Follow-up to crazy tiger lady: cats seized
Tue, Nov 11, 2003
By WAYNE PARRY, Associated Press Writer
JACKSON, N.J. - Animal welfare workers were rounding up 24 Bengal tigers from a private sanctuary early Tuesday, culminating a battle that began after a 430-pound tiger was found roaming the suburbs.
• Tigers Only Preservation Society - official site
New Jersey officials got a court order to remove the animals after it determined they were being poorly cared for at the 12-acre Tigers Only Preservation Society, which is owned by Joan Byron-Marasek. The tigers were being transferred to a Texas animal shelter.
The saga began in January 1999, when authorities shot and killed a loose tiger wandering around a residential subdivision near Byron-Marasek's property. Authorities had tried unsuccessfully to tranquilize it.
State officials never proved the tiger belonged to Byron-Marasek, known as "The Tiger Lady," but they criticized conditions at her facility and refused to renew her permit to keep the animals.
After a lengthy court battle, her appeals were exhausted in November 2001, and a judge authorized a plan to move the animals to the Texas sanctuary.
The first of four large tractor-trailers entered the compound around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, and crews worked to lure the tigers into individual cages.
Chris Cutter, a spokesman for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said he did not expect much difficulty in getting the tigers to enter the transfer cages from the pen where they were being held. "They're pretty anxious to get out," said Cutter, whose group is assisting with the move.
Animal welfare officers injected the most aggressive tiger with a tranquilizer dart and may do the same for three other tigers, Cutter said.
The truck convoy was expected to leave New Jersey on Tuesday night for an 1,800-mile, 30-hour trip to the Wild Animal Orphanage in San Antonio. The tigers should be at their new home by Wednesday night.
A federal court hearing was scheduled for Wednesday on Byron-Marasek's request for some sort of relief for the loss, said Marty McHugh, director of the state Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Fish, Game & Wildlife. Her most recent attorney, Darren Gelber, did not return a phone call seeking comment Tuesday.
Byron-Marasek was at the compound when the workers arrived, but she left around 7 a.m. She did not comment, and crouched down in the departing taxi so photographers could not take her picture.
New Jersey is providing $120,000 toward the cost of the move and the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which is campaigning to end private ownership of big cats, is contributing another $120,000. McHugh said the state plans to move in court to recoup its costs from Byron-Marasek.
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On the Net:
Wild Animal Orphanage:
http://www.wildanimalorphanage.org/home.html
Copyright © 2003 The Associated Press.
