in june 2009, barker wrote chief michell hicks of the eastern band of cherokee indians asking that their reservation's bear exhibit be closed. on july 28, 2009, he visited the reservation and saw one of the three zoos, calling the bears' living situation "inhumane". peta set up the visit after barker heard from u.s. representative bill young, (r) florida, whose wife had been "appalled" by what she saw. annette tarnowski, the tribe's attorney general, said a federal inspector had found nothing wrong in may 2009 at two of the zoos, and that the tribe had dealt with the few violations at the third. hicks made no promises and threatened to ban peta if they made more trouble.