"I've visited Serenity Springs a couple of times and was disappointed in their presentation and the guide's attitude. The tour goes on a loop and the cat enclosures that are shown are nice and the cats seem content enough. However, if you look back towards the right side of the facility, the cats that aren't shown, they appear to have none of the luxuries of the ones on the tour. In fact, they appear to be on a concrete slab only. What really got me as a military family was the guide speaking about a smaller cat (a lynx I believe, its been a couple of years) that had been owned by a Soldier. When the Soldier deployed, he gave it to his mother to care for but she was unable. According to the guide, the mother begged serenity springs to take the cat and promised to pay monthly for its care. "But of course, " the guide went on," we haven't seen a single dollar." I found this to be very unprofessional. What was more irritating is the talk about how people are irresponsible with buying big cats then throwing them away landing them in rescues, but bragging about the SEVERAL cats they have from Las Vegas magicians, who when the cat will no longer cooperate ship them to the facility. It seems to me if a staff member is going to bad mouth a Soldier on a tour, they should say something about the apparently immense turn around on big cats by the magicians in Vegas. I also thought it was troublesome that they prohibit photography because according to the guide, "of animal rights groups complaints". Overall, the tour, or perhaps it is just the guide herself (I had the same one both times a year apart) seems shady and unprofessional."
I’ve been a senior keeper at an accredited big cat rescue sanctuary for many years. I just wanted to share a little background information about why I would NEVER visit or patronize Serenity Springs Wildlife Center. I’ve copied many articles below but, in a nutshell, they’ve sold their “rescued” animals off in Animal Finder Magazine (we never know where animals go when they’re sold like this and we fear they end up in the best case scenario in a backyard cage, in the worst case scenario at a canned hunting facility or possibly killed and sold off for their parts), they’ve apparently bred wild animals, after a tiger bit and seriously injured a volunteer, the owner was arrested for trying to extort money from the volunteer, in 2012 one of their lions and 2 horses were shot…..I could go on and on since controversy seems to swirl around this place. It’s one of those facilities that truly accredited sanctuaries shun.
Please, I hope you’ll reconsider visiting there since your dollars supporting a place like this only encourages their existence. Few people know the reality behind it. I hope you’ll share this information with others who might be tempted to visit there.
Big Cats of Serenity Springs Nick Sculac
Nick Sculac of Big Cats of Serenity Springs Wildlife Center Faces Prison
Gets 6 years with community corrections
Big cat sanctuary co-founder guilty but avoids 6 years prison time
October 27,[masked]:36 AM
THE GAZETTE
Nick Sculac, co-founder of the Calhan-area big cat sanctuary Serenity Springs Wildlife Center, was led out of court in handcuffs Tuesday after being sentenced for theft.
But his stay behind bars will be short. Under the terms of a plea agreement, he was sentenced to serve six years at community corrections, a halfway house. His attorney said Sculac could be allowed to live outside the facility within six to eight months.
Sculac, 60, pleaded guilty to bilking a volunteer at the center out of $40,500. The volunteer was mauled by a tiger, and Sculac falsely claimed the money was needed to pay fines related to the attack, according to court documents.
“You’ve been a con artist,” 4th Judicial District Judge David Gilbert told Sculac, noting his two prior felony convictions. “You’ve been misusing people. You’ve been picking on people who are in a vulnerable state.”
The sanctuary is one of the largest in the state, and it exists largely on donations – $122,358 in 2007, according to tax records.
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.
“It’s criminal, but it’s just plain wrong. It’s immoral,” he said.
Gilbert also noted Sculac has done good work at the sanctuary, caring for animals that might not otherwise have a home. He said community corrections was appropriate, but added: “If you find yourself back in front of us again, you’ll be looking at spending potentially the rest of your life in prison.”
Sculac was silent during the sentencing. His attorney, Mark Menscher, told the judge Sculac was worried about being fined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and losing the sanctuary.
“He did tell (the volunteer) he had already been fined and he was wrong to do so,” Menscher said. “He was worried about getting closed down.”
The USDA is still investigating the April 2009 mauling and has not issued a fine. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the sanctuary $7,000.
The volunteer, Michael McCain, traveled from the Western Slope to testify Tuesday.
“We did not want anything to happen to the sanctuary, so I accepted all responsibility (for the mauling),” said McCain, who was in an area volunteers were not supposed to visit when a tiger grabbed his arm, pulled him against a cage and bit.
