The notorious Hawthorn Corporation, which is owned by John Cuneo, has one of the most sordid histories of animal abuse and neglect in the circus industry. For two decades, its egregious violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) have continued undeterred despite more than 100 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) citations for AWA violations, including failing to provide animals with proper veterinary care, denying animals adequate space for months on end, failing to provide animals with adequate nutrition, and physical abuse of animals. In fact, Hawthorn was the subject of the USDA's first elephant confiscation in U.S. history. The USDA seized an elephant named Delhi from Hawthorn and ordered Hawthorn to relinquish 16 additional elephants after finding Delhi in imminent danger because of untreated chemical burns she sustained after Hawthorn forced her to stand in undiluted formaldehyde. The USDA took a number of additional enforcement actions against Hawthorn—resulting in license suspensions and more than a quarter of a million dollars in fines—which have proved to be entirely ineffective at deterring Hawthorn from continuing to flagrantly neglect and abuse animals.
