endangered animals

Cricket Hollow Zoo owners file appeal with Iowa Supreme Court; seek halt to remove of animals

The Iowa Supreme Court has been asked (11/27) to halt the removal of exotic animals from Cricket Hollow Zoo while hearing an appeal of the district court decision that found treatment of animals at the roadside zoo violated Iowa's animal cruelty standards.

Appeal of the Delaware County District Court decision and stay of the removal order was filed by Pamela and Tom Sellner, owners of troubled roadside zoo near Manchester.

In the appeal, the Sellners claim the judge was not "an impartial decision maker," and that the judge "took an advocacy role on the side of the Petitioners. . ."

CLICK HERE for further information on the zoo and the district court decision of Nov. 25.

Cricket Hollow Zoo lions relocated to wildlife sanctuary after settlement of federal lawsuit

The two remaining endangered animals kept at Cricket Hollow Zoo – African lionesses named Jonwah and Njjarra – have been relocated to a wildlife sanctuary in Colorado after settlement of a federal court lawsuit filed against the zoo by the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) and five Iowa residents.

The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado, with veterinary support from the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, took custody of the two lions after the settlement was reached with zoo owners Pam and Tom Sellner of Manchester, Iowa, according to a news release issued by the ALDF today (Aug. 3).

Special telephone court hearing set in legal effort to help sick lioness Njjarra at Cricket Hollow Zoo


Click on image above to view the video showing the two African lions at Cricket Hollow Zoo. The video was submitted as part of a court filing seeking immediate removal of the lions from the roadside zoo.

A special telephone hearing will be held Thursday (July 21) to determine if a lioness at Cricket Hollow Zoo should be removed immediately from the troubled roadside zoo, or if a "qualified veterinarian" should be allowed to examine, diagnosis and treat the animal.

The endangered African lion is one of two at the zoo, and a video taken June 24 shows the sick and emaciated lioness named Njjarra in her cage at Cricket Hollow.

Cricket Hollow's animals to be relocated by July 17; new locations seen as having similar shortcomings

The endangered tigers and lemurs ordered removed from Cricket Hollow Zoo will be sent to new facilities by July 17, but both locations face some of the same shortcomings cited by animal rights advocates in their federal lawsuit against the Manchester roadside zoo.

Chief Magistrate Judge Jon Stuart Scoles ordered the endangered animals be removed from Cricket Hollow Zoo while the case is on appeal with the tigers going to the Exotic Feline Rescue Center near Centerpoint, Indiana, and the lemurs relocated to the Special Memories Zoo, near Greenfield, Wisconsin.

Cricket Hollow Zoo tigers, lemurs to be transferred by summer; judge denies stay seeking delay

The endangered tigers and lemurs held at the troubled Cricket Hollow Zoo should be in a new home yet this summer.

U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Jon Stuart Scoles April 29 denied the zoo's petition to stay his court order requiring removal of the animals from the rural Manchester, Iowa roadside zoo.

Cricket Hollow Zoo appeals federal court ruling; status of endangered animal removal uncertain

The owners of the troubled Cricket Hollow Zoo have appealed the federal court ruling issued Feb. 11 which ordered removal of the zoo's lemurs and tigers because of inadequate veterinary care and sanitation for the endangered animals.

Owners Tom and Pamela Sellner, of Manchester, filed the notice of appeal with the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis March 9. The appeal seeks to reverse the lower court decision, halt the removal of endangered animals from the zoo and lift the court's order prohibiting the Sellners from adding endangered animals to their roadside zoo.

Federal judge orders Cricket Hollow Zoo to give up its tigers, lemurs; cites inadequate care, sanitation

Cricket Hollow Zoo has been ordered to transfer its lemurs and tigers to a licensed U.S. Department of Agricultural facility under a federal district court ruling issued Thursday (2/11).

The judge ruled that the endangered animals at the troubled roadside zoo were harmed by the failure of its owners to provide adequate veterinary care and sanitation.

Animal experts slam Cricket Hollow Zoo care, conditions; testimony in suit seeking to close facility

Tigers, lions, wolves and African wild cats at Cricket Hollow Zoo near Manchester "are suffering inhumane living conditions that result from owners, zookeepers and veterinarians who lack the expertise, the experience and the resources to care for captive wildlife," a California vet with 21 years of experience in caring for such animals says.

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