90 + dead tigers & other animals...

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April 24, 2003

GLEN AVON, Calif. -- More than 90 dead tigers, including 58 cubs stuffed

into freezers, were discovered at the Riverside County home of a noted

animal rescuer by authorities who also uncovered a menagerie of

malnourished animals roaming the property.

Officials who carried out the Tuesday morning raid were looking for a

single juvenile tiger. Instead, they came across 11 tiger and leopard

cubs crawling around the home's attic, two small alligators swimming in

the bathtub and two hungry tigers on the porch. Behind a gate in the

yard, authorities said, they found 30 dead adult tigers, some with their

legs tied together.

" The worst of it was that everywhere you went on the property, there

were dead animals, " said Chuck Traisi, who took the live animals to his

rescue facility in San Diego County. " Everyone was in a state of

disbelief. There were cats that had long been dead and in various states

of decay strewn everywhere. "

A pickup truck in the yard was filled with animal skins, said Ralph

Rivers, a spokesman for the Riverside County Animal Services Department.

Sheriff's deputies arrested John Weinhart, 60, who runs a well-known

animal sanctuary called Tiger Rescue in nearby Colton. But authorities

said they are baffled about why Weinhart kept the dead animals.

The Tiger Rescue facility serves as a home for tigers retired from the

circus and entertainment industry and has long been a popular weekend

destination for families who for a small fee can see the felines.

But in November, the state Department of Fish and Game raided the Tiger

Rescue headquarters. San Bernardino County prosecutors charged Weinhart

with unlawful public display of tigers, breeding animals without a

permit, failure to clean animal cages, and supplying the animals with

insufficient food and water. He pleaded not guilty to those charges and

will face trial in late May.

The latest raid occurred a few miles away at Weinhart's home near the

community of Glen Avon. Also arrested Tuesday was Weinhart's friend

Marla Smith. Both were charged with one count of child endangerment

because the couple's 8-year-old son lived among the animals, said Paul

Dickerson, a Riverside County deputy district attorney. The boy was

turned over to the county's social services department.

Prosecutors said they are deciding what charges involving the animals

might be appropriate.

Wendelin Rae Ringel, a veterinarian who worked for Weinhart, also was

arrested and charged with animal cruelty.

Steve Jeffries, a spokesman for Tiger Rescue, strongly denied that

Weinhart or the other suspects did anything to harm the animals.

The live cubs were placed at Weinhart's five-acre property because they

required hand-feeding every four hours, Jeffries said, adding that the

alligators were personal pets.

He said the couple's child wasn't in danger. " I've known that kid since

he was in diapers and he's always seemed healthy to me, " Jeffries said.

" I have a 4-year-old daughter and my daughter has been around the [cubs]

since she was basically born. "

Jeffries also disputed allegations by authorities that they discovered

100 dead animals at Weinhart's home. He said that there were well fewer

than 30 corpses, and that most of the animals had been dead for at least

five years. He said he did not know why the dead animals were on the

property or how they got there.

When asked about the 58 dead cubs in freezers, Jeffries replied: " We

keep them for research reasons. "

Weinhart has operated his rescue operation for 30 years. Tiger Rescue

started at his Glen Avon home, but a zoning change in the 1990s barred

him from keeping tigers there, and the sanctuary was moved to Colton.

Keeping a wild animal requires a permit from the state Department of

Fish and Game, and local zoning must allow it.

Weinhart's home is surrounded by a tall chain-link and plywood fence and

backs up to a drainage ditch. A large stucco archway stands at the

entrance and is topped by iron figurines of lions. The smell of feces

was strong outside the home Wednesday, where several junked cars sat.

Officials said they were still trying to determine why so many dead

animals were on the property.

" We may or may not end up with a conclusion about these things, " said

Mike McBride, assistant chief at the state Department of Fish and Game.

Authorities said they raided Weinhart's home in search of a single tiger

that they could not locate during earlier searches of the Tiger Rescue

facility. They had received an anonymous tip that the tiger was at his

house.

Tippi Hedren, the former movie actress who runs a wildlife sanctuary in

Acton, said she visited Tiger Rescue a few years ago when it was still

in Glen Avon. She said she was " disgusted " by its filthy conditions. The

animals lived in their own waste, she said, and did not have enough to

drink because the only water was in upside-down trash lids. Hedren said

she called the U.S. Department of Agriculture to complain but does not

know whether any action was taken.

" I wish I could get inside his head, " Hedren said. " In my wildest

imagination I cannot understand how anyone could do this. "

The average tiger has four to six cubs per litter, said Dr. Jennifer

Conrad, an exotic-animal veterinarian. " Unless [the deaths happened]

over the last 15 years ... 58 is a huge number of animals, especially

cubs, " she said.

A contagious virus, such as canine distemper, could spread through a

facility and cause such a high number of deaths, Conrad said.

Wayne Pacelle, vice president of the Humane Society of the United

States, said there has been an increase in the number of tigers being

raised for the exotic pet trade under the guise of a rescue facility.

" We call them pseudo-sanctuaries, " he said. " They're primarily engaged

in commercial activities while passing themselves off as a nonprofit. "

Neighbors in Glen Avon said Wednesday that they had come to accept

Weinhart's compound as part of the community.

Josephine Franco-Mercado, 51, who has lived next door to Weinhart since

1987, said her daughter tape-recorded the tigers snoring before leaving

for college in case she missed home.

 

 

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