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icarusproject2015-blog · 7 years

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*This article would have been published in the next few weeks. However, it is being published ahead of schedule and without being entirely complete due to the recent, savage, and completely FALSE public accusations made by Eduardo Serio of Black Jaguar White Tiger against a heroic young woman who sought to help us and others take a stand against Serio, his lies and his abuse.

Somewhere in Colombia, six lions live in dilapidated circus carriages, the bars eaten with rust, the floors partially rotting. Four lionesses exist cramped together in one, two males in the other. They languish, the distasteful reminder of a country that tried to take a step forward in conservation by banning animal acts in circuses, but failed to consider the lives of the animals they were supposedly protecting. When Colombia made it illegal to utilize animal acts in circuses, it did so without having any feasible way to care for the hundreds of animals suddenly made homeless by their own policies. There was, and remains, scant documentation on the precise number of animals owned by circuses before the ban, or the number of animals abandoned since the ban was set in place. And with the responsibility of these animals strung between environmental agencies, such as the CRA (Corporación Autónoma Regional del Atlántico) things are anything but simple.

Though the six lions range in age from six to eight years–young for lions–at least one of the original seven animals has died during their three years of abandonment. All that keeps starvation at bay for the remaining six, is the devoted attention of a few people, who see to it that the lions have food and water. None of the six animals have left their cramped cages in almost four years. They have not touched grass in even longer. Their suffering is a result of Colombia’s simple inability provide sanctuary for captive exotic animals within their borders.

Though the country of Colombia has indicated it’s desire to join in the growing worldwide conservation movement, the country’s actions continue to show a stark failure to grasp the ethics required to join in such an endeavor. Quick “easy fixes” implemented by Colombia have only resulted in more suffering for the animals, as they were abandoned by owners who could no longer use them. There are no records of how many such animals died, either of starvation, or because their owners chose to kill them in order to comply with the new laws.

In the cases of abandonment, such as with these six lions, forsaken animals linger throughout the country, their fates irrevocably snared in a tangle of dysfunctional Colombian bureaucracy. Despite that Colombia supposedly wants to participate in conservation on an international level, no discernible effort has been made by the the government to secure placement for the hundreds of animals orphaned by their policies. Colombia isn’t the only country in this position, either. As many other countries begin to crackdown on animal exploitation, the matter of where those animals are supposed to live out the rest of their lives has become the foremost obstacle in freeing captive exotic animals from abuse an exploitation. Even when established and knowledgeable conservation groups offer help in addressing the issue, governments often fail to properly utilize that offer aid. This situation in Colombia is a prime example of that failure.

The plight of the six lions discussed in this article, was brought into the international, and public arena, not by the CRA, but by one of the most well known animal exploiters in the world: Eduardo Serio, the founder of Black Jaguar White Tiger Foundation.

Famous for his videos and social media posts showcasing tigers running around his mansion, and lions playing in his backyard Eduardo Serio has owned big cats–as pets–since 2013.

Celebrity guests (many of them holdovers from Serio’s childhood days spent in Hollywood, attending parties for the elite) regularly visit Black Jaguar White Tiger, touting the facility while posing for photographs with Serio’s latest batch of big cat cubs, many of which have been purportedly obtained from breeders with whom Serio has connections.

Kate Walsh comes to Blackjaguarwhitetiger Foundation to show her full support. Kate learns a lot of how the Foundation runs from Founder Eduardo Serio. Kate gets to spend time with 5 month old pumas, 4 month old lions, a 5 month old black jaguar, 250 pound year old lions, and gets to play with and feed lion cubs.

Pictured: Kate Walsh Ref: SPL996172 140415 Picture by: EBLV / Splash News

Splash News and Pictures Los Angeles: 310-821-2666 New York: 212-619-2666 London: 870-934-2666 [email protected]

If you ask Serio, he’s “rescued” over 200 big cats, in just three years. Some ignorant fans, like Eli Roth claim that BJWT has saved as many as 300 big cats, and repeat lies that Serio quite his job in order to start the Foundation. Serio never had a job in the first place. Another popular lie that adoring fans are tricked into spreading is the idea that BJWT releases animals into some mystical “protected wild jungle” in Mexico. BJWT has never released a big cat into the wild. Most of their cats are hand raised from birth, and trained to interact with humans–such as guests like Roth, who then leave gushing about how wonderful BJWT is on their own social media hubs–and thus BJWT’s animals can never be released. As for how many animals Serio has “rescued”, according the the public records of the Mexican government, Serio has registered possession of only about 30 cats. The truth about how many cats BJWT possess remains elusive, in no small part, because the Mexican government has never inspected Black Jaguar White Tiger’s facilities. You read that correctly. Despite that SEMARNAT and Profepa actually send confiscated animals to Black Jaguar White Tiger, neither of the government agencies have ever evaluated, or inspected Eduardo Serio’s facility.

This lack of oversight has allowed Serio to literally make up his own rules and standards as he goes. The stories of even the most popular and well documented animals at Black Jaguar White Tiger change on a regular basis. Some cats, like Cielo, the first cat, a black Jaguar Eduardo obtained as a pet in 2013, have been declawed. Others, like Karma, the lion cub Eduardo obtained shortly after Cielo, have died. Some of these deaths remain unexplained to this day, while others have been reported by Serio in contradicting ways, as he changes their stories to suit himself and the situation. The deaths continue even now. In the last months, a healthy Margay died inexplicably. Serio blames many deaths on “inbreeding” but the majority of them–even without necropsy–can be irrefutably linked to mismanagement and improper care.

Karma died after chewing apart household furniture, the pieces of which perforated her intestines. Her last days and hours were filled with agony, while Serio farted around posting on social media that she was “getting better” and “almost perfect”.

Today, Serio adamantly denies that anyone found any wood or other foreign body inside of Karma. He maintains that she died on the operating table and that her death is a mystery. He claims that his “haters” have contrived the lie about Karma ingesting wood out of envy of Serio and his “kids”. He says that we spread this lie in order to “hurt” him. Apparently, he’s forgotten all of his own social media updates made while Karma was actively dying.

