PETA Tip Prompts USDA Investigations Into Lancelot Kollman, Hawthorn Corporation
For Immediate Release:
November 1, 2012
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Fort Worth, Texas -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has launched an investigation into Lancelot Kollman (aka "Lance Ramos"), whose USDA exhibitor's license was revoked in 2009, after PETA caught and documented him in the act of illegally exhibiting tigers with the Moslah Temple Shrine circus during its run at Fort Worth's Will Rogers Memorial Center between October 12 and 20. Kollman's numerous previous violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) include using physical abuse to train animals, denying animals adequate veterinary care, and physically injuring two young lions so severely that one died.
"Lancelot Kollman's notorious tiger shows aren't just miserably cruel—they're patently illegal," says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Delcianna Winders. "PETA is cautioning families that buying a ticket to the circus supports cruelty to animals—in Kollman's case, beating young lions and tigers and leaving them to suffer and die."
Kollman's tiger act was leased through the Hawthorn Corporation, which itself has been cited more than 60 times for violations of the AWA, including for forcing tigers to live in cramped cages for months on end. The USDA's previous actions against Hawthorn include suspending its exhibitor's license twice, assessing more than $260,000 in penalties, and confiscating animals such as Delhi, the first elephant ever seized by the agency, who was rehomed to a sanctuary after an extensive PETA campaign in 2003. The USDA is also investigating Hawthorn in relation to Kollman's illegal tiger exhibit in Fort Worth.
For more information, please visit PETA's blog.