PETA Calls On Powerade Centre Park to Bar Abuser’s Tiger Act

‘Send Notorious Hawthorn Corporation Packing,’ Say Animal Protectionists

For Immediate Release:
June 19, 2013

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Brampton, Ontario — The notoriously cruel Hawthorn Corporation has accumulated $272,500 in U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) penalties for Animal Welfare Act (AWA) violations, had its license suspended twice, and been forced to relinquish numerous animals, which is why PETA has sent a letter to Powerade Centre Park General Manager Mike Hardcastle urging him to prohibit Hawthorn’s tiger act during upcoming performances of the Shrine circus. PETA has also posted an action alert on its website so that visitors can contact Powerade Centre Park. The USDA first confiscated an elephant, Delhi, after finding that Hawthorn had put her in imminent danger by forcing her to stand in undiluted formaldehyde and refusing to treat her resultant chemical burns. The government then ordered Hawthorn to relinquish the remaining 16 elephants in its care. In addition, more than 30 tigers have died in Hawthorn’s care since 2000.

“Hawthorn has deprived tigers of vital veterinary care, adequate food, and even acceptable housing,” says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Delcianna Winders. “Circus hosts such as Powerade Centre Park should do their homework and then do the right thing when they consider doing business with a corporation that has repeatedly been found to be on the wrong side of the law.”

For more than two decades, Hawthorn’s egregious violations of the AWA have continued despite more than 100 USDA citations, including for inadequate veterinary care and space, failing to provide animals with adequate nutrition and safe and sanitary enclosures, and physical abuse of animals. USDA inspectors have found that Hawthorn has confined tigers to cages barely larger than their own bodies for as long as four consecutive months.

Following PETA’s request, on May 23, Subaru of Calgary informed PETA that the company has permanently ended its sponsorship of the Royal Canadian Circus, which also featured Hawthorn’s tiger act.

For more information, please visit PETA.org. To learn more about the Hawthorn Corporation’s abysmal history of animal care, click here.