Lawsuit: Zoo keeps lions in horrific conditions
An embattled northeast Iowa zoo is facing a second lawsuit over treatment of its animals — this time regarding endangered African lions.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund and five Iowans filed a lawsuit Monday against the Cricket Hollow Zoo in Manchester.
The group previously sued Cricket Hollow, and in February a judge ruled that the zoo had to give up its endangered tigers and lemurs. The ruling prevented the zoo's owners, Pam and Tom Sellner, from acquiring new endangered species until they could demonstrate that they could give the animals proper care.
The ruling did not affect about 300 other animals at the roadside zoo.
The most recent lawsuit claims that Cricket Hollow Zoo confines African lions "in small, barren enclosures, which disrupt and impair the large cats," according to the complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Iowa and provided to The Des Moines Register by the Animal Legal Defense Fund.
The complaint states that zoo visitors have seen "a female lion retching in her enclosure, a lioness repeatedly ramming herself into her cage fencing, enclosures strewn with fly-laden meat and feces, and flies feasting on the ears and noses of African lions."
Less than two weeks ago, a zoo visitor reportedly saw a lioness "shivering, could not stand or walk properly and was panting so hard (the visitor) feared she was hyperventilating," the complaint states.
The lawsuit claims that Cricket Hollow Zoo's treatment of lions violates the federal Endangered Species Act.
The owners of Cricket Hollow Zoo could not be reached by phone for comment Monday. The zoo is closed on Mondays.
Pam Sellner, who opened the zoo in 2002, told the Register in November that she loves her animals and enjoys teaching people about animals through the zoo.
Troubled zoo loses tigers in landmark ruling
Jessica Blome, senior staff attorney with the Animal Legal Defense Fund, said the group wanted to include lions in its first lawsuit, but at that time it was unclear whether the lions at the zoo were designated as an endangered species. Federal designations have since changed, making it clear that the lions are protected under the Endangered Species Act, she said.
She said she's confident in this case against the zoo because the previous lawsuit caused the zoo to give up its tigers.
"All of the evidence that applied to the tigers applies to the lions," she said.
Five tigers died at the zoo since 2013, a California veterinarian testified in court last fall. The veterinarian said the tigers had received "inadequate care," describing the animals' enclosures as covered in feces and old food.
Blome said Monday that Cricket Hollow Zoo had four lions in 2014, but one has since died, and another has "disappeared." She said she did not know whether it had been moved to another facility or died. The zoo now has two lions — one male and one female, she said.
"We think that if the lions aren't treated, they will die," she said. The Animal Legal Defense Fund hopes to have a court hearing within 30 days.
The group hopes to have the lions transferred to the Wild Animals Sanctuary in Colorado, where 31 animals from Des Moines were transferred in 2014 after a Merle Hay Mall animal exhibit closed, Blome said.
Cricket Hollow Zoo transferred three lemurs and four tigers to other facilities after the initial lawsuit. The lemurs were taken to Special Memories Zoo in Hortonville, Wis., and the tigers to the Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Center Point, Ind.
