Meetings & Information




*****************************
****************************************************
MUST READ:
GET THE FACTS!






Thursday, August 23, 2012

Bloomberg promoting MGM's animal cruelty



In a rather bizarre photo Bloomberg added to MGM's Massachusetts' Folly, they chose to add a photo of the lion display that has since been closed.

MGM places sensible animal care at the bottom of its list. See articles below.


MGM Resorts Proposes $800 Million Massachusetts Casino-Hotel

By Rob Golum and Christopher Palmeri
Aug 22, 2012


David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Tourists view a lion on top of a glass roof inside the MGM Resorts International casino in Las Vegas.

MGM Resorts International(MGM), the largest casino operator on the Las Vegas Strip, announced plans to develop an $800 million gambling, hotel and entertainment project in Springfield, Massachusetts.


The MGM Springfield project, if approved, would be located on about 10 acres of land that were heavily damaged by a June 2011 tornado, the Las Vegas-based company said today in a statement. The plans include restaurants, movie theaters and shopping.

MGM Resorts said it submitted a $400,000 fee that will fund the official vetting and negotiating process. The project would be located on three city blocks close to Interstate 91. The company said it controls several parcels in the area and has others under contract.

Massachusetts legislators legalized gambling last year, authorizing a maximum of three casinos in three regions. MGM will be competing for a license in the western part of the state. At least five other operators are eyeing locations there, including Ameristar Casinos Inc. (ASCA, Penn National Gaming Inc. (PENN), Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority and Seminole Hard Rock Entertainment Inc., according to an Aug. 20 analysis by the law firm Goodwin Procter LLP.

In March, MGM Resorts dropped out of a casino project in Brimfield, Massachusetts, citing the scope of infrastructure work needed in the area, and said it would seek an alternative location.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-22/mgm-resorts-proposes-800-million-massachusetts-casino-hotel-2-.html

Activists praise closure of MGM Grand's lion habitat



CORRECTION -- 12/31/11 -- A story and caption Friday’s Review-Journal about the lion habitat at the MGM Grand contained an error. Officials announced this week that they will be closing the free attraction Jan. 31. By Keith Rogers

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL Posted: Dec. 29, 2011

Plans by MGM Grand to close its lion habitat at the Strip hotel received praise Thursday by a high-profile animal rights group that also criticized the lions' owner for wanting to put them on exhibit at his 7.5-acre ranch in the south Las Vegas Valley.

A letter from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to Jim Murren, chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International, thanks Murren and Chief Operating Officer Corey Sanders "for your decisions to close the lion exhibit ... and to offer our assistance in helping to relocate the lions to a reputable sanctuary."

Citing news reports, the letter said the lions' owner, Keith Evans, plans to put them on exhibit in Clark County.

"This plan is clearly not in the best interests of the animals. In their natural habitats, lions roam many miles of territory to hunt, raise their young, and avoid contact with people," according to the letter Thursday from Delcianna Winders, PETA's director of captive animal law enforcement.

The letter criticizes Evans for declawing lion cubs and for allowing trainers and handlers to have direct contact with the animals that led to two lion attacks at the MGM Grand.

Reached at his ranch southeast of the M Resort, Evans called PETA's letter "baloney" and wished PETA "good luck" in their efforts to put his 40 lions in a sanctuary.

Evans said that he has held his U.S. Department of Agriculture license for keeping lions for 40 years and that PETA has a "bad track record" in its endeavors to keep lions in sanctuaries.

Yvette Monet, corporate spokeswoman for MGM Resorts International, said the lions that Evans transports for display at the MGM Grand are owned by Evans, "and he is entirely responsible to their care."

Monet said the lions have always lived at Evans' ranch, and many of them were born there.
On Wednesday, MGM Grand announced that its lion habitat and retail shop will close Saturday . The habitat, a free attraction, opened in 1999 for $9 million.

In her letter, Winders said that MGM has maintained a $1 million fund for the care of lions at the habitat, "and we encourage you to use these funds to relocate the animals to a reputable sanctuary.

We stand ready to help coordinate such a transfer."

Reached by phone late Thursday in California, Winder said an ideal sanctuary for the lions would be one operated by the Performing Animal Welfare Society, an organization, based in Galt, Calif., for abused and abandoned wildlife.

Winder said she has never visited Evans' ranch but said the ranch doesn't have enough space to provide for lions in a natural habitat.

Evans has said he intends to make his ranch a public attraction called The Cat House. He said he has completed the zoning and permitting requirements that will allow him to host private parties and tour groups.

The exhibit also might be open to the walk-in public, but he is trying to work out logistics such as staffing.

  http://www.lvrj.com/news/animal-rights-group-praises-closure-of-mgm-s-lion-habitat-136407153.html





MGM Mirage in Vegas probing death of dolphin

No comments: