The USDA Found The Cricket Hollow Zoo Or Park Depending On How They Try And Hide Was In Violation In 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 And Coming Soon 2017.
With All The USDA Fines And Editorials In Des Moines Register Newspaper Along With Many Other Sites Condemning This Horrific Zoo, The Owners Tom And Pam Sellner Have Shown They Could Care Less About Negative Publicity.
The Sellner's lack of any Morality Guarantees Their Repugnant Treatment Will Continue Without End Until The Politicians And The USDA Get Off Their Asses And Start To Care About These Helpless Beings.
 USDA Inspection photo taken 12/10/11 showing empty water receptacle, with an excessive amount of dirt and debris in it, for the Sheepdogs.
When USDA inspectors entered the Cricket Hollow Zoo primate housing area, as well as the reptile house, and the educational center. The smell of molding, putrid fruit was prevelant in the air. The fruit was so ill it had accumulated hundreds if not thousands of fruit flies.
The flies also had over run open bags of feed that was haphazardly placed in various areas of the shelter. What they witnessed in these areas wasn't unique throughout The Criket Hollow Zoo There was an excessive amount of animal waste in the following enclosures: bear, rabbit, primates, cattle, llama, kinkajou, African porcupine, lemurs, armadillos, lions and tigers. Most pens contained algee dominated stagnant water that had the look of not being changed for days if not weeks. The inspector also noticed a severe amount of flies, fruit flies, and mice throughout the entire zoo. The direct violation that the Cricket Hollow Zoo received is just as awful as everything that I have listed above. The water receptacle in the dog cage was completely empty. When watered by the inspector, they drank vigorously and returned constantly to drink the water during the inspection. It had been reported that the dogs were only watered once a day and, upon closer inspection, it was noted that the bowl had excessive dirt and other debris inside of it. Nothing was more sickening was the delusional sense of pride that Mrs. Sellner was displaying for her zoo, as if she was completely oblivious to the horrific conditions she was forcing upon these innocent creatures. Visitors have stated that during a recent extreme heatwave that Iowa was suffering from and the animals were in terrible conditions. Most of them had absolutely no water, the carnivores had rotting food in their cages, and all of the animals were covered in flies (some of which had numerous bites that drew blood). Complaints were filed, yet no relief came for those animals. The conditions were deemed fine. Does the Cricket Hollow Zoo sound very safe to the animals or the public? The words in this article came directly from the USDA inspection reports, so why are facilities like this allowed to exist, when the animals are constantly being neglected?  USDA Inspection photo taken 12/10/11 showing excessively long hooves on goats. This is a REPEAT violation from August 2011.
First and foremost, the Sellners were cited for not having a sufficient number of adequately trained employees. At this time, the prior three inspection reports had a significant number of documented noncompliance items.
The owners currently had other full-time jobs and were the only ones doing the regulated work at the zoo. The inspector stated, “Giving consideration to the demands on facility owners, the number of animals, the species of animals and inspection history; it is apparent that there is not a sufficient number of employees in this facility.” The USDA inspector said that Salima, a 30-year-old Hamadryas Baboon is showing signs of muscle loss and has experience generalized hair loss over her entire body. The inspector goes on to say that the Sellners have neglected to get Salima checked out by the attending veterinarian. This isn’t the only “ding” the zoo received for not allowing the animals to have adequate vet care. 5 of their goats have “excessively” long hooves, which can cause severe pain and discomfort to the animals. It also causes the goat to have a different stance, which can create musculoskeletal related issues. The enclosures of the animals also made a huge impression on the inspector. The dogs did not have a floor in their shelter, they also didn’t have wind or rain protection. The support rail of the enclosure had also broken loose, causing the tarp to bow into the cage. The dividers in the rabbit boxes are in “disrepair”- the divider had come away from the wood supports and had resulted in wires protruding into the enclosures. It posed a severe physical hazard to the rabbits (yet is only considered a non-direct violation). Chuki, a ring-tailed lemur (pictured to the right), lived in an enclosure that didn’t have adequate lighting. The back of the enclosure and the areas behind partitions are very difficult to observe. The camels at the zoo had pushed the shelter off of its base, resulting in the shelter to become crooked. The camel was not able to stand straight. While doing this routine inspection, Amirah, a one year old baboon, escaped from her primary enclosure. She was captured and returned to her enclosure, only to escape again. This is a hazard to the safety of the animal, as well as any public that should visit. The sheep and cattle enclosures were also in much dismay. There was a gap between the fence and the ground, with wires protruding in to the enclosure. There was wool stuck to the wires where the sheep had crawled through to escape. Much of the other fence was broken, as well. In the cattle pen, there was an accumulation of water and mud around the water tanks and the feeding area. The cattle were required to walk through mud and feces to get to their food and water. The drainage was not sufficient. Two enclosures housing tigers were approximately 10 feet high and did not have tops. The enclosures were not sufficient to contain the animals. (Again, these are still the non-direct violations…) Back in July of 2011, Tom Sellner (zoo owner) was attacked by one of his tigers while trying to feed it. The tiger was not put down, and after being life-flighted to Iowa City, Tom was expected to fully recover. The inspector has cited them for several violations when it came to their cleaning, sanitizing, general housekeeping, and pest control.
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