Likewise, a lion named Labai, suffered intestinal blockages from chewing on toys and furniture, while Serio posted on Instagram that he was “getting better”. In cases such as Labai’s, Serio patently blames the animals’ former owners, whoever they might be, even when the animals have been in BJWT’s care for weeks or months before problems arise.

Notice the age difference an appreciable growth between when Labai was rescued, and the photo of the young BJWT visitor with him before his death. Yet Serio asserts that his death was a direct result of the lion’s former owners.

In the early days of BJWT, Serio delighted in posting photos of shoes, flip flops, bedding and furniture which had been chewed apart by the cats in his care. He also posted photos of them playing with dog toys and other other inappropriate objects. Now, though, he denies ever allowing such things to take place, yet his cats continue to suffer from intestinal blockages, and digestive issues.

In recent times, the tiger cub, Arizona, regurgitated milk through her nose, due to being improperly fed during a live feed on Facebook (which was quickly deleted, but not before it was captured by several viewers) The tiger cub, just a couple of weeks old at the time, subsequently developed pneumonia and nearly died. Serio promptly blamed “inbreeding” for her trouble, despite that thousands of followers had watched her choke on milk until it drained out of her nose.

Dozens of animals have died in the three short years that Eduardo Serio has owned cats, many of them overlooked or completely forgotten by his devoted followers. There has even been speculation from our contacts within Mexico, that Serio intentionally makes his cats sick, so that he can then “save” them on social media, much to the acclaim of his devoted (and ignorant) fans. Whether or not he actually makes his own animals sick, for anyone with at least a margin of medical knowledge, many of his “rescue” stories simply don’t add up. He describes serious ailments and injuries which are then miraculously healed in a time far too short to be physically viable. In other cases, he claims to heal ailments that simply can’t be healed–like blindness. Not if they were as serious as he described them to be. This indicates that in the least, Serio is untruthful about either the problems the cats suffer, or the timeframe in which they’ve recovered from those problems. Serio’s own lack of medical knowledge is a glaring warning sign to anyone with medical experience.

In addition to “healing” animals with his “Blue Energy” Serio is also well known for associating himself with various groups, or animals in need, simply in a bid for more attention. He notably announced that “We” are launching a “massive audit investigation against Yumka Zoo” when that zoo made headlines for alleged animal abuse. There was, of course, no followup on these claims. He also blamed the zoo for the death of his lion Labai, claiming that they botched an abdominal surgery, which caused his blockage, despite that the lion had been in BJWT’s care for over a month with Serio claiming that he was in perfect health now that he was in their care.

Serio further stated in his post about auditing Yumka, that BJWT received approximately $25,000.00 a month, in donations (not including any profit from merchandise sales) from his followers. He has since claimed that the foundation barely stays afloat monetarily, and the tax forms he so recently released claims that they only made $800,000.00 in 2016. With an average of $300,00.00 in straight donations, between $250,000.00 and $350,000.00 in fundraisers, and then all of the money made from the sale of merchandise, and endorsements from huge companies like Hublot, Instagram, and Swarovski, (the latter four of which Serio has never releases monetary numbers for) one has trouble believing that BJWT is in such desperate need for funding, as Serio claims in his regular adverts for donation.

Never mind the matter that apparently there are two Foundations registered under the name Black Jaguar White Tiger, with Serio listed as the founder. One “foundation” is nothing more than a mailbox in Encino California. All donations received through that address are given to BJWT tax free, thanks to their American 501(c)3 status. The second Black Jaguar White Tiger Foundation is registered in Mexico, and the tax and legal information pertaining to that foundation is kept tightly under wraps.

With Serio’s history of jumping on whatever animal crisis is currently in the news, when in December of 2016, he began a campaign to “save” six lions that were in “desperate” need of rescue in Colombia, most of us suspected it was simply a ploy to bring in donations. According to Serio, he needed $65,000.00 dollars to both transport the six lions to Mexico via ship, and to build enclosures for them to live in. Considering that the majority of the cats Serio already owns, according to eyewitnesses, live exclusively in small dog runs, it seemed absurd to think he was going to bring in six more lions. Nevertheless, within just a few days, Black Jaguar White Tiger fans had blindly forked over more than enough money to “save” the tormented lions in Colombia.

What those adoring, and unquestioning, fans don’t know, was that Eduardo Serio had already promised to save these same six lions (seven, at the time) from Colombia an entire year before his 2016 campaign.

According to this article, these same lions were due to be sent to Black Jaguar White Tiger in May of 2015. Serio was already “raising funds” in order to transport them. We learned from our contacts–contacts who have firsthand knowledge of the lions–that Serio had promised to take them, and that he supposedly was in the process of arranging transport for the animals. However, he failed to ever attain the required permits, and subsequently abandoned the project, leaving the lions to live for more than another year in their cramped and decrepit cages.

In the ensuing time, one of them died.

When I.C.A.R.U.S. Inc. learned through contacts, that the CRA was, in truth, willing to allow Serio to take the lions he already abandoned once, our foundation conveyed concern for the animals wellbeing, and asked exactly how much research the CRA had done on Black Jaguar White Tiger. I.C.A.R.U.S. Inc. was shocked to learn that, well, they hadn’t actually researched the Foundation, or Eduardo Serio at all. They were simply aware of him because he was famous on social media. They knew how popular Black Jaguar White Tiger was, our contact explained, so they just assumed that it would be a good place to send the lions. And because media outlets have (unfortunately) highlighted Eduardo Serio playing with his big cat pets, and referred to his “experience”, the CRA simply took these reports at face value, failing to understand that the media has no idea of how to differentiate between true expertise and social popularity.

This lack of understanding about how conservation works on a fundamental level, this ignorant presumption that public popularity somehow equates to genuine ethics and expertise, is as appalling as it is tragic.

