MD Zebra Owner Jerry Lee Holly Sold Animals At Exotic Livestock Auction In TN

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — An investigation launched by WUSA9 shows that Jerry Lee Holly, 76, authorized the sale of some of his Maryland zebras and Florida exotic longhorns at an exotic animal auction in Tennessee while he faces animal cruelty charges.

Holly owns a zebra herd in Prince George's County; five animals from the herd escaped this fall and two are still on the loose.

Exotic animal sales are illegal in Maryland, Virginia and D.C., but not in Tennessee. People visit Cookeville, Tenn., regularly to buy exotic animals for their petting zoos at the Triple W Exotic Animal Auction at Wilson Horse and Mule Sale, which is where WUSA9 found Holly's animals.

Holly also owns a ranch in Florida and sold several exotic longhorns first at the auction. According to WUSA9's scouring of Florida public records, Holly has been cited more than 240 times in that state for wildlife violations spanning 17 years.

On Thursday, two of Holly's Maryland zebras were sold for between $5,000 and $7,000 each, WUSA9 reported after attending the auction in person. The Maryland man currently faces three animal cruelty charges in that state after one of zebras died in an illegal snare trap. Two others remain on the loose. Another zebra was found dead and decaying not far from the herd.

"Exotic animal auctions are cesspools of cruelty," PETA Associate Director for Captive Law Enforcement Debbie Metzler told WUSA9. "This is all because they're treated like commodities by the clientele of these exotic animal auctions, which are roadside zoos, circuses or traveling acts and canned hunting ranches. These are all very cruel industries where animals are denied their most basic welfare needs."

See more:

• 5 Zebras On Loose In Prince George's County: Officials
• Owner Of Missing Zebras Faces Animal Cruelty Charges, 1 More Dies

A third zebra originally on the loose was caught in a snare and died from its injuries mere feet from an enclosure where the herd of 36 zebras is kept.

Snare traps are illegal in Prince George's County and the animal's death is being investigated. Initially, it was reported that five zebras had escaped, but authorities later said only three originally escaped from the farm. All charges are related to the zebras at large.

Prosecutors say Holly, the owner of the exotic animal farm where the zebras lived, did not provide proper care and sustenance to his zebras, according to charging documents.

An investigator with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources said in charging documents that "the animal should have been seen or heard while it was dying from being caught in the snare if the caretaker had attended to the zebras in the fenced enclosure."

Prosecutors say the investigator believes the trapped zebra likely died from dehydration after trying to free itself from the trap. By the time the animal was discovered by Maryland Natural Resources police, the zebra's body was completely decomposed, WJZ reported, so a cause of death could not be determined.

Another zebra was found dead inside the enclosure and "had been deceased long enough that it had entered the rigor-mortis stage," prosecutors said. That death also is being investigated after the department of environment was notified by a news helicopter's occupants who had observed what was believed to be a dead zebra in an enclosure. Animal control officers inspected the property and located the dead zebra.

According to Prince George's County Department of Environment's Animal Services Division, the zebras' owner and caretaker would like to trap the wayward pair in an enclosure inside a corral and use food and other zebras to draw them back to their herd.

Veterinarians from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and county department of the environment staff believe this option proposes the least risk to the animals.