Wildlife Waystation Resumes Tours After State Lifts Restriction

As visitors filed in Sunday to see abandoned grizzly bears Mike and Huck and all manner of beast and fowl, the Wildlife Waystation began to look and sound like the famed exotic animal refuge it has been for a quarter of a century.

The 600 or so guests on the $12 tour were the first visitors to roam the 120-acre compound on Little Tujunga Road in the Angeles National Forest since the state Department of Fish and Game barred public tours last April.

The visitors, many of them financial supporters who said they eagerly anticipated the Waystation’s reopening, said they had not been deterred by the state’s charges that the facility polluted stream beds and kept unsafe cages.

If the state had promoted the station instead of criticizing the few things it did incorrectly, “this would be a much better world,” said Don Bridwell of Hemet. “These animals have nowhere else to go. If it weren’t for the Waystation, they’d be dead.”

Others, like Troy Coonrad, of Redding, showed up to see what was at the compound they had heard so much about.

“Even though I hate to see animals locked up,” Coonrad said, “I don’t know a better place in L.A. to see wild animals like this.”

Despite hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on improvements to meet regulatory standards, the place looks the same as it did eight months ago.

Lions and ligers, a hybrid between a lion and tiger, paced their confines. Wolves on a hillside howled in anticipation of the afternoon feeding under a canopy of evergreens in the zoo and retirement home for animals.

Technical modifications, such as lowering cage clearances and earthquake upgrades, have not altered the appearance of the refuge, although the number of animals there, about 1,000, is slightly smaller than it was eight months ago.

When the state stopped the tours, it also ordered the center to stop accepting animals for rehabilitation. In July, that ban was partially lifted, allowing the sanctuary to receive smaller, native animals. The Waystation is still barred from taking in birds of prey, reptiles, game mammals, exotic birds or exotic mammals.

The state allowed the Waystation to reopen Dec. 15 on condition that its employees receive additional training and that the facility apply for three state permits that allow the rehabilitation and exhibition of animals.