It’s like assuming that because Hitler was in charge, he was a good leader, rather than understanding how he came to power, why he was there, and what he was actually doing. Our contact (a like-minded conservationist) was equally appalled and disgusted.

When I.C.A.R.U.S. Inc. reached out to the CRA asking if they would like to learn more about Eduardo Serio, and Black Jaguar White Tiger, they seemed very interested in hearing from experts who wanted to weigh in on the matter, and offered us the opportunity to present them with the facts as presented by leading experts in the fields of conservation and captive big cats, and international animal rescue. I.C.A.R.U.S. Inc. gathered letters of information, and facts which explained why, if Colombia, as a country, wanted to participate in conservation on an International level, they should not enter into dealings with groups like Eduardo Serio and Black Jaguar White Tiger, who value popularity and celebrity status over the wellbeing of their animals.

Once all of the information from willing conservation and captive big cat experts had been gathered, it was sent on to the CRA and other pertinent officials. These letters detailed how Eduardo Serio has no formal education in captive big cat husbandry; how he does not have a medical team on call to care for the cats already in his care; how several cats Black Jaguar White Tiger was given responsibility for, have since been removed by the Mexican government due to neglect and malnourishment; how despite that Black Jaguar White Tiger is registered in the U.S. as a nonprofit, Eduardo Serio has failed to ever post detailed financials of the foundation, as required by U.S. law. (Serio has, on several occasions, posted documents which he claim “prove” that he’s posting financials. However, none of them are a detailed listing of every donation, and every expenditure, which is what’s required. He’s also claimed he doesn’t need to “file taxes” for three years so his naysayers are lying. Again, filing taxes is not the same as posting yearly financial reports of all the income and expenditures)

Delcianna Winders, formerly an Academic Fellow in Harvard Law School’s Animal Law and Policy Program explained in her letter that to send “the lions to Black Jaguar would not only put them in harms way, but is likely to undermine conservation efforts and to be a public relations disaster for Colombia.” and that “the organization is under investigation by numerous entities and is known within the conservation community as a bad actor. The facility lacks adequate training in the care of big cats, a failing that has resulted in the preventable deaths of numerous animals.” the former Harvard Fellow went on to state that “Cats at Black Jaguar are kept in virtually barren and inadequately sized pens, and some have been removed due to inadequate conditions. The facility also allows—and indeed encourages— public contact with wild animals, a practice that numerous studies have found to be harmful to conservation efforts as it prompts the public to desire wild animals as pets and to believe that threatened species, like lions, are doing okay in the wild when in fact that are greatly imperiled.”

Tim Harrison, Executive Directer of Outreach for Animals has 43 years of experience in the rescue, rehabilitation and relocation of wild, and captive exotic animals. Well known for his award-winning documentary “The Elephant in the Living Room“ –which explores the perilous and complex issues of captive big cats in America’s backyards–Harrison stated that “These lions in Colombia are a perfect example of how a country, and its people, step up and heroically care for these big cats.” and that to send the lions to another country by ship (which is how Eduardo Serio intended to transport them, a long an harrowing ordeal) would offer “many more chances of human error, escaped animals and danger to the public and the big cats.” Harrison went on to say he had “not seen or heard anything positive about Eduardo or his facility, The Black Jaguar-White Tiger Foundation.” and that because of all of the failings of Eduardo Serio, and his damaging influence on conservation that he would “whole heartedly advise the Powers to Be in Colombia, NOT to work with, or associate with, The Black Jaguar-White Tiger Foundation.”

CompassionWorks International is a foundation devoted to spreading awareness about the daily exploitation that millions of captive exotic animals suffer all around the world. CWI focuses on abuse and exploitation carried out by zoos, circuses, aquariums and pseudo or fake sanctuaries just like Eduardo Serio and Black Jaguar White Tiger. Carrie LeBlanc, the Founder and Executive Director of CWI stated that a “transfer of any animal to that [Black Jaguar White Tiger] organization compromises not only the welfare of the animal in question, but also conservation efforts related to lions and big cats both in Colombia and beyond.” Again Eduardo Serio’s lack of education about big cat husbandry was pointed out, as were the issues which arise from such a lack of education. “Problematic husbandry practices are well recorded at BJWTF, which have resulted in the illness and death of numerous animals. BJWTF routinely ignores the importance of maintaining a physical and emotional separation between its animal inhabitants and its employees and visitors. The cohabitation and physical contact encouraged by BJWTF is highly inappropriate to the well being of the animals and poses a grave danger to all who come into contact with the animals.”

From conservationist and animal animal rights activist Soula Stephanopoulos came a litany of issues surrounding Black Jaguar White Tiger such as:

Serio is not qualified, having no education in regard to big cats, or proper big cat husbandry, nor is he able to care for these cats adequately using a diet of only chicken necks and no other game meat.

BJWT has no Conservation nor educational value. BJWT is a commercial brand. Serio began as a private collector who purchased animals as pets, and then saw a way to make money.

Serio does not know anything about the ethical management of captive wildlife. The Mexican Government must also take responsibility for their lack of ethical standards, guidelines and protocols.

An investigation into BJWT and Eduardo Serio has covered subjects such as lack of care, the exploitation of the animals in his care, the abysmal environment, the constant rotation of cubs bred for him to support his business and the gross misrepresentation of conservation, the glorification and promotion of cub petting and wildlife interaction, the lack of transparency, the hidden and often times doctored documents stating what animals have come and gone from his facility, the legal ramifications of his entities.

She closed by imploring the CRA “to think long and hard about sending the rescue lions to his zoological park and entertainment facility.”

