PETA Calls On USDA to Crack Down on Denver County Fair’s Tiger Cub Exhibit

Serenity Springs’ Violations of Animal-Care Law, Myriad Deaths of Young Cats Raise Alarm

For Immediate Release:
August 9, 2013

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Denver — Today, PETA sent an urgent letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) urging the agency to thoroughly inspect an exhibit at the Denver County Fair—which begins today and runs through Sunday—by Serenity Springs, a roadside zoo based in Calhan, Colo., with an atrocious history of animal deaths as well as violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act. Recently released documents suggest that the USDA is investigating the May deaths of two tiger cubs who died shortly after Serenity Springs’ owner, Nick Sculac, transported and handled them when they were just 3 days old. It appears that one of the baby tigers he plans to exhibit is only 6 weeks old, which violates the USDA’s policy against exhibiting cubs younger than eight weeks old.

“Serenity Springs is a death trap for tiger cubs and other animals who are routinely denied proper care and dragged from display to display,” says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Delcianna Winders. “We’re asking the USDA to inspect Sculac’s exhibit immediately and cite him for any and all violations of the Animal Welfare Act.”

According to documents submitted by Sculac to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, between October 2011 and September 2012 three additional tiger cubs died at his facility. Also, according to USDA charges currently pending against him, between May 2007 and January 2010 no fewer than 31 animals died in Sculac’s custody, including at least eight young animals—at least two of whom were tiger cubs. The many additional USDA charges pending against Sculac include exposing young animals to excessive public handling and exhibiting them in a manner inconsistent with their health and well-being.

PETA has also appealed to the city of Denver, which prohibits wild or dangerous animals and doesn’t include an exemption that Serenity Springs would qualify for.

For more information, please visit PETA.org or click here to read an August 1 article posted by KRDO.com regarding Serenity Springs’ chronic violations of USDA regulations.