Shelter Likely to Get Custody of 27 Big Cats

The Wildlife Waystation will probably gain ownership of 27 lions and ligers rescued last fall from inhumane conditions at an Idaho ranch.

Bannock County, Idaho, officials were granted permanent custody of the lions and ligers--offspring of crossbred tigers and lions--after the owners of the Ligertown Game Farm were sentenced last week, a Waystation employee said. County officials are expected to turn over custody of the animals to the Waystation.

Robert Fieber and Dotti Martin, owners of the exotic game ranch in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, were charged with cruelty to animals and fined about $10,000. Fieber was sentenced to a year in jail, and Martin received six months, said Chief Deputy Tom Canfield of the Bannock County Sheriff’s Department.

Federal officials contacted Waystation founder Martine Colette in September after several cats escaped from Ligertown. Armed with tranquilizer guns, Colette and her staff crept through a warren of filthy, feces-filled tunnels and pens and caught 27 animals, ranging from cubs to 400-pound adults. Authorities killed 19 other lions and ligers before Colette arrived.

During the rescue operation, employees at the Waystation, located north of Lake View Terrace in Angeles National Forest, raced to erect new enclosures to house the animals. Many of the big cats transported to the Waystation were in poor health but have since fully recovered, Colette said.

Several lions, pregnant when they arrived, have given birth.

The cost of the rescue operation, including travel, food, medical attention and building the new enclosures, is around $325,000, Colette estimates.

Colette founded the nonprofit animal refuge in 1976. The 160-acre facility is home to more than 4,000 abused, abandoned and sick animals.