Contrary to Eduardo Serio’s claim that BJWT is the “largest sanctuary for big cats in the world”, The Wild Animal Sanctuary, founded by Pat Craig, is actually the oldest and largest nonprofit Sanctuary in the world dedicated exclusively to rescuing captive exotic and endangered large carnivores. Under Craig’s guidance, TWAS has participated in multiple International rescues of captive exotic animals. Craig was shocked by Colombia’s choice to entrust a entity which was founded on the exploitation of captive exotic animals, like BJWT with the care of lions which have already spent their lives in exploitive circumstances. Craig urged the Colombian government to “reconsider placement with BJWT and move in a direction where the lions would have a much greater quality of life,”. While Craig acknowledged that “BJWT has enjoyed a significant increase in public exposure over the past number of years, and seems to offer a viable solution” he pointed out that “there are no viable long- term solutions available within Mexico, especially those involving BJWT.”

In addition to denouncing BJWT as a poor choice as the eventual home of the Colombian lions, Craig even extended an offer to the Colombian government to fully fund the rescue, supply shipping crates, transport and house all six lions on the vast acreage of their own Internationally renown foundation.

This could have solved the issue of rehoming the lions right then and there, if the offer had been accepted.

All of this information, and more, was passed directly to the CRA and other officials,who had taken responsibility for relocating the six lions in question. Within a very short time, it was revealed that despite all of the warnings and educational information provided, Black Jaguar White Tiger was still on the top of the CRA’s list of places to send the lions. Even in the face of facts and information offered by professionals within the world of International conservation, the CRA was still swayed by the easy route, rather than the moral one. Since they had already started the process with Eduardo Serio a year ago, the first time he’d promised to rescue the lions, and then failed to do so, they pointed out that it was already “in the works”.

One might consider, though, that it would take the same amount of effort from the CRA to provide the paperwork for BJWT, as it would for them to provide it to any other reputable and established sanctuary.

In the ensuing time since all of this took place, Eddie–who readers should remember insisted that he did not have the money, to transport and house the lions–has also been given some twenty other big cats, by the Mexican government. Eduardo has gloated and preened over his “salvation” of these twenty-some big cats, and his mindless followers have cheered him on. Not one of them seem to realize that they’ve sent BJWT over $60,000.00 to “rescue” the lions in Colombian because he could not afford to save them, yet he somehow could afford to save and house the twenty-some big cats given to him by the Mexican government. Just in the last few weeks several more cubs have appeared with various stories, including the ever popular trope that a tiger arrived pregnant and then gave birth, but immediately abandoned her cubs. And just a few days ago, Serio proclaimed that BJWT would be getting “a lot more Angels in the coming weeks” and urged fans to buy now-discounted merchandise, and donate to the Foundation. BJWT has also been heavily pushing advertisement for a contest the prize being a visit to BJWT to meet the “Kids”. All you need to do to enter, is buy merchandise.

It’s been business as usual at BJWT, with new celebrity guests (Eli Roth was one of them) coming to play with the animals (including some of the new cubs) and constant advertisement for the “Win a Trip to BJWT!” The only breaks in promotional posting occurred when Serio took a detour from his rhetoric in order to share several shockingly immature and drivel-bloated public posts erroneously defaming an innocent young woman, and declaring that he was going to sue her. Apparently feeling some sort of pressure from within the Colombian government, Serio took to social media, singling out a random woman and stating that she, and she alone, was the reason that the lions from Colombia had not yet reached Black Jaguar White Tiger.

The reality behind this recent attempt at character assassination is that despite how Serio steadfastly refers to the lions as already belonging to BJWT and despite Serio’s continuous claims that the six Colombian lions have already been approved to travel to Mexico by officials, the lions have, in fact, not been cleared for transport. So someone, somewhere in the Colombian government has given Serio the idea that his precious lions might not end up being his.

Because Serio has been guaranteeing to his followers that the lions are coming to BJWT for months, he now needs a “fall guy” whom he can blame if the lions are, in truth, sent somewhere other than BJWT. Otherwise, Serio will be forced to admit that he lied about all of it from the very beginning. And he can’t very well blame the CRA, since he needs them in order to get the lions. So instead, he posted the photo of a young woman, and claimed that she, and she alone, was the cause of the delay in getting the lions to BJWT. By placing the blame on an innocent, and defenseless young conservationist, Serio can avoid throwing shade on the CRA, and he can avoid pissing off someone with the means to fight back against his defamation. The reality is, he jumped the gun, and has been swaggering around boasting that he rescued lions the custody of which he had never actually–and still has not–been awarded.

And let me remind you that Eddie already had the chance to take these lions to BJWT in 2015 but he failed to get any of the paperwork and approvals necessary to bring them to Mexico.

The fact that he still doesn’t have the paperwork, the habitats, or anything else ready has nothing at all to do with the young woman he’s chosen to publicly deride. Of course, it’s also not the first time he’s publicly attacked a young woman. For months, now, Eduardo Serio has lied and publicly tormented a young American woman whose Savannah cats he offered to temporarily house, at Black Jaguar White Tiger. This, after he fraudulently lied on customs documents to get the cats into Mexico, and then promised to return them to their owner in exchange for $1,600.00. And yet, he took the money, still refused to give the cats back, continues to lie about what went on, while calling this young American woman crazy. This is something Serio laughingly boasts about doing on a Facebook photo album. At one point, after a number of BJWT fans offered to find the young woman and kill her in order to get rid of her, Serio published the woman’s personal information, including her phone number and home address.

Such actions are not the behavior of a professional. But then, Eduard Serio is also famous for flaunting dozens of Tramadol pills–a highly addictive pain medication–and joking about how he can’t get through the day without them.

Sources have described watching Serio take Tramadol tablets three or four at a time, all through the day, every day. That Eddie himself has posted multiple times on social media flashing his stash of pain killers (which he calls “pirin tablets”) only supports what witnesses have said about his constant use of them.

His casual jokes regarding the addictive pain meds are not only highly unprofessional, but also a sign that he does not believe taking them constantly is a serious matter. One source has even asserted that one of his American friends regularly takes Tramadol across the border for him. One thing is sure, though, he never has a shortage of his beloved Tramadol, sometimes posting photos of multiple boxes, each of which contain pills. His considerable paranoia and violent attacks on anyone he perceives as a threat to his position also fit into the symptoms of long term pain medicine abuse.

