Tiger Lady Loses Cats

Two dozen Bengal tigers now being housed at an Ocean County animal preserve will be moved to a Texas sanctuary this week. Joan Byron-Marasek and her husband, Jan Marasek, have waged a lengthy legal battle with the state to keep the animals at their Tigers Only Preservation Society compound in Jackson. However, Superior Court Judge Eugene D. Serpentelli ruled in May that they had forfeited their ownership rights by failing to obtain the required permits to either keep them at the compound or move them to another location.

Jack Kaskey, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said his office was ready to move the tigers.

The state has sought the move since early 1999, when wildlife officials shot and killed a 430-pound Bengal tiger found roaming loose in a neighborhood near the couple's preserve. While the state never proved the animal was Byron-Marsek's, but DNA tests linked the tiger to fur that had been found outside the 12-acre preserve's perimeter fencing.

The Wild Animal Orphanage now houses about 600 domestic and wild animals. Asvestas said that once the tigers arrive there, they will be temporarily quarantined in newly built enclosures. She estimated that it will cost about $280,000 to build the enclosures, transport the tigers and provide them with initial veterinary care and related work.

New Jersey will provide $120,000 toward the cost, while the Massachusetts-based International Fund for Animal Welfare has committed $80,000. The orphanage and the fund would then have to raise the remaining funds themselves, Asvestas said.

Byron-Marasek, who has operated the 12-acre compound since the mid-1970s, was not immediately available for comment. She is now appealing Serpentelli's ruling, but a state appellate court Division has refused to block the order to move the tigers.

Copyright 2003 by NBC 10. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Author: NBC10