On the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) website they claim they scored a major victory over Cricket Hollow Zoo.
Wildlife Planet obtained the Legal Agreement between ALDF and Cricket Hollow Zoo and it's reprehensible owners Pam and Tom Sellner. Here is how ALDF described their 'Win'
As you'll see in this settlement agreement between ALDF and The Cricket Hollow Zoo, Wildlife Planet believes there 'Win' is in truth an utter defeat for the almost 300 animals that ALDF abandoned to this animal abusing roadside zoo. The release of the Lions was a wonderful result of the lawsuit, but that outcome feels empty when the release of these two lions are measured against the almost 300 animals left behind to a life of continued abuse. Personally I will never believe in the "Greater Good" as an excuse to set aside one's moral obligations. Whoever claims 'It's better to sacrifice a few for the good of the many' most assuredly will never be counted among the 'few' when they regurgitate these idiotic declarations. How can anyone sworn to protect animals as ALDF does, abandon animals to a life of torture? To make their crimes against these beings, even worse, ALDF accepts Millions of Dollars each year under their fraudulent claim 'to end the suffering of abused animals.' Cricket Hollow Zoo set the standard in just how disgustingly low an animal abusing roadside zoo's could be. Cricket Hollow Zoo should be the poster child for anyone who wants to close down every single one of these inhuman profiteering animal roadside exhibitions. So why do we believe this big ALDF 'Win' is as Hollow as the Cricket Hollow zoo owner's soul?
In spite of what we have documented above, we have three major issues with ALDF's negotiated accord with these two obnoxious, repugnant roadside zoo owners. #1 - Najarra's Remains (Terms and Conditions #5 page 3) ALDF Agreed that after the death of the lioness named "Najarra" the Cricket Hollow Zoo has three days to decide if they would want the remains returned, which in itself is just reprehensible. Didn't anyone at ALDF believe sending the remains of this lioness back her abusers is somehow morally wrong? NOTHING in this agreement prevents Cricket Hollow from profiting off of this lioness's remains. Cricket Hollow and it's morally impaired owners could sell "Najarra" to any number of places.
We calculated if sold in bits and pieces and using the months to years that they have between now and Najarra's death to make contacts and agreements with open and black market buyers, the Sellner's could profit close to $100,000 dollars. Did ALDF even spend a moment thinking about how Cricket Hollow could still come out ahead with the return of this lioness's body? The Sellner's (whose name seems appropriate for this section) would have to wait a few years, but eventually their pay day will arrive because ALDF made sure that The Cricket Hollow Zoo can call dibs on the lions body after it had passed on. #2 - Nothing in this agreement gives any protection to the animals left behind. ALDF was so anxious to get their donation generating press release out to the public, they didn't give a shit about any poor peacock or dumb ole stupid bear. Those animals are a dime a dozen and would people really donate if a ALDF sent out a press release saying "ALDF Saves monkey from abusive Cricket Hollow Zoo"? The answer is unfortunately, no. #3 - ALDF Took the easy road instead of doing the dirty work needed to close this zoo down. As we wrote in #2, ALDF knows lesser named animals will never generate the donation amounts that they had grown accustomed over the past few years. According to their last financial statement recorded at Charity Navigator which we rely on to see a non-profit organizations financials, ALDF took in a whopping $13.4 Million dollars according to their 2014 990 IRS form ALDF can claim that they were in no position to negotiate an amendment that would guarantee the remaining animals be treated with dignity since their lawsuit only dealt with the two Lion's. So lets all imagine this scenario a multi millionaire organization with millions of dollars in donations growing fat on interest in the bank, filled with lawyers specializing in animal rights, facing off against some small hick town roadside zoo in the middle of 'Who gives a Fuck' Iowa. (No offense Iowa) I am sure just the threat and projected dollars that the Sellners' would need to fight a prolonged battle would make them see the light rather quickly. The Sellner's knew all to well of Cricket Hollow Zoo's history of violations and knowing the judge to be sympathetic toward these animals it would assuredly mean no matter how much money they spent in their defense, Cricket Hollow Zoo would lose. These facts alone should have been more than enough leverage for any first year lawyer, let alone an organization that touts itself as being one of the world's best Legal defense minds for the voiceless. Given all these facts that I have laid out before you, there could be only be one conclusion. ALDF had their Lion's and their donation generating headline so they got what they wanted and saw no need to negotiate a term in this agreement that would either shutter this zoo forever, or at the very least, afford the animals left behind at minimum, health standards that would afford them a decent existence. We have asked ALDF on many occasions for a response and to date they have ignored our requests and have also failed to respond to any of our questions. Leave your comments below and Let Us Know What You Think About This Situation
You can download the agreement or view the 5 page agreement using the links below
(The agreement is in fact 13 pages long but pages 6 through 13 just contain signatures and court stamps)
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