Re: “Ester Marsh column: Staycation can be lots of fun,” in Monday’s Post:

Before going to Lazy 5 Ranch, please remember this outfit’s notorious history.

In the last year alone, Lazy 5 Ranch was cited for five violations of federal animal protection regulations, including for failing to provide animals with adequate veterinary care.

The roadside zoo’s owner, Henry Hampton, has also been cited for years for allowing dangerous unsupervised public contact with animals and authorizing the use of a tranquilizing drug that has no pain-relieving properties and can cause distress, paralyze respiratory muscles, and impede animals’ breathing, causing them to die of suffocation while fully conscious but immobilized.

In the past, Lazy 5 Ranch has been cited for failing to supply adequate veterinary care to a pregnant camel who appeared to have difficulty breathing; a llama with a discolored eye; a camel with a swollen udder who’d recently given birth; and a sheep with an obvious limp.

No one who cares about animals wants to see them hurting, depressed and in trouble.

— Jennifer O’Connor

Norfolk, Va.

O’Connor is a senior writer for the PETA Foundation.