The next day the mother and her cub were found dead. He unsuccessfully attempted to inject her with euthanasia solution, before ultimately killing her by cutting her throat.ģ cubs died at two-months, six-months, and one-year of age which Sculac blamed on genetic issues.Ī female tiger was seen to be in distressed labor. Nick Sculac, who has no veterinary training, diagnosed a tiger, Nala, as having cancer. Note that the USDA filed a complaint, based on these issues in 2012, so very few citations were reported after that time, since the first ones had not been ruled on yet and inspectors reported fear of the aggressive gun toting owner. We’ve kept USDA citations and complaints on Sculac from 2004-2016 but when Sculac applied to USFWS for a Captive Bred Wildlife permit, to legitimize his apparently illegal trafficking of tigers, PeTA summarized the violations as follows: Violations of the Animal Welfare Act from 2004 – 2013 Meanwhile Nick Sculac had married Julie Walker and changed the name to Serenity Springs Wildlife Center and ownership of the land to Julie presumably to avoid debt collectors. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the sanctuary $7,000. It’s criminal, but it’s just plain wrong. You’ve been picking on people who are in a vulnerable state. “You’ve been a con artist,” Judge David Gilbert told Sculac, noting his two prior felony convictions. The judge said Sculac used peoples’ concern for the 138 big cats at the sanctuary to get money from people and line his own pockets. Employees hit the tiger with a shovel until it let go, and McCain was treated for wounds to his wrist, forearm, bicep and tricep. When McCain tried to pull his arm out, the tiger held tight. The volunteer, Michael McCain was mauled in 2009 by a 400 lb tiger that reached through the fence, grabbed his arm and pulled him against the cage. By that time only 11 acres were left to house over 140 big cats, bears and wolves. In addition to many counts of theft and fraud in his business, he pled guilty to bilking a former volunteer out of $40,500. From all accounts Karen ran a legitimate sanctuary but with her death came the end of any good being done for big cats at Serenity Springs.įollowing Nick Sculac’s many charges of theft in 1984, 1991, 1993, 20, he was finally jailed in 2010. Karen Sculac appeared to have inherited 320 acres near Calhan, CO in 1993 and they started their sanctuary that same year, but they had managed to lose all but 37 acres by the time 47 year old Karen died suddenly from pneumonia in 2006. You know them as the Texas Trio, or Arthur, Amanda and Andre.)) I wondered what would happen to the 85 tigers in Colorado and the 23 from New Jersey ((who ended up in Texas) In 2011 by odd coincidence we would end up assisting in the rescue of some of the last of those NJ tigers from the failed facility in Texas. Three years later I reported on a news story that Nick Sculac had a heart attack and their compound was in foreclosure. The first time I remembered hearing of Nick and Karen Sculac and Big Cats of Serenity Springs was probably in 2003 when Joan Byron-Marasek said she was going to avoid confiscation of her tigers in NJ by taking them to Colorado, where she would eventually rebuild her breeding compound. Serenity Springs Wildlife Center FKA Big Cats of Serenity Springs
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