Final tigers to leave Wesa-A-Geh-Ya
19 to go to wildlife sanctuary in Colorado
Joe Schreibvogel, park director of G.W. Exotic Animal Park, announced Tuesday that the remaining 19 tigers at the Warren County facility would be moved to Serenity Springs Wildlife Center in Calhan, Colo.
Schreibvogel, who relocated 22 animals including eight lions and nine tigers to G.W. in Oklahoma, has been helping Wesa-A-Geh-Ya owners Sandra and Kenneth Smith transfer their animals.The Smiths decided to close the facility after an 800-pound tiger named Hercules jumped a 17-foot fence and mauled volunteer Jacob Barr, 26, of Warrenton. The attack happened Aug. 3.
On Wednesday, Wesa-A-Geh-Ya and the Smiths were named in a personal injury suit filed by Barr's attorney, according to documents filed with the Warren County Judicial Circuit 12 county clerk.
Schreibvogel said he was amazed at how quickly efforts to relocate the 46 animals at the facility was done.
"That's a record re-home, in this short of time," he said. "We couldn't have pulled it off without Nick and Julie from Serenity Springs taking such a large amount."
The Colorado sanctuary opened in 1993 and is home to 147 big cats, the majority of which are tigers. It is the largest exotic animal facility licensed by state and federal governments, according to its Web site, www.bigcatsofserenitysprings.org.
Included in the 19 tigers the Colorado wildlife center will be taking are four tigers the Carnivore Preservation Trust in North Carolina was to take.
CPT rescinded its offer after the Smiths refused to sign a contract stating they would never own exotic animals again, Schreibvogel said.
The weekend's move would leave just one silver fox at Wesa-A-Geh-Ya, which Schreibvogel said Sandra Smith plans to keep.
Karen Litteken, who lives 3 miles from the facility, said she thinks the move is for the best.
If the Smiths couldn't do what was necessary to properly cage the animals, then they shouldn't have them, she said.
Kathy Fischer, another county resident who lives 3 miles from the facility, described the Smiths as caring people, but declined to comment further about her thoughts on the facility.
Her son was involved in an automobile accident on Highway A next to the facility and the Smiths were good to him until the ambulance got there, she said.
Fischer, who has lived on 164 acres her husband farms since before the Smiths moved to their current location, remembered a time 15 years ago when her father-in-law and her were out moving trucks from a field when they saw what they thought was a man walking a big dog in the evening.
When they got closer, they realized it was a man walking a tiger, she said.
Another Warren County resident, Liz Vance, who lives a couple miles from the facility, would rather the facility not be there, but recognized the Smiths' rights to live where they want.
"My thought is to live and let live, and as long as they're not affecting us and any of my family, then they're not hurting me," she said.
Litteken, who has lived near the facility for the past 12 years, said she has always been a bit concerned about living near the once exotic animal sanctuary.
"Curiosity and concern is always a factor," she said. "I wouldn't be near so curious or concerned if it was a bunch of cows, but I'm not close enough to be bothered by them."
She said she believed the rumors that the facility bred animals because she's "been over there enough different times and seen the kittens."
The Smiths, who could not be reached for comment at their home next to the facility, have consistently maintained they have not bred animals since they became a not-for-profit in 1998, except for one accidental birth in 2003 that resulted in a litter of three tigers.
Two of the tigers have died, according to Wesa-A-Geh-Ya Board President Chadlin "Rat B." Andrews.
Schreibvogel said he hopes the attack and the Smiths' situation will motivate Missouri legislators to re-examine the state's exotic animal ownership laws.
"Registering with the Warren County sheriff is just not good enough because how many sheriff departments know what is safe for a tiger, what is healthy for a tiger, and how many of them have had the proper training?" he said.
Private owners, like the Smiths, should be required to register their animals, but that state law should also require training and credentials from an accredited organization like the United States Zoological Association, Schreibvogel said.
"We want the lawmakers to know that we're willing to step up to the plate and clean up our own messes," he said. "We want lawmakers to understand we're willing to be involved, so we can write a law so that places like our facility can still operate, but we can make the private owners come up to a more professional level."
