$300,000 in License-Plate Funds Sought : La Follette to Ask State to Save Wildlife Haven

A Northridge assemblywoman plans to ask the state Legislature to appropriate $300,000 to save the Wildlife Waystation, a Tujunga Canyon refuge for homeless wild animals that is threatened with extinction because county regulations blocked its popular fund-raising events this year.

Ron Kester, legislative assistant to Marian W. La Follette (R-Northridge), said La Follette would seek permission today from the speaker of the Assembly, Willie Brown, to introduce immediately an emergency appropriation for the Waystation.

“The speaker must clear the request because we’re past the deadline for introducing bills, which was way back on March 8,” Kester said.

He said La Follette would propose that $300,000 of the $18 million raised annually by the sale of personalized auto license plates--which is reserved for conservation uses--be appropriated to the state Fish and Game Department. The department would be instructed to pass on the funds to the Waystation to promote the conservation of wildlife there.

The Waystation would be required to spend the money to bring the refuge into compliance with county regulations so that it could resume holding fund-raising events and continue to support itself, he said.

A spokesman for the Waystation, meanwhile, confirmed that the facility is trying to solve another governmental problem. The Waystation is no longer registered with California regulatory agencies as a tax-exempt or charitable corporation, meaning that donations to it are not deductible on state income tax returns.

An attorney for the Waystation said applications are pending for state charitable status, which can be made retroactive.

The Waystation is registered with the Internal Revenue Service, so contributions are deductible on federal tax returns, an IRS spokesman said.

The refuge, situated on a 160-acre ranch in Little Tujunga Canyon in the Angeles National Forest, provides a home for unwanted, abused or dangerous animals that would otherwise have to be killed. It now houses about 600 animals, including more than 100 lions, tigers and other big cats. Other inhabitants range from coyotes and foxes to monkeys and rare breeds of deer.

The Waystation is run by Martine Colette, who founded the refuge in 1976.

La Follette believes state government should help preserve the Waystation because it provides a service that no other agency could, Kester said.

“The Waystation receives animals from the state and county and other governments, so there is government involvement there,” he said. “If she doesn’t get the money somewhere, who’s going to take care of these animals?

“Is the state of California willing to take 500 wild animals? Is Los Angeles County? She’s got more lions alone than any of the zoos could house.

“Our choices are narrow,” Kester said. “If she goes out of business, someone would have to go out there and shoot all of these animals--that’s a very real possibility.”

The Waystation has been supported by private donations, unpaid volunteer labor and the money raised by events at the refuge, including barbecues and Western-theme fairs. However, the fund-raising events became so popular, drawing crowds of up to 10,000 people, that they provoked a crackdown by Los Angeles County.

County officials warned Colette that the events could no longer be considered private parties but would have to meet the legal requirements for public gatherings. That would require expensive modifications to the ranch, including regrading of a road and adjoining hill slopes, reconstruction of a stage, installation of running water and toilet facilities and imposition of a 1,000-person limit on the number of people on the site at one time.

Colette estimated that she would need $300,000 to effect the changes, money she could only obtain from a fund-raising event--which she is barred from holding until the changes are made. Meanwhile, the food bill for the animals comes to $25,000 a month, she said, and the Waystation is sinking into debt.

She announced last week, after more than a month of negotiations with county officials, that she was giving up attempts to hold fund-raising events, raising the possibility that the Waystation may have to close.

Even before the current round of problems with the county, the Waystation ran into problems with governmental agencies last year when it was discovered that required reports had not been filed to maintain its status with state and federal officials as a tax-exempt, charitable enterprise, said Byron E. Countryman, the Waystation’s attorney.

“Martine left this to others and she sincerely thought all the work had been done,” Countryman said. “She was shocked and dismayed when she discovered last year that all these things had lapsed.”

Countryman said he was called in to repair the Waystation’s standing.

Countryman and officials of the state and federal agencies said the Waystation’s failure to file the required annual reports for several years led to the loss of its special status. From 1981 to 1984, the Waystation lost its charitable status with the Internal Revenue Service, its corporate standing with the California secretary of state’s office, its tax-exempt standing with the state Franchise Tax Board and its registration with the state Registry of Charitable Trusts.

Countryman said he reincorporated the Waystation late last year. The IRS renewed its federal tax-exempt status in March of this year.

“I got the federal clearance first because, if the federal government says you’re a nonprofit entity, the state has little trouble accepting that,” Countryman said. “The rules are similar.”

An application for renewal of state status is pending, he said. If it is approved, the Waystation plans to ask that it be made retroactive, to cover donations made since the original status was lost, he said.

Duane Rule, deputy registrar of the Registry of Charitable Trusts, said the Waystation “is not currently in compliance with the law, but we have been in contact with them and we expect them to be in compliance soon.”

If the missing reports are filed promptly, he said, the state will take no action against the Waystation.