And yet, this is the man the CRA, if not Colombia as a whole, seems inclined to entrust with its lions who are so desperately in need of a home. This is the man that they seem to have deemed their most important contact for big cats and their care.

A pill-popping megalomaniac who thinks nothing of committing his entire social media presence to destroying any group or person who does not worship him. One wonders if perhaps, just perhaps, those in favor of trusting Serio might come to regret their poor choices, if they aren’t already doing so at this moment.

Eduardo Serio posted several rants declaring that the woman pictured caused a three month delay in getting the lions while he was dealing with an issue that she caused. Of course, he can’t “for legal reasons” state precisely what one young woman could possibly have done that would stop two entire countries from working together on an animal transport. He also declared that the woman will “soon be jailed” but did not list why. Nor did he list why there was even a warrant out for her.

Eddie repeatedly mentioned how this young woman “hurt six lions” egging his followers on to hate her by saying that he’s “not surprised that she decided to hurt those poor six lions” and saying that “this monster damaged them on purpose,” urging, by example, his followers to condemn and malign her. Eddie then pulled out his old reliable trope of jealousy, proclaiming that “they had the lions there for years, and nobody cared, then I asked the whole world to help rescue these Angels and they hate me for this.”

Yet Eduardo Serio has still not bothered to tell his followers that HE is the reason those lions have been sitting in those cages.

Eduardo Serio accepted responsibility for the six lions whose fate he is now blaming on an innocent conservationist, and then Eduardo Serio failed to ever get the paperwork required to obtain those animals.

For over a year, Eduardo Serio failed to get the paperwork needed to rescue these six lions.

For over a year, Eduardo Serio failed (supposedly) to have the money needed to rescue these six lions.

For over a year, Eduardo Serio continued to “save” and “rescue” dozens of other big cats (cubs, of course) while never even mentioning the six lions languishing in Colombia that he already promised to rescue and then abandoned.

While Eduardo Serio was using “Blue Energy” to heal lions and tigers, and dogs, and any other animal that looked cute on public posts, one of the original seven lions died in a cramped cage. While Eduardo Serio had professional photographer Gavin Bond over to Black Jaguar White Tiger repeatedly to take photos for a fabulous book they intend to publish, the six remaining Colombian lions each subsisted on two chickens a day. While Eduardo Serio hosted stars like Lewis Hamilton cuddling various batches of cubs he procured, the Colombian lions remained locked in cages, never having the benefit of touching the ground. While Eduardo Serio made lucrative for-profit business contracts with Hublot Watch company, the Swarovski Crystal company, and others, to bring in money to his own foundation, the Colombian lions remained ignored.

Ignored until it became convenient for Serio to bother with them again.

And when Eduardo Serio felt threatened in the “rescue” of the Colombian lions he had been ignoring, when he suddenly got the idea that he just might not end up with those lions, what did he do? He grasped at the name of a young woman who dared speak out against him and his deplorable exploitation of big cats. A young woman whose name was erroneously given to Serio by either an ignorant fool, or an intentional saboteur.

It’s beginning to look like the CRA is more interested in what’s “easy” instead of what’s right. If the fact that they might choose to give the lions to someone who already abandoned them once wasn’t enough of an indicator of their lack of morality, then the fact that the CRA is happy to work with someone who will try to publicly destroy innocent people should be.

Wherever Serio goes, destruction follows. Fake letters threatening legal consequences for infractions that never happened. The public display of private information of individuals that his own followers have offered to kill for him. The longwinded rants placing the blame for his own failings on others. If Serio cannot get something through bribery and promises, then he’ll try to do it through lies and threats and bullying.

Yes, the six (formerly seven) Colombian lions have been living in squalor needlessly for not only months, but years. The cause, however, is not due to one single young woman.

The blame for this disaster, the whole full weight of it, lies on the shoulders of two entities:

The country of Colombia, who in their rush to join the conservation movement, banned the exploitation of animals in entertainment acts before they figured out what they would do with the unwanted animals afterward.

And Eduardo Serio, who promised the Colombian government he would rescue the lions in 2015, and then failed to do so.

Should the CRA decide to move forward with handing their lions over to Eduardo Serio, an overwrought bully who delights in terrorizing anyone he deems beneath him, few genuine conservation professionals will likely ever deal with them again. After all, no genuine conservationist ever wants to be associated with a charlatan such as Serio and his Black Jaguar White Tiger Foundation.

And to Eduardo Serio, himself, *slow clap*. It takes a real man to attack a defenseless–and innocent–young woman just for the sake of throwing a temper tantrum and setting up a “fall guy”. You are the one who abandoned those lions back in 2015, and even if your fans are too stubborn to admit that, the rest of us know it, and will not forget it.

Nothing echoes louder than the words of a coward shifting the blame of their own failings onto an innocent who cannot defend themselves.

Money Over Morals: Colombia’s Conservation Failure *This article would have been published in the next few weeks. However, it is being published ahead of schedule and without being entirely complete due to the recent, savage, and completely FALSE public accusations made by Eduardo Serio of Black Jaguar White Tiger against a heroic young woman who sought to help us and others take a stand against Serio, his lies and his abuse.

#Activism #Change #education #Environment #government #Media #mexico #Research #USA

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icarusproject2015-blog · 7 years

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I’ve been in this game long enough that I’m always shocked when someone comes to me with a story of animal exploitation that I’ve never heard of. And yet, it happens, far more often I’d like. There is, apparently, an inexhaustible number of people eagerly awaiting their chance to “teach” the public about the animals they’re exploiting. Which brings me to the Great American Frontier Show: Wolves of the World. I had never heard of the show, which was founded by a man named Michael Sandlofer, a number of years ago. Mr. Sandlofer passed away in 2016, so I will be as respectful as possible in the writing of this article. The article will, however, be honest, and forthright.

The Sandlofers have owned and trained captive wild animals for entertainment purposes for multiple decades. They even had performing bison at one point. From as early as 1979, they’ve had animal shows performing for audiences, at a price, while claiming the animals were all “rescues” and that they were “educating” people.

