Cicchelli
Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue and Exotics
8270 W BLUE RD LAKE CITY, MI 49651 USDA # 34-C-0440
Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue and Exotics cited for new AWA wild felid-specific licensing reqs:
“While inspecting the zoo site, one cougar and two servals were present in the animal barn with the rest of the exhibit animals for the facility. The facility is not licensed to conduct regulated activities with wild/exotic felids. Comingling of the cougar and two servals with animals intended for exhibit without appropriate approval makes them regulated species. Licensure with USDA must specifically authorize the use of wild/exotic felids. The facility must remove the cougar and two servals from the barn so that they are not comingled with animals intended for exhibit.”
Here’s how that works. Up until 2021, just about anyone could get a USDA license by filling out name, address, phone number and paying $35. They say they are going to exhibit some little exotic rodent and have to pass an inspection for their hamster wheel. Then, as soon as they have the USDA license, they go out and buy a tiger. No one from USDA would know until they inspect the next time which could be three years later. Now there is a new rule in town and Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue and Exotics was cited for not adhering to it:
9 CFR § 2.1(b)(2)(ii) (“licenses must specifically authorize the use of each of the following groups of animals: Group 5 (baboons and nonbrachiating species larger than 33 pounds) and Group 6 (great apes over 55 pounds and brachiating species) nonhuman primates; exotic and wild felids (including but not limited to lions, tigers, leopards, cheetahs, jaguars, cougars, lynx, servals, bobcats, and caracals, and any hybrid cross thereof); hyenas and/or exotic and wild canids (including but not limited to wolves, coyotes, foxes, and jackals); bears; and mega-herbivores (including but not limited to elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, and giraffes). A licensee must obtain a new license before using any animal beyond those types or numbers of animals authorized under the existing license”) https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/9/2.1