“(Sculac) had the chance to reel me in and he did because he knew how much we loved the animals,” McCain said.
McCain said he would have preferred Sculac spend time in prison, but he was still satisfied with the sentence.
Sculac was ordered to pay the money back.
The six-year sentence was the maximum under the plea agreement – he could have received two years…
Read more: http://www.gazette.com/news/sculac-106960-sanctuary-theft.html#ixzz13f0h0PMj
Founder of a big-cat sanctuary faces up to six years in prison
10/4/2010 COLORADO SPRINGS — The co-founder of a big-cat sanctuary faces up to six years in prison after he admitted stealing from a volunteer who was mauled by a 400-pound Bengal tiger.Nick Sculac, 60, of the Serenity Springs Wildlife Center in Calhan pleaded guilty in July to bilking a volunteer for $40,500 after the volunteer followed an employee into an off-limits area and was bitten on the arm.
Sculac told the volunteer he owed the $40,500 for “his share” of a federal fine over the mauling. After the volunteer paid Sculac the money, the volunteer discovered that a fine was under investigation but hadn’t been imposed.
The sanctuary later was fined $7,000, though the sanctuary is contesting the fine.
Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16245274?source=rss#ixzz11PFyVgYqBig cat sanctuary co-founder accused of theft
Nick Sculac, of Serenity Springs in Calhan, to be sentenced Tuesday
October 04,[masked]:40 AM
R. SCOTT RAPPOLD
THE GAZETTE
NOTE: A previous version of this story stated the Colorado Division of Wildlife allows breeding of exotic animals. More accurately, the DOWrecognizes that Serenity Springs’ licenses and permits allow the breeding of some animals at the facility.
At the Serenity Springs Wildlife Center, a big-cat sanctuary near Calhan, donations keep the 100-plus tigers, lions and other animals alive. Most of these wild predators have been rescued from appalling circumstances, and live in enclosures on the generosity of others.
The public has responded to many pleas over the years (including in The Gazette) for volunteer work and donations — $122,358 in 2007, according to tax records.
But when a volunteer was mauled by a tiger last year, co-founder Nick Sculac bilked the man out of $40,500 by falsely claiming — according to court documents — that he faced fines from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and that amount was “his share.”
Sculac is scheduled to be sentenced in court Tuesday after pleading guilty in July to one count of theft. He also faces an unrelated misdemeanor citation from the Colorado Division of Wildlife for illegally keeping bear and tiger cubs off the Serenity Springs property.
It will be the latest in a long string of court appearances for the 60-year-old Sculac, who founded the sanctuary with his late wife, Karen, in 1993. Court records show he was charged with theft in 1984, 1991, 1993, 2001 and 2002, and he has repeatedly battled with creditors.
Now he faces 2 to 6 years in prison and up to $500,0000 in fines. Neither Sculac nor his attorney responded to interview requests for this story.
Tiger bite
Michael McCain admits it was his fault.
“It was stupid on my part,” he told an El Paso County Sheriff’s Office investigator, according to a sheriff’s case report. (Read the entire report by clicking on the link on the upper right of this page.)
A Telluride-area resident, he came to Serenity Springs to volunteer after a mountain lion he and his wife had helped raise at another facility was moved here.
On April 24, 2009, he followed an employee into an area off-limits to volunteers, where gates to the pens have 12-inch openings. McCain strayed too close to one opening, and a 400-pound Bengal tiger reached through, grabbed his arm and pulled him against the cage in a manner he described as “playful.” When he tried to pull his arm out, the tiger bit in.
Employees hit the tiger with a shovel until it let go, and McCain was treated for wounds to his wrist, forearm, bicep and tricep, according to the sheriff’s office report.
A month later, recovering at home, his arm still in a cast, he got a message from Sculac, which he later played for a sheriff’s office detective. According to an arrest affidavit, Sculac told him he had to pay a fine by Friday. McCain returned the call.
According to the affidavit, Sculac told McCain the U.S. Department of Agriculture had fined him $40,500. He had the money in escrow, but he would lose his house if he used that money, and the sanctuary would be shut down and the animals killed.
The next day McCain, pooling money from his business and friends and family, wired Sculac the money. When he called the USDA a few weeks later, he was told the investigation was under way, but a fine had not been imposed, the affidavit states.