Finding articles about the Sandlofers and their shows was easy, but I quickly learned that none of those articles contained more information than that the show was “educational”. Those claims were accompanied by quotes from either Michael, or Sharon like “Wolves are the most misunderstood animals in the world.” and “If you look at wolves up close, you’ll see that their two center toes are longer than the others,” Sandlofer said. “That gives them better traction when they’re on the hunt.” and this gem “Many just don’t understand the pyramid of life cycle and the part these wolves play,”. That last one got a long snarly breath out of me, because by just a few articles into my research, the doublespeak and incorrect information provided made it clear that 1) the Sandlofers did not, and do not, actually know much about wolves, and wolf biology, and 2) the interviewers and authors of the articles either didn’t know, or didn’t care, enough to fact check the information provided by the Sandlofers.

For example, Michael and his wife are described as “having been involved with animal rescue and conservation for decades”. However, aside for Mr. Sandlofer’s participation in the saving of a beached whale back in 1981 (totally commendable) there are no references to the Sandlofers “rescuing” animals by anyone other than the Sandlofers themselves. And while the Sandlofers claim that their animals come from “an animal rescue organization” I have been unable to find any rescue group who works with them, nor have I been able to find where the Sandlofers have ever named the organization. At the time of the whale incident, Michael Sandlofer was a deep sea dive instructor and worked with the North Wind Museum, which he founded in 1979. The North Wind ran the “All-Star Animal Revue and Circus” for a number of years.

Most articles note that Sandlofer was “awarded the prestigious Rolex Award” for his conservation efforts. However, when I went to the Rolex site, and checked their records, Mr. Sandlofer is not listed as a Laureate (winner) of any Rolex award, in any year. I did, however, find this write up, which clearly states that he received an honorable mention from the award in 1984. Still noteworthy, and respectful, but it’s not the same as actually being named a Laureate.

I finally decided it was probably best to just check out actual videos of the Sandlofers’ show. So I spent about three hours, cumulatively, watching Sharon put on the Wolves of the World show. I also watched a great many commercial-style video spots of Michael Sandlofer hocking his show, encouraging fair grounds and entertainment facilities to book them because of the “huge crowds” they draw. The performances I watched ranged from the years 2012 to 2016 and took place all across the country, captured by attendees. At least one was put on by the Sandlofer’s daughter, Brenna. Here are some fast bullet points I got from all my screen time, which I’ll then explore further.

The shows run about 20-30 minutes, but on average, 15+ minutes of that time is spent simply introducing the animals one at a time, or in sets. Many shows state specifically that all of the animals are Eastern Timber wolves.

Sharon is the primary handler. Her husband refers to her as the “Wolf Whisperer” *cough* *Lion Whisperer influence* *cough*

Both Sandlofers repeatedly use the term “positive reinforcement” to describe what they call their “training method” while also repeatedly stating that “you don’t train wolves”.

They call the actions that the animals perform “behaviors” rather than “tricks” insisting that they are all “natural behaviors” while also stating that they “train” the animals “to perform the behaviors for their enrichment.” But each time they say this, they add “but you don’t really train wolves.”

About half the meager wolf biology and scientific information provided by Sharon is either wrong, or extremely simplified and misleading.

The shows always ends with Sharon offering the audience chance to (for more money) take photos with “a wolf pup” and “tour their “den” trailer”.

Despite that the Sandlofers repeatedly refer to their animals as wolves, and as “the pack” I found no evidence that the animals are ever housed together in a functional pack, even off the road.

From 2012-2016 the script of the show remains virtually unchanged, with Sharon reciting the same lines over and over again, almost verbatim, despite that over those years, science’s understanding of wolves has increased and changed. The only real alterations are in the backstories of some of the animals. But the new information provided often directly conflicts with the biographies and information given in previous shows, indicating that the Sandlofers change facts to suit situations.

The main shtick of the Wolves of the World show (aside from being the “Only traveling wolf pack in America”) is that wolves are “the most misunderstood animal in the world”. In addition to being a painfully hackneyed phrasing, it simply isn’t true. There are thousands of completely misunderstood animals in our world. The wolf is just one of them. To describe the wolves and their importance to the environment as being “misunderstood” by Americans is like saying Jews and their importance to humanity was “misunderstood” by Hitler. The hatred and savagery directed at wolves in American history has little to do with them being misunderstood, and everything to do with them being blamed for things they had nothing to do with, and thusly sanctioned for annihilation. And just as with the Holocaust, wolves were systematically exterminated for their perceived worthlessness. Sandlofer, when she does touch on the subject,–something that doesn’t even happen in every show–states that wolves were targeted for hunting because “man saw them as competition”. That is, to put it mildly, an extremely narrow and simplistic perception of the matter, and a largely modern interpretation of modern wolf conservation issues, not historical ones.

In the 1700s, explorers were not concerned with the idea that wolves were going to eat all of their deer or other food staples. In the 1800s settlers were not concerned with sharing food with wolves, so much as saving their livestock from the perceived danger of wolf attack. During hard winters, this ended up being a literal danger. In the 1900s, professional wolf hunters were not concerned with how many deer a wolf pack ate, so much as how many dollars they could get for each wolf killed.

The mass extermination of wolves was driven, not by their “competition” with human hunters, but by the desire for cold hard money, as well as old world fears and hatred, which early settlers brought with them from Europe, where wolves had already been effectively exterminated by 1680 in Scotland, 1786 in Ireland 1707 in Switzerland, and so on. By the late 1800s, wolves were all but extinct in most European countries, and those still alive had been driven into Russia.

True wolf extermination efforts in America did not even begin until the 1870s, and that period of violence lasted up into the 1950s.

