Bieber tweeted on Wednesday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, a message on the zoo’s Facebook page announced the event, dubbing it Bieber Family Fun Day.
“The main challenge in closing the zoo is to keep the animals fed, happy and healthy while we search for new homes for all of them,” reads the announcement. “In order to help fund the care of the animals during the re-homing process, we are doing a special day at the zoo: Bieber Family Fun Day, or ‘BFF Day!'”
Continuing, the message read: “Over the last few months, The Bieber family have met some of our amazing animals. We are delighted to announce that the Bieber Family will be attending the Bowmanville Zoo fundraiser with the goal of raising money for the successful rehoming of our animals.
August 28th at the Bowmanville Zoo will be the Bieber Family Fun Day – or BFF Day! … And who knows, maybe few other big celebrities will make an appearance that day too!”
After Jeremy Bieber’s tweet, the zoo deleted its Facebook post on the event.
After the zoo’s announcement on Wednesday, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) President Ingrid Newkirk provided the following statement to ET Canada regarding the fundraiser: “PETA hopes the money raised on Sunday will end up in the right hands, meaning accredited sanctuaries that can properly take care of the animals who have been caged in this zoo for years. Various accredited sanctuaries have offered to retire these animals, and we hope that for once, the Bowmanville Zoo will do the right thing. We encourage Justin Bieber to ensure that these funds will be used to help these inmates directly and maybe then find himself some new ‘company,’ because aligning himself with owner Michael Hackenberger, who is currently facing cruelty charges, and a zoo that is constantly in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons will lead only to trouble.”
Bieber has previously taken heat from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) after sharing an Instagram photo of himself up close and personal with a tiger inside a Bowmanville Zoo enclosure.
“Justin Bieber is lucky not to have had his throat torn out by this stressed captive tiger,” blasted PETA in a statement earlier this year.
In addition, Bieber was sent a notice of violation last month by Toronto Animal Services, based on PETA’s complaints that he had “exhibited” live lions (provided by the Bowmanville Zoo) at two separate events. Bieber has not publicly commented on PETA’s criticism.
