The sense of mission, the love of animals obscures a person’s vision for a long time. We believe that sometimes it is necessary to take drastic measures in order to bring something good out of a bad basic situation. This is what happened to Heather Keepers, who worked at Triple D Animal Farm. The facility is a “toy farm” that has been operating for several decades, the essence of which is to serve the needs of the public and bring the world of wild animals closer to ordinary people.
They keep many species from local predators to exotic quadrupeds.
The animals living there are trained and trained to stand still and stare at the camera when it is their turn to be photographed, or how they can produce behavior similar to their other species living in nature for the sake of a film scene.
However, the hard truth casts a heavy shadow over the place, as these animals do not spend their daily lives in nature, but in narrow, concreted kennels, and some specimens can never leave the few square meters that have been assigned to them. In the revealing article of Rolling Stone magazine, it presents the fight between two women fighting for the interests of animals, who want the living creatures they hold in high esteem to have a better turn.
Is it real or fake?
Heather Keepers has been working with big game, bears, wildcats and wolves since she graduated from college. When he was first asked to work at Triple D, he was very excited, but all his illusions were shattered when he saw the tiny cages where the animals were kept. Still, he accepted the offer because it was in his mind that
may be able to provide a better life for these creatures.
He worked hard for years. He became the number one trainer in the place, who cultivated a close relationship with all the animals kept there. He perfectly trained them in their tasks, while trying to take care of their safety and health. For a while, the owners promised that they would inherit it and leave it to Triple D to maintain. Keepers trusted this, hoping that when it did, it would eliminate the tiny cages and replace them with large runs for their four-legged friends.
Over the years, however, he realized that this was more of a wishful thinking on his part than an achievable goal. The many ethically and legally minimally worrisome things he experienced at Triple D became more and more difficult for him to bear. The breaking point was the death of one of his beloved wolves, whom he had raised from birth. Another animal, fresh from Europe, killed him, with whom he was locked in a cage. This was the last straw for Keepers. He decided to contact nature photographer Melissa Groo, who had been attacking Jay Deist’s Triple D for years, so that together they could put an end to what was going on there.
Hi Melissa!
As I am not really a fan of you, it is quite difficult for me to formulate this letter now… You and I, although we are not friends, it so happened that we have a common enemy… our reasons are different, but on some points they are the same. This is Triple D.
The time I spent there was heaven and hell all wrapped up for me. I loved those animals more than anyone could love anything. I gave them the best I could with what I had. I worked for nine years with the belief that one day I would inherit the place. I stuck with this idea because I really wanted to change what was there. What is there. You are wrong about many things, but at the same time you are right about many things
the paper quotes Keepers. The caregiver continued:
“I will not share any specific information with you at this time. It’s just that I have an ENDLESS amount of information, data, and existing evidence about many things. About illegal, unethical, morally infinitely bad and dishonest things.
The reason I am contacting you is simple. Those animals need to be saved from Jay Deist. Those animals deserve so much better. Especially now that I am no longer there to provide at least half of their needs, many of them just wait and perish.
Some of them suddenly died after I came…
I am desperately trying to save them. And yes…that requires people who hate Triple D as much as I do. And I’m not just talking about some animals so Jay can replace them with new ones. I mean all the animals. Then your action can be completely finished. Forever.”
Concerns
Of course, Groo immediately jumped at the chance, and since then the two women have been fighting with full vigor to bring the dubious affairs of the farm to light. As a nature photographer, Melissa Groo has long tried to let the world know that the images taken under the auspices of Triple D do not show a real picture of the animals: they are not only the end products of a forced process, but also, in her opinion, a mockery of the entire nature photography environment.
Nevertheless, Keepers saw the presence of the farm as a positive, as it gave many people – who for financial or health reasons could not travel to the wild’s natural homeland or take part in a safari – to meet these special creatures up close.
The point of intersection between the two women’s different worldviews became Triple D’s dubious working methods.
In the case of Triple D, in addition to the small cages, Keepers and former employees tracked down by Rolling Stone also testified about such things, according to which, for example, they illegally removed the claws of a tiger in 2013, since this is a prohibited intervention in the United States since 2006, the procedure can survive cause constant, constant walking pain to the animal, and in the worst case, the big cat may die.
In addition, they often decide to anaesthetize the animals instead of providing them with expensive medical care, as expensive treatments often do not pay off. Many wild animals are kept just to mate them – some of them almost never leave their cages – so they can meet the currently very popular demand for baby animals, be it for video and photo content or the exotic animal trade.
From Disney to Nature
The history of animal farms goes back to the middle of the last century, when even the large Walt Disney group of companies did not shy away from sacrificing animals for a “good” movie or doing things that are seriously ethically questionable. Many such creations were born, such as the infamous one White wildernesswhere for dramatic effect quite a few lemmings were simply pushed off a cliff.
Triple D has been around for decades, founded by mountain lion hunter Lorney Deist and his two sons. At first they only wanted to breed and sell species native to the Northwestern United States, but after being approached by a film company, they soon found themselves in the entertainment industry.
Since then, according to their confession, they have also worked with Disney, Nature, the BBC and National Geographic.
The latter’s former editor-in-chief, photojournalist Chris Johns, who held the position at the company between 2005 and 2014, told Rolling Stone that he knows many photographers who earn thousands of dollars from pictures taken on such farms, since nature photography is still always a multi-million dollar business. However, he pointed out that although stock photos and a video can be recorded in such conditions, the real, big moments of the sector cannot be caught with a evasive method.
Let no one be mistaken, they are simply taking advantage of the animals
– said Johns about taking pictures on an animal farm where the welfare of the animals kept there is secondary.
Some success
In the case of Triple D, the inspectors who came out always reported the same thing to the center: “No problems were found during the inspection.” In 2021, it was finally achieved that, in addition to the inspector, an animal health officer also arrived on the scene, who, seeing the conditions, voiced his professional concerns in a 42-page documentation.
Many vessels have a green (algae) coating on the inner surface in contact with the water, and some water tanks have dead flies and floating debris (…) Excessive accumulation and layering of dirt, filth, fur and urine on technical doors and walls
– the magazine quotes the expert opinion.
This was also a small victory in the struggle between Keepers and Groo, as well as when the authorities were notified in time that Deist wanted to illegally purchase endangered snow leopard cubs. Although Triple D remains active, the two women continue to fight to protect the animals and secure their future.
Rolling Stone magazine contacted the head of Triple D, Jay Deist, who refused to give an interview to the magazine. The paper also sent fact-checking questions to the farm manager, but he did not answer them either.
(Cover photo: Marcos del Mazo / LightRocket / Getty Images)
