October 8, 2017
By Alicia Graef
...In another victory for animals in captivity, (click here) the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is now going to have to defend renewing a license to a troubled roadside zoo in Iowa that has a long history of animal welfare violations.
The Cricket Hollow Animal Park, formerly known as the Cricket Hollow Zoo, has been in the spotlight in recent years over its failure to properly care for numerous species it holds captive.
According to the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), the USDA renewed the zoo’s license on the very same day it issued the zoo 11 violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) in 2014, and ongoing problems were acknowledged by the agency long before that. By 2015, the zoo had been cited for over 100 violations during five years, including inadequate staffing, unsanitary facilities and poor veterinary care.
Although the USDA did briefly suspend the zoo’s license, the agency’s failure to take meaningful action and allow the zoo to remain open prompted the ALDF and two Iowa residents to file a lawsuit, arguing that the license renewals violate the agency’s own regulations....
June 20, 2016
Cedar Rapids, Ia. — A federal judge (click here) has ordered endangered lemurs and tigers housed at a private northeast Iowa zoo to be moved within 30 days.
The order signed Friday by Chief Magistrate Judge Jon Stuart Scoles directs owners of Cricket Hollow Zoo near Manchester to move its lemurs to Special Memories Zoo in Hortonville, Wis., and its tigers to the Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Center Point, Ind.
The decision stems from a 2014 lawsuit filed by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, which alleged the zoo maintained deplorable living conditions. The fund's executive director, Stephen Wells, said he's disappointed about the decision. The group had recommended other locations for the animals. Wells said the group is evaluating legal options....
What type of leadership does not carry out a judge's order? Animals are already dead.
October 5, 2015
By Grant Rodgers
A northeast Iowa zoo (click here) that’s come under fire for deaths of tigers and lemurs in its care should have all its animals “rescued” and sent to sanctuaries, a California veterinarian told a judge on Monday.
The testimony opened the trial in a federal lawsuit against the owners of Manchester’s Cricket Hollow Zoo brought last year on behalf of several Iowans who reported seeing animals suffering in small pens filled with feces and buzzing with flies. Tom and Pamela Sellner, the zoo’s owners, have argued in court documents the claims against them are exaggerated.
But Jennifer Conrad, a Santa Monica veterinarian, testified to Chief Magistrate Judge Jon Scoles in a Cedar Rapids courtroom that the Sellners regularly fail to take steps to protect their animals from disease and injury. Conrad testified that five tigers have died at the zoo since June 2013. None of their bodies were lab-tested to find a cause of death....
June 20, 2016
Cedar Rapids, Ia. — A federal judge (click here) has ordered endangered lemurs and tigers housed at a private northeast Iowa zoo to be moved within 30 days.
The order signed Friday by Chief Magistrate Judge Jon Stuart Scoles directs owners of Cricket Hollow Zoo near Manchester to move its lemurs to Special Memories Zoo in Hortonville, Wis., and its tigers to the Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Center Point, Ind.
The decision stems from a 2014 lawsuit filed by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, which alleged the zoo maintained deplorable living conditions. The fund's executive director, Stephen Wells, said he's disappointed about the decision. The group had recommended other locations for the animals. Wells said the group is evaluating legal options....
What type of leadership does not carry out a judge's order? Animals are already dead.
October 5, 2015
By Grant Rodgers
A northeast Iowa zoo (click here) that’s come under fire for deaths of tigers and lemurs in its care should have all its animals “rescued” and sent to sanctuaries, a California veterinarian told a judge on Monday.
The testimony opened the trial in a federal lawsuit against the owners of Manchester’s Cricket Hollow Zoo brought last year on behalf of several Iowans who reported seeing animals suffering in small pens filled with feces and buzzing with flies. Tom and Pamela Sellner, the zoo’s owners, have argued in court documents the claims against them are exaggerated.
But Jennifer Conrad, a Santa Monica veterinarian, testified to Chief Magistrate Judge Jon Scoles in a Cedar Rapids courtroom that the Sellners regularly fail to take steps to protect their animals from disease and injury. Conrad testified that five tigers have died at the zoo since June 2013. None of their bodies were lab-tested to find a cause of death....
