Colorado Tiger Exhibitor Denied Breeding Permit After PETA Complaint

Animal Welfare Violations Make Serenity Springs Unqualified to Breed Endangered Animals

For Immediate Release:
November 11, 2013

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

After receiving information from PETA about Serenity Springs—a Calhan-based roadside zoo with a long history of tiger deaths—the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) denied the facility’s application for a permit to breed more tiger cubs and various other species because of its record of violating the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA). As PETA pointed out in its complaint, approximately one-third of the animals at Serenity Springs have died over the last five years, and the facility faces dozens of charges—and possible revocation or suspension of its license—for AWA violations, including for repeatedly failing to provide animals with veterinary care.

“The authorities made the right call in blocking Serenity Springs’ request to breed more tiger cubs into a stressful life of being dragged around and put on display at fairs and shopping malls,” says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Delcianna Winders. “PETA is looking forward to further enforcement action against this deplorable facility—including the revocation of its exhibitor’s license.”

Serenity Springs has a long history of brushes with the law. In addition to the charges filed against the facility last year by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Serenity Springs in 2003 and 2009 for allowing tigers to attack and wound volunteers, and in 2010, Serenity Springs’ founder, Nick Sculac, was convicted of stealing $40,500 from a volunteer who had been attacked by a tiger at the facility in 2009. Sculac had told the volunteer that he was responsible for paying a $40,500 fine to the USDA—a fine that did not exist.

PETA’s letter to the FWS is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA.org.