Raiders Bite on Ad, Net Lions : Animal Control Agents Seize 7 Cubs, Monkey at San Clemente Store

The ad in a local newspaper was the tip-off, wildlife officials said:

“AFRICAN LION CUBS, de-clawed, 5 mos. old, housebroken, all shots, $5K ea. obo.”

State and city animal control officials answered the ad, bursting into a downtown San Clemente health food store Monday night with guns drawn and seizing seven lion cubs and a capuchin monkey. The cubs, ages 8 to 15 months, appeared docile and unhurt as they roamed around a second-story room, said Sgt. Russ Moore of the San Clemente Police Department.

“They were running loose,” said Moore, who called the seizures a first in his 13 years on the force. “To find a lion is very unusual, you bet, much less seven of them.”

Eric Jarvies, 23, and Bruce Miller, 26, owners of Woodstock’s Health Emporium on El Camino Real, were cited for various state and city code violations which prohibit the possession or transportation of wild animals, said Troy Bruce, a warden for the state Department of Fish and Game.

Jarvies and Miller, both of Newport Beach, were not arrested but they weren’t freed until they had helped load the cubs, the heaviest of which weighed about 170 pounds, into an animal control truck, Moore said.

Jarvies acknowledged that the animals were his but said the matter was “a huge misunderstanding.”

“I had no clue this was illegal or I wouldn’t have advertised in the paper,” he said. “I didn’t know I couldn’t transport them without a license.”

Authorities remain skeptical of Jarvies’ story that he placed the ad only “to find other people out there with lions to breed them. . . There aren’t too many breeding lions and we need to find others to thin out the blood lines.”

Jarvies said the lions’ stopover in San Clemente was “just a pit stop.” He had brought them from a Kansas ranch where they were bred and raised and was taking them to his property in Laughlin, Nev., where wild animal controls are much more liberal, Jarvies said.

Moore said state and federal officials were investigating the existence of the Kansas ranch.

Jarvies said the 6-year-old monkey, Cornelius, has been his own pet since it was a baby. But the monkey also was being held because Jarvies did not have the required permit, a San Clemente animal control spokesman said.

An official from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service called the lion incident only a small part of what is becoming a increasingly burdensome dilemma for animal control officials. People seem to be “obsessed” with collecting wild cats, agent Herb Curry said.

“The whole captive-cat thing is a major problem, and it’s getting much worse,” Curry said. “There is a big black market for these animals and a gray market with a lot of people who have permits for these animals and are selling them but shouldn’t be.”

Although states have different rules and regulations, anyone with a wild animal such as a lion must have a permit, Curry said.

“There are permit laws for caging, for food, water and vet care,” Bruce said. “The average citizen who calls and says he or she would like to keep a wild lion will be denied, although some exceptions are made.”

The state of California has ceased issuing permits to keep wild cats for pets, Curry said.

For the moment, the lions and the monkey are in cages at the San Clemente Animal Shelter, where they will remain until authorities decide on the next stop in their already bizarre journey. They did not appear to be mistreated other than possibly the recent de-clawing, said J. R. Kersey, an animal control officer.

A veterinarian specialist is scheduled to check the lions’ claws today for possible infections, said Roberta Gorny, the shelter manager. Jarvies said the de-clawing was done by a veterinarian in Topeka, Kan.

Kersey said the shelter already has heard from several organizations offering to care for the lions. But their fate must await the decision from the district attorney’s office about whether to prosecute Jarvies and Miller.