Urge USDA To Enforce Animal Welfare Act
Against Cole Brothers Circus

FROM  In Defense of Animals (IDA)

ACTION

Tell the (USDA) to act against the Cole Brothers Circus for its apparent role in an elaborate scheme to evade federal animal welfare laws.

Sign an online petition

And/Or make direct contact:

Dr. Chester Gipson
Deputy Administrator, Animal Care
USDA
4700 River Road, Unit 84
Riverdale, MD 20737-1234
phone (301) 734-7833
fax (301) 734-4978

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS

IDA is strongly urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to act against the Cole Brothers Circus for its apparent role in an elaborate scheme to evade federal animal welfare law by helping Florida-based animal handler Lance Ramos Kollman exhibit animals, even though his license was revoked by the agency.

Since losing his license in 2009 for horrific violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), including animal deaths, a cast of shady characters has been playing a complicated shell game to keep Kollman illegally in business. The USDA confiscated the elephant Ned from Kollman two years ago, after IDA discovered Ned’s horribly emaciated condition and filed a complaint with the agency.

Throughout 2010, the Cole Brothers Circus has been showing a group of nine big cats who were "owned" by Kollman but exhibited (and sometimes purportedly "owned") by a procession of unlicensed and inexperienced individuals, presenting a danger to the public and to the animals.

The USDA is currently seeking to revoke the licenses of the exhibitors who have been helping Kollman, but so far the Cole Brothers Circus (which does not have its own license) has escaped any accountability or responsibility for its actions. In fact, this circus has a history of AWA violations and of working with abusive animals handlers. For more information on the Cole Brothers Circus, visit www.HelpElephants.com.

Thank you for everything you do for animals!