By RODNEY L. SHERMAN
Clarion News Editor
The Animal Legal Defense Fund, a legal advocacy organization for animals, Jan. 15 filed a lawsuit against Farmers Inn, a roadside zoo in Sigel, Jefferson County, for allegedly maintaining animals in squalid conditions in violation of the Endangered Species Act and state animal cruelty laws.
The ALDF announced the lawsuit in a news release Tuesday (Jan. 15) afternoon. The CLARION NEWS confirmed the filing via PACER.
According to the ALDF news release, Farmers Inn holds multiple endangered animals, and other animals, in grossly deficient conditions. These include Queen Louise, a ring-tailed lemur, who despite belonging to a highly social species is kept alone in a small, filthy cage. Other ESA-protected animals were also found to be confined in cramped cages. These include Russell, a black leopard; Jack and Jill, two black bears; a gray wolf and a hyacinth macaw.
“These animals, including endangered species, are being held in conditions that are not just abhorrent but illegal,” Animal Legal Defense Fund Executive Director Stephen Wells said in the news release. “State and federal animal protection laws exist so that animals won’t be forced to live in these conditions. The animals held at Farmers Inn deserve to be in naturalistic sanctuary environments that allow them to engage in activities natural to their species and necessary for their health. The Animal Legal Defense Fund will seek to enforce these laws to provide that for them.”
Major fire and restaurant rebuild
Owned by Kimberly Ann Lucas, who is identified as a defendant in the lawsuit, Farmers Inn was beginning a summer season of celebrating its 40th anniversary when it was destroyed by fire May, 30, 2017.
It partially re-opened later that summer. The business included a restaurant, mini-golf, a gift shop, an ice cream shop and a driving range, along with the petting zoo.
The restaurant remained closed for an extended period of time, but the other amenities re-opened not long after the fire.
The restaurant, which sat in the heart of the facility, burned to the ground in the early morning fire.
The fire was first noticed by a camper at a neighboring property, she said. The camper called in the fire after he heard glass breaking and saw flames from his campsite.
Firefighters received the call around 3:30 a.m., and when they arrived they found a fully engulfed building.
The restaurant was the only structure in the complex that was damaged.
No employees or animals were injured in the fire. Several animals were slightly rattled, Lucas said at the time. Keeping them on their regular feeding schedule helped get things back to normal for the animals.
Warned of lawsuit
In its filing against Farmers Inn, the ALDF claims it warned Farmers Inn of its intent to sue last August and again in September but received no response from Lucas.
“The Animal Legal Defense Fund previously sent a 60-day notice of intent to sue – a requirement under the ESA,” Wells said in the news release. “The organization has also offered assistance in transferring the animals held at Farmers Inn to reputable sanctuaries where their unique needs can be met, and they can thrive. Farmers Inn has thus far not responded to the offer.”
Wells said the alleged problems at Farmers Inn are not unique.
“Roadside zoos such as Farmers Inn dot the American landscape, able to operate due to lack of enforcement of state and federal animal protection laws,” said Wells. “Because the animals can’t advocate for themselves, the Animal Legal Defense Fund files lawsuits across the United States to protect animals held in these types of facilities.”
The Animal Legal Defense Fund is being provided with pro-bono representation by K&L Gates LLP in this case.
Serious allegations
“Visitors have reported seeing animals at Farmers Inn who are sick and injured,” Wells said in the ALDF news release. “For example, the bears – Jack and Jill – were seen in what appeared to be heat distress on a day where the temperature exceeded 90 degrees.
“A kinkajou – a small rainforest mammal – was seen with an injured eye.”
“An emaciated goat, significantly stressed guinea pigs, and foxes suffering from apparently untreated mange were also observed.”
In the filing in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania, the ALDF alleges:
Farmers Inn operates an inappropriate and unsupervised customer feeding program that permits and encourages visitors to feed the captive animals “animal crackers” and other types of processed foods not suitable for animals.
The conditions of confinement, husbandry, veterinary care, unsupervised customer feeding, and exhibition activities observed at Farmers Inn “injure,” “harm,” and “harass” several of the animals at Farmers Inn, as those terms are defined by the ESA.
The black leopard habitat at Farmers Inn thwarts “Russell’s” ability to engage in these natural behaviors and disrupts his normal breeding and hunting patterns.
Specifically, Russell is confined to a habitat that appears to be roughly 50 feet long and 20 feet wide, with only one small, elevated platform area on which Russell can ascend to eat. This is woefully insufficient for him to roam or otherwise engage in the normal behavioral patterns.
As the lone wolf present at Farmers Inn, “Tundra” lives in complete social isolation. He is suffering physically and psychologically due to the solitary nature of his confinement — a practice known to be cruel to wolves, which are quintessential pack animals.
Moreover, one ALDF member expressed serious concern about the wolf’s health during her visit, as he appeared visibly emaciated, lethargic, and either ill or malnourished.
The small size of Jack and Jill’s concrete enclosures, coupled with the absence of adequate enrichment, impedes their innate, instinctual drive to roam and explore across a vast home range.
This frustration manifests itself both psychologically and physically. The small, dirty cages barely provide Jack and Jill with enough space to walk around. As a result, the two bears spend most of their waking hours lying around.
Furthermore, the floors of the cages are primarily made of concrete, which provides an inadequate walking surface for large animals such as bears, and has been known to cause joint and hip problems over long periods of time
Moreover, customers at Farmers Inn have fed Jack and Jill “animal crackers” and other processed food obtained from feed dispensers that Farmers Inn has placed near their enclosure.
Farmers Inn not only encourages this improper feeding, it facilitates it and profits from it by providing feed tubes and selling this processed food to patrons.
Allowing unsupervised customers to feed the bears greatly increases the risk that they will transfer microbes or zoonotic diseases to the animals.
Furthermore, the processed food being provided is not part of a wild bear’s natural and nutritionally appropriate diet.
– A fennec fox and other fox were observed with fur loss, which is indicative of untreated mange.
– Turtles were observed in a dirty “pond” with no obvious water exchange system.
– A bushbaby or kinkajou was observed to have a severely injured left eye (it appears blind in that eye).
It is unclear if he or she has received appropriate treatment or if this is an ongoing issue.
– At least one of the white goats displays emaciation (the lumbar vertebrae are visible), which is indicative of an inadequate feeding plan that may be geared to promote unsupervised and unmonitored customer feeding, as discussed above.
– A guinea pig is kept in an open “box” with no place to hide. As a result it was seen trying to hide in a corner behind a bowl.
No response
Farmers Inn has not responded to the lawsuit as it was just filed Tuesday afternoon.