27 exotic cats seized, 19 fatally shot - Lava Hot Springs, ID

Wednesday, Sep 27, 1995

County: Bannock

Disposition: Convicted
Case Images: 1 files available

Defendants/Suspects:
» Robert T Fieber
» Dotti Geneva Martin

Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

Federal officials contacted Waystation founder Martine Colette in September 1995 after several cats escaped from Ligertown. Armed with tranquilizer guns, Colette and 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..."

"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.

Case Updates

Idaho 6th District Judge Randy Smith ruled on August 9. 1998, that Robert Fieber and Dotti Martin, owners of the former Ligertown exotic game farm near Lava Hot Springs, should not have been deprived of 27 lion/tiger hybrids who were confiscated by Idaho wildlife authorities after 14 others escaped in 1995 and were shot by police��at least not as a condition of their probation after they were convicted of multiple cruelty charges for keeping the ligers in unfit conditions. They could still be deprived of the ligers through civil procedure, seeking to recoup some of the costs of demolishing the Ligertown facilities. The 27 surviving ligers have been kept ever since the 1995 incident at the Wildlife Waystation sanctuary in Angeles National Forest, California. Smith remanded the cruelty case back to magisterial court for re-sentencing.

Source: Animal People News - October 1998 Update posted on Dec 3, 2005 - 10:31PM

References

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