He called the sheriff’s office. On June 22, a detective confirmed with the USDA that no fine had been issued. Sculac was interviewed July 16. He said while no fines had been issued, he expected the sanctuary would be fined, and that he told McCain $40,500 was “his share” in order to come back to Serenity Springs, according to the affidavit.
Asked how much of the money was left, Sculac said $15,000.; the rest was spent to improve and pay off the property.
Sculac was arrested Dec. 7, and is free on $10,000 bail. (Read the entire arrest affidavit by clicking on the link on the upper right of this page.)
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued Serenity Springs a $7,000 citation July 14, 2009. Serenity Springs is contesting the fine.
The USDA has not issued a fine. An agency spokesman said the investigation into the mauling is ongoing.
McCain declined to be interviewed, citing the sentencing, where he plans to testify.
Past offenses
The Sculacs’ wildlife refuge started small, just a handful of animals on the Sculacs’ ranch. But as sanctuaries around the country closed, and the number of people adopting big cats they couldn’t handle increased, so did the number of cats.
Karen Sculac handled the financial and business side of the sanctuary, the Sculacs told The Gazette in 2002. That’s the year Nick Sculacwas arrested on four counts of theft, accused of taking money for projects in his contracting business and not carrying out the work and also taking payment for medical supplies in another business and not delivering. A deputy requested bail to be set at $100,000.
“(Sculac) has shown proficiency in obtaining large sums of money by deception, (Sculac) made it clear to victim in one case that he has a .44-magnum that he carries and can use it,” the deputy wrote.
The charges were eventually dropped and Sculac paid restitution.
Karen Sculac died of a sudden illness in 2006, and Nick Sculac decided to keep the sanctuary going. But his financial and legal problems continued. He was sued in 2007 by a former attorney, who claimed he owed $5,794 in legal bills. In 2008, Memorial Hospital sued him for $2,700 over unpaid medical bills. In April, a motorcycle he bought for $14,000 was repossessed. The property has been in and out of foreclosure several times.
It is unclear how the theft case will affect the sanctuary, one of the largest in Colorado.
Sculac no longer owns the property, following a series of real estate transfers. The name was changed from Big Cats of Serenity Springsto Serenity Springs Wildlife Center, formed in 2008 by Julie Walker, who owns the home on Constitution Avenue that Sculac listed as his home address in court records.
The most recent tax return available, from 2007, lists Sculac as president, with three other family members on a six-person board of directors. He also continues to write in the sanctuary’s newsletter, and a former employee said Sculac is heavily involved in fund-raising for the center.
Not an accredited sanctuary
The center has a valid USDA permit, issued in August and good for one year. It has a zoological permit and an exhibitor’s permit from the ColoradoDivision of Wildlife, said agency spokesman Michael Seraphin.
Sculac is also scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday for the misdemeanor citation of keeping animal cubs off the sanctuary property, issued in December.
The sanctuary is not listed as an accredited facility by the American Sanctuary Association, said association director Vernon Weir, because the association disapproves of breeding, which apparently goes on at Serenity Springs. Serenity Springs’ permits allows some breeding of animals.
“Legitimate animal sanctuaries are taking in these animals because there’s nowhere else for them to go,” Weir said. “It’s to keep them from being killed, but they’re not in favor of private ownership. Wild animals belong in the wild, not in peoples’ backyards.”
The association also questioned if Serenity Springs was financially stable, he said.
Despite Sculac’s legal and financial troubles, the sanctuary seems to be doing OK. It offers tours of the sanctuary for $10 a person, takes photos with cubs for $25, and receives food donations regularly. Its Facebook page has 897 people who like it.
“Due to our generous donors, our meat freezers are full,” says a voice message on the sanctuary’s phone line.
Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/big-105633-cat-center.html#ixzz11PJBbMO5Find out more about Nick Sculac and Big Cats of Serenity Springs
rom: [address removed] [mailto:[address removed]] On Behalf Of AnnE
Sent: Wednesday, May 22,[masked]:08 PM
To: [address removed]
Subject: [AVeganLife] Serenity Springs Wildlife Center
Hello, I have 2 tickets to http://www.serenitysp...
Would anyone like to meet me and use the other ticket? Or perhaps carpooling??
The tour is a 1.5-hour walking tour. Times vary, but I am considering going on June 2nd to the 11am tour.
Tickets are $10 and more people could go. They would just need to buy own ticket.
Please let me know. Thanks, Anne Snider :)
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