Northwest
Herald
June 14, 2007
By Brandon Coutre
Original
Article
WOODSTOCK – An Iowa man has
filed a lawsuit seeking more than $50,000 against
a McHenry County circus-training facility, where
he alleges that he was mauled by a white tiger
in July 2005.
Craig Perry, 42, of Center Point, Iowa, said
an unprovoked tiger mauled his left leg moments
before he was to pose with 14 of the animals
for photographs at an arena on Hawthorn Crop.’s
property, at 9819 N. Solon Road, Richmond.
Perry is the owner of Iowa-based Perry’s
Wilderness and Zoo Inc. He had planned to use
the photos in advertising to promote an exhibit
at the Lake County Fair, according to his attorney,
John Saletta.
The law suit seeks damages from Hawthorn Corp.
and tiger trainer Wade Burck for medical bills
and pain and suffering.
“Wade Burck was standing up tigers in
an arena and invited Mr. Perry into that arena,” Saletta
said. “When [Perry] went in the arena,
the tigers were standing on stools, but one of
the tigers circled around him and attacked.”
Perry required immediate surgery and still suffered
from scars and nerve damage, Saletta said.
“Craig Perry had no knowledge of the tiger’s
propensity to violence, and therefore, at no
time, did [the] plaintiff knowingly and voluntarily
expose himself to being mauled by the tigers,” according
to the lawsuit.
An attorney for the Hawthorn Corp. on Wednesday
said that he had no knowledge of the lawsuit,
but that another attorney in his firm worked
more closely with the company. That other attorney
was unavailable for comment Wednesday.
No one answered the phone Wednesday at the Grayslake
residence of John Cuneo, who owns Hawthorn Corp.
The facility where the alleged attack occurred
is the same facility that was charged in April
2003 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture with
47 violations of the Animal Welfare Act after
16 of its elephants were exposed to a human strain
of tuberculosis.
In May 2004, Hawthorn Corp. admitted to 14 animal-welfare
violations and agreed to pay a $200,000 fine
and remove the elephants from the property.
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