CRIME & COURTS

Iowa zoo's lemurs 'miserable,' researcher testifies

Grant Rodgers
grodgers@dmreg.com

CEDAR RAPIDS, Ia. — A Duke University lemur researcher testified in federal court Tuesday that a trio of lemurs at an embattled northeast Iowa zoo likely have stressful lives caused by isolation from others of their species.

An aerial photo of Cricket Hollow Zoo in Manchester, Ia. The photograph is among the exhibits in a lawsuit filed against the zoo's owners.

The environment at the Cricket Hollow Zoo in Manchester, where at least five lemurs have died since 2006, could be leaving the primates more vulnerable to disease and death, said Dr. Peter Klopfer. His testimony came during the trial over a lawsuit that five Iowans filed against the zoo's owners asking for a judge to stop the zoo from keeping lemurs, wolves and tigers at the property.

"If they do survive, they are living miserable lives," Klopfer said of the lemurs at the zoo. "These are animals whose mental capacities are not all that much lower than ours."

RELATED: Veterinarian: Remove all animals from Cricket Hollow Zoo

In the first two days of trial, attorneys with the Animal Legal Defense Fund, or ALDF, who are representing the Iowa plaintiffs in the case have painted a picture of Cricket Hollow as a zoo with dirty enclosures and few toys or other features to keep animals satisfied.

Klopfer told Chief Magistrate Jude Jon Scoles that even if the size of the lemur enclosures complies with federal requirements for housing the endangered species, owners Tom and Pamela Sellner are not fully meeting the psychological needs of the two ring-tailed lemurs and one red-ruffed lemur at the zoo.

Typically, lemurs of both highly social species would live in groups of eight to 10, he said. In court records, the Sellners have said lemurs were kept in individual cages because they didn't get along. But Klopfer said the animals are "highly tactile" and would be better suited in groups, he said.

The researcher, who studies the animals at the Duke Lemur Center, said he examined photographs of the zoo, as well as inspection reports by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Several photographs he reviewed showed the zoo's lemurs living in small and dirty cages, he said, and inspectors in multiple reports indicated that the animals' feces had built up inside the enclosures.

Lemurs, native to the African island of Madagascar, rely on a heightened sense of smell and a buildup of feces would also likely affect their mental health, Klopfer said. At one point during his testimony, the researcher said he was "appalled" by conditions of the cages.

"It would be very unpleasant to the lemurs to have to cope with that," he said.

Records provided by Cricket Hollow during the litigation show that five lemurs died at the zoo between 2006 and 2011, their deaths attributed to causes ranging from old age to encephalitis, a brain inflammation. While Klopfer said the living conditions of the three lemurs currently at the zoo make him "suspicious" about the deaths, he could not say whether the owners were at fault.

During cross-examination from Larry Thorson, the owners' attorney, Klopfer admitted he'd never been to the zoo.

On Tuesday afternoon, Scoles heard testimony from Tracey Kuehl, a former executive director of the Family Museum of Arts and Sciences in Bettendorf and one of the plaintiffs in the case. Kuehl became concerned about the welfare of the animals at Cricket Hollow Zoo in June 2012 after visiting and seeing a white tiger in a small enclosure without grass, vegetation or any toys.

During that same visit, she noticed that a lemur enclosure only had a log for an animal to perch on. "It was pretty sparse," she said.

Over several months after her first visit, Kuehl contacted a wide range of state and federal authorities about conditions at the zoo, she said. Kuehl met directly with Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey in September 2012, she testified. She was disappointed on a return visit to the zoo in June 2014 to find that no significant improvements had been made.

Kuehl said participating in the litigation against the Sellners was a "last resort," and that she's frustrated officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture continued to approve the zoo's license despite finding violations at the facility. Attorneys for the ALDF in August 2014 filed a second lawsuit in federal court on behalf of Kuehl against U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack asking a judge to stop the agency from issuing new licenses to the zoo.

"Why does a system exist that allows a condition like this to continue for over a decade," Kuehl said. "It perplexes me."

The USDA in July filed an administrative complaint that could result in the zoo's license being taken.