Angeles National Forest : Riders Raise $3,500 for Wildlife Refuge

The wolves howled and the bears growled, but the thunder of the “hogs” was loudest at the Wildlife Waystation in August.

The third annual Run for the Wild motorcycle ride, a benefit event for the 160-acre wildlife refuge in Angeles National Forest, raised about $3,500, a waystation spokeswoman announced this week.

The 90-mile ride was sponsored by the Southern California Harley Riders Assn.

Riders of Harleys, motorcycles often referred to as hogs, and others paid $15 each to participate in the rumbling ramble that began in Newhall and traveled through Fillmore, Moorpark, Thousand Oaks, Calabasas and the San Fernando Valley before wheeling to a dusty halt at the waystation, located in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains just north of Lake View Terrace.

“We were very pleased with the success of this year’s event, since it was our best year ever,” said Jim Maroney, an event organizer and a member of the Southern California Harley Riders Assn. Last year, the ride raised about $2,700.

The waystation is home to more than 1,000 abused, abandoned or injured wild animals of many different species, including about 90 exotic cats.

Last week, waystation founder Martine Colette was asked by federal Department of Agriculture officials to rescue 27 lions at a poorly maintained shelter in Idaho. Several lions and ligers--a cross of lions and tigers--escaped from a place called Ligertown in southeastern Idaho. Eighteen other ligers were killed after the cats mauled their keepers and wandered around the compound.