To present the idea that wolves were killed by “settlers” because they were viewed as “competition” for a food source, or perceived as dangerous to humans, implants visions such as this into the minds of listeners:

When in reality, the intentional butchering of wolves is a much more recent event, and one that was driven by outright hatred, monetary gain, and sport. (both historical and modern wolf extermination shown here)

Sandlofer’s noble intonement that “Native Americans were really the only people who truly understood wolves. They thought of the wolf as their brother.” is also an idealistic fabrication of “white thinking” (usually presented while mood-setting Native American pipe soundtracks are played for the audience) The relationship between American Indian Nations and the wolf was, and remains, complex and deep, and not always friendly. Some Nations admire the wolf and respect it, but rather than see wolves as “brothers” they see them as warrior spirits which can be invoked by wearing wolf hides, or tails tied to themselves as they go into battle. The Cheyenne Wolf Warrior society are an example of this.

Other Nations, most notably the Navajo, feared, and continue to fear, wolves, believing them to be human witches in disguise. They believed that a Navajo witch became a wolf by donning the skin of a hunted wolf. Navajo werewolves are, even today, often blamed for murders, mutilated bodies, and raiding graveyards.

Unlike Sandlofer’s presentation of American Indians taming wolves and turning them into todays breeds (it should be noted that there are many dog breeds older than the recorded history of North American Natives) the reality is that bringing wolves into camp rarely worked out, as the camp dogs (which Sandlofer’s timeline insinuates wouldn’t have existed yet) killed the pups, or superstitious tribe members stole them away and cast them out. It was far more common, particularly amongst the Cree, for children to find a wolf den, and approach it, at which time the adults would move away–with no recorded attacks on the children–and then the children would dig the pups out and play with them before returning them to their den, and retreating so that the adults to return.

To get back to the “educational” value of Wolves of the World, Sandlofer repeatedly says that you “don’t train wolves, you ask them to do something and hope they do it”, while at the same time openly giving the wolves verbal instructions, and rewarding them with food when they obey, which is the literal process for training through positive reinforcement. The conflict of her statements is obvious. She is, in fact, training the wolves. Or, to be more correct, the wolfdogs.

Czechoslovakian wolfdog.

Image of the Sandlofer’s animals taken from this undated article, where they’re described as Timber wolves.

It’s obvious to anyone with some expertise that virtually every animal in the Wolves of the World show, is actually a captive bred wolfdog, not a full-blooded wolf. Despite that the show describes the pack as “all Eastern Timber wolves” in this 2012 video, none of the animals are full-blooded wolves.

In contrast wolfdogs (as I suspected most, if not all of the Sandlofers animals were when I first saw them) are the product of multiple generations of selective breeding between other wolfdogs in a manner which sustains a high percentage of wolf genetics, but provides a more doglike personality, and tractability. Because domestic dogs were taxonomically recategorized in 1993 as a subspecies of Canus lupus, wolfdog proponents say that they’re no different from other domestic dogs, and wolfdog are now recognized by the UCA. If you follow I.C.A.R.U.S. you’ll know our position on this matter. I have included informational links on wolfdogs to show the definitive differences between them, and captive wolves for the purpose of this article. And this article is not about wolfdogs, it’s about the misrepresentation of wolves by the Sandlofers in their show.

In order to confirm my hunch about the wolfdogs, I sought out and subsequently secured the expertise of an established professional within the wolfdog community. They were, understandably, dubious about speaking with me, considering I.C.A.R.U.S.’s position. However, when I explained my situation, they were willing to help me, as the misrepresentation of wolves, and wolfdogs, is bad business for anyone devoted to genuine conservation.

My contact was able not only to confirm that at least four of the Sandlofer’s main animals (Cody, the “hero wolf” Phoenix, Cheyenne, and another unnamed animal) are, in fact, wolfdogs, but also that those four animals were not “rescued” by the Sandlofers. They were, in reality, bought by Sharon and her husband a number of years ago. Furthermore, my source was given to understand that sometime shortly after the Sandlofers purchased the animals and began describing them as “rescues” they were approached by the former owner, and asked to refrain from calling the animals “rescues” since they had been purchased.

Yet, in virtually every video, or interview I found about the Sandlofers they steadfastly, though the years, have continued to describe their animals as “all rescues”. Likely, this is because “rescues” are far more sympathetic to the audience than purchased animals. The Sandlofer’s daughter, Brenna, goes even a step further in this 2014 video, not only repeatedly calling all of the animals “wolves” but also stating that a number of them are “wolves” people got a pets, and then became afraid of an couldn’t handle. As none of the Sandlofer animals are even full wolves, this is, apparently, another fabrication of fact, possibly to then allow the Sandlofer’s to “encourage” conservation by suggesting that wolves don’t make good pets. Which is true, but irrelevant, since the Sandlofers don’t have full blooded wolves.

The only bit of truth, it seems, to Sandlofer’s backstories of their animals, is the rescue story wherein Cody saved a child from drowning. That, my source stated, they knew to be a true story. My contact went on to say that as far as they know, Sharon still keeps her ear out within the wolfdog community for any animals that might be available to secure and add to the show. It is not, my source explained, uncommon for many of the “sanctuaries” which offer “wolf” interactions, to shop around for wolfdogs and wolfdog puppies to purchase for their programs, as wolfdogs are more outgoing, where wolves are incredibly shy, and wolfdogs are much more inclined to follow an established routine, when properly socialized and trained.

This is not surprising for those of us who are aware of the duplicity of pseudo-sanctuaries, but it was enlightening to hear it from the “opposite side of the fence” as it were, and I’m grateful to my contact for all the help they provided to me.

In the 2012 video, the animals Sandlofer refers to as “the boys” are all wolfdogs, bred in captivity and derived from several generations of wolfdogs at minimum. While Sandlofer offers lengthy histories for the other animals, she states that she “doesn’t really know the story” of these animals (there are about five) but that they “came from West Virginia” and that they “desperately needed help and we were there to give it.”

The owner of the show doesn’t know how she ended up with a batch of wolfdog puppies–which she’s introduced to her audience as full-blooded Eastern Timber wolves? How is that even possible? She goes on to say that they’ve had “the boys” since they were babies, and that she raised them herself, which makes them easier to handle and work with.

