Federal investigators are scheduled to argue Monday at a hearing in Washington that a circus training facility in McHenry County should be closed.
But the owner’s wife hinted Friday that a settlement could be in the works.
“We’re not going to court,” said Herta Cuneo, wife of John Cuneo, owner of Hawthorn Corp.
In a brief phone conversation, Herta Cuneo said her husband was working Friday afternoon on a settlement, but she would not discuss any details or say whether it would keep the facility open.
Hawthorn’s lawyers could not be reached for comment, and a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture declined to comment.
“It’s just going to be a kangaroo court,” Herta Cuneo said of Monday’s scheduled hearing before a U. S. Department of Agriculture administrative law judge.
The hearing is scheduled to last all week, with two additional days scheduled for the end of the month if they are necessary.
John Cuneo has said previously he would fight the USDA’s allegations of abuse and inadequate care of animals at his facility outside of Richmond in northern McHenry County.
Citing 47 violations of the Animal Welfare Act, the USDA wants to permanently revoke Hawthorn’s license to exhibit animals, which would effectively close Cuneo’s operation.
An official with the Illinois Department of Agriculture said Friday that if Hawthorn’s federal license is revoked, any animals considered dangerous under state law would have to be moved to a facility that has a federal exhibitor’s license.
That would include tigers, which Hawthorn keeps at the facility, but not elephants, according to Carroll Imig, chief of the Illinois Department of Agriculture’s animal welfare bureau.
Begun in 1957, Hawthorn Corp. has become one of the largest providers of performing elephants and tigers in the country. Cuneo said last year that his inventory included 19 elephants, a lion and 84 tigers, the largest group of registered tigers in the world. His animals have performed in circuses across the U.S. and around the world.
But in the last 10 years, Hawthorn also has become a target of USDA investigations and protests by animal rights groups involving allegations of animal cruelty.
In 1994 Cuneo agreed to pay a $12,000 fine after one of his elephants went berserk in Honolulu, killing its trainer and injuring several people before police killed it. Four years later, Cuneo agreed to pay $60,000 and have his license suspended for 45 days after two of his elephants died of tuberculosis.