Fast forward to this video of the 2016 show, and Sandlofer is now telling the audience that “the boys” are all brothers, about five years old, and all came from the same (undisclosed) place in West Virginia, and she points out that they “look different” because “they’re wolf-hybrids”. Confusingly, however, some articles from around the same still have the Sandlofers stating that “the animals in their show all are eastern timber wolves.” While other articles quote the Sandlofers as stating that they are wolf-hybrids.

After showing off “the boys” Sharon then introduces three young pups, two boys and one girl, whom she states “have been really interesting” because they’re only a year old, and they’re the first young animals she’s gotten to work with because normally they only get older rescues. So now we have two separate shows performed four years apart both containing young animals that Sandlofer states are the “first” young wolves or wolf-hybrids she’s ever worked with.

On top of that, Wolves of the World seems to have offered photo opportunities throughout the years, each with a puppy or set of puppies, which, of course provokes the questions where are the puppies coming from? What sort of pups are they? (the Sandlofers refer to a pup named Lobo as half Arctic wolf and half Timber wolf, at one point, then call him a full Arctic wolf in a different instance) And where are they going?

As far as the scientific information that Sandlofer recites for her audience, much of it is misinformation, or fragmented facts.

According to Sandlofer a wolf’s “golden yellow eyes see extremely well”. But the reality is that wolves see, on average, as well as a human during the day (they see more tones of gray, and can detect motion faster than we can, but don’t actually see “better”) and some researchers actually believe that wolves might be nearsighted due to the fact that there eyes do not possess a foveal pit. They have more rods than we do, though, and thus see much better than humans in the dark. In addition, the color of a wolf’s eyes range from gold to amber, brown, gray, yellow and even green. Only blue is explicitly excluded from a true wolf’s eye color range, yet Sandlofer repeatedly describes all wolves as having “golden” eyes, citing it as one of their defining features.

Similarly, Sandlofer describes a wolf pack as being “five to as many as twenty wolves” when in reality, a pack can consist of as few as two wolves, and in some cases, under certain circumstances as many as 40. In fact, at one point, the Druid pack of Yellowstone (and Sandlofer is quick to liken her own wolves to those of Yellowstone) swelled to 37 animals. During the winter of 2010-2011 there was even an unprecedented occurrence in the small town of Verkhoyansk, Russia wherein an exceedingly hard winter forced multiple wolf packs to merge, resulting in an amalgamation of hundreds of animals working together. Even conservative estimates put the number of wolves at over 200 animals, and in their bid to survive the winter, they wrecked havoc on the agriculture of the small town. A far cry from Sandlofer’s 5-20 wolf packs.

Sandlofer states that wolves are unique in the formation of their foot, wherein the two center toes are slightly longer, which “gives them superior traction while on the hunt”. In reality, this type of foot conformation is known as being “hare-footed” and all domestic sighthounds, as well as many other domestic breeds possess the feature. It provides more speed to the animal, but also take more energy within the execution of their gait. Domestic dogs with an evenly rounded feet (the result of short third digital bones) are described as being “cat footed”.

When Sandlofer discusses her wolves which were “rescued” from a Minnesota fur farm, she states that “fur farms are illegal”. Fur farms are not, in fact, illegal. They should be, but that’s another topic for another article. Fur farms in the US are not only legal, but they’re not even regulated at the federal level. Some states may, or may not have specific protections, but that’s no guarantee. The only possible protection for wolves would be the Endangered Species Act, but wolves do not currently have full protection under the ESA, and the ESA does not protect hybridized animals at all. So just as the Sandlofers are presenting their wolfdogs as full wolves, anyone owning full wolves could simply crossbreed their animals, and thus avoid the issue while still harvesting pelts. And since the Sandlofer’s other animals actually are wolfdogs, it seems plausible that the “wolves” they “rescued” from the supposed fur farm are also wolfdogs. Even if someone is accused of breaching the ESA, prosecuting them is an arduous and slow process, which multiple steps. And it’s not always completely successful.

The Wolves of the World show has, according to articles, and reviews, long been seen as an exciting and educational experience designed for family fun despite that the “education” they offer is comprised of falsehoods, exaggerations, and outright bullshit. With the increasing popularity of “education through interaction” programs and facilities, it’s likely the Sandlofers will only continue to expand their show, misrepresenting wolves in the process. By foregoing honest facts in favor of showy–and untrue–stories and histories the Sandlofers do no service to current wild wolf populations, nor to conservation itself. In truth, the only suggestions for “aiding wolf conservation” that I ever heard the Sandlofers mention was that audience members should “contact their congressman” and either demand an end to wolf culling, or ask that they not be removed from the endangered species list. Genuine issues and information regarding sustainable wolf conservation within wild populations were never mentioned.

The history of wolves in America is a complicated, often sordid affair that swings from utter vilification and near complete eradication, to glorification, and contrived reverence to the point of absurdity. It’s a subject that far outstrips the inane descriptives of “misunderstood” and “competition” used by the Sandlofers to describe the American conflict between wolves and humans. Likewise, the ongoing biology, and science of wolves, and wolf conservation is an ever-expanding realm of study. And it’s one that faces a constant and ongoing war against the misinformation, lies, and exploitation of groups like the Sandlofers. Those of us fighting to reach the public without the aid of flashy shows and routines will readily meet the challenge, each and every time we face it.

If you would like to know more about the true history of wolves in America, the three books listed below are a great place to start.

War Against The Wolf, America’s Campaign to Exterminate the Wolf, Rick McIntyre, Editor

Of Wolves and Men, Barry Lopez

Vicious: Wolves and Men in America, Pro. Jon T. Coleman

For a plethora of scientific articles about wolves, and their conservation spanning decades check out this link.

Selling Utopia: Rewriting The History Of Wolves In America For Public Consumption I’ve been in this game long enough that I’m always shocked when someone comes to me with a story of animal exploitation that I’ve never heard of.

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