All that remains on the internet about Tuffy is This

Yes, the Hedengrans were guilty, and the guy is doing 20 years plus. Not for getting Tuffy killed, he's doing time for lying to the police.

According to California Fish & Game, what you see in the top picture is defined as a "success"

And at this point in my life, I leave politics.

I won't even go so far as to explain why. But this is the time to step out of it.

Well, Wendy Malick actually, but you get the idea.

Don't know where this is or even what's going on here....

“Exotic”
Just what is that? What does that word mean?
( Read more... )

LOS ANGELES -- A couple who allegedly owned a tiger that escaped into a suburban area and was shot have been banned from visiting exotic animals they own.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Johnson ordered Gert "Abby" Hedengran, 56, and wife Roena "Emma" Hedengran, 52, to sell the animals or place them in someone else's custody within 30 days, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Johns said Tuesday. The Hedengrans were charged with obstruction of justice and other counts after the tiger was shot and killed near a Moorpark neighborhood early this year.

The judge revoked the couple's visitation rights with more than 24 other cats after ruling the couple violated their bond agreement related to the February shooting.

After the tiger was killed, the Hedengrans were forced to move their cats to an exotic-animal facility in Pahrump, Nev. As part of their bond agreement, they were not allowed to have possession of the animals but were allowed to visit and help care for them.

Somehow, prosecutors said, they got possession of the animals again.

Johnson told the pair Tuesday they are not allowed to possess, visit or care for the animals and must allow federal animal welfare searches of their home.

The couple moved from Temecula to the Moorpark area in late January, settling into a trailer home with nearly two dozen animals, including lions, tigers and lynxes. During the move, a lynx and a tiger escaped, state wildlife officials said.

State game wardens tranquilized and captured the lynx Jan. 31, an arrest affidavit said. But wardens were not told the tiger had escaped until residents reported seeing a large cat, and paw prints turned up between Simi Valley and the Santa Rosa Valley.

Wildlife officials found and shot the tiger Feb. 23 in a park near two schools and residences in Moorpark. The 350-pound tiger had been declawed and apparently was raised in captivity, but authorities did not know this until they killed the animal.

The couple have denied owning the tiger.

But investigators used photographs to confirm the tiger belonged to the Hedengrans, "including one of Abby and the tiger," said Steve Martarano, spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Game.

"They lied repeatedly about ownership of the cat. They said from the start that they had no missing animals," Martarano said.

Gert Hedengran was charged with making false statements to U.S. Department of Agriculture officials, submitting false records, destroying evidence and obstructing justice. He faces up to 60 years in federal prison if convicted.

Roena Hedengran was charged with obstru! ction of justice and witness tampering. If convicted, she faces up to 10 years in federal prison.

The couple are due in court Dec. 5 for arraignment, but Johns said he expects to present the case to a federal grand jury for indictment before then.

And the Nuclear Unicyclists are waiting for their turn as well...

Quoted from here

Tiger Rescue owner gets 2 years' jail plus probation

By Jessica Keating, Staff Writer

RIVERSIDE - One by one, John Weinhart's supporters stood up Tuesday and asked a Superior Court judge to spare the tiger sanctuary owner further time behind bars.

"Don't lock him up like an animal. ... The man don't deserve it,' Weinhart's longtime friend, Ray Jamison, pleaded, echoing the requests of seven others who spoke to Judge Ronald Taylor during the three-hour hearing. In the end, Taylor ordered the 62-year-old Weinhart to serve five years'formal probation, including two years in a Riverside County jail, as punishment for his February conviction on 56 counts, including felony animal cruelty and child endangerment charges.

Taylor also ordered the defendant to stay at least 50 yards away from animals and refrain from working for or volunteering in any animal organizations during the term of his probation. Weinhart, who appeared in court in a rumpled orange, jail-issued pantsuit, has been in custody since March.

In a brief statement to the court, Weinhart said his conviction was the result of his failure to recognize that he was physically unable to care for the dozens of tigers and leopards he took into his Glen Avon home. He also operated the Tiger Rescue sanctuary in Colton. "I was stressed with more tasks than I could handle,' Weinhart said. "I never intended any harm to anyone.' At trial, Riverside County animal control officers and state fish and game officials testified they found the carcasses of 90 tiger cubs stuffed in freezers during a search of Weinhart's home in April 2003. Several tiger and leopard cubs were found dehydrated and suffering from hypothermia in an attic near a bedroom where Weinhart's then 8-year-old son stayed. Weinhart's son testified that one tiger lunged at him 100 times.

Weinhart's longtime companion, Marla Smith, who was also implicated in the case, pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges in January. She was sentenced to three years' probation and 120 days in jail. In court Tuesday, Weinhart's supporters defended his care of the animals at his home and the Colton sanctuary.

Linda Adams, an attorney who represented Weinhart in a code enforcement case, said she had visited his properties many times and saw that he was a loving father and hardworking animal caretaker. Since Weinhart's arrest, his relationship with Smith, the mother of his son, has dissolved, and his sanctuary has been closed. He faces criminal proceedings in San Bernardino County in connection with the Colton operation.

"He's been devastated by this,' Adams said. "He's lost everything. ... He deserves no more punishment.' With time served, Weinhart faces another 18 months in jail. But the sentence could have been worse. Prosecutor Stephanie Weissman urged the court to send Weinhart to prison for six years, saying the recommendation was not a "rash decision' but a reflection of the seriousness of the case. "These baby cubs were suffering,' she said outside court. "This is an expert in tiger care and yet he treated animals in this way.' Taylor set aside the prosecution's request, noting that Weinhart has no criminal record and seems willing to cooperate with the terms of his probation.

Defense attorney R. Addison Steele said he remained convinced the case was not worth jail time, noting Weinhart had no intention of hurting the animals in his care. "This is a man who loved animals,' Steele said. "He was doing what he could and he got overwhelmed.' That explanation fell flat with two animal-rights activists who sat through the court hearing wearing red pins imprinted with "Abuse an animal, go to jail!' "It doesn't explain so much of the evidence ... like tiger cubs in the freezer,' said Alison Stanley, co-director of the California Lobby for Animal Welfare. Taylor noted in court that the case had generated widespread national and international interest. He said he received about 100 letters before the hearing Tuesday. Michael Markarian, executive director of The Humane Society of the United States, said in a phone interview that he is pleased Weinhart will be prevented from working with animals during his probation. "We need to protect animals,' Markarian said. "We don't simply need to punish people who abuse animals. We need to prevent these crimes from happening.'

Jeff Corwyn did a special about this place in 2002 that I recently taped. It included extensive interviews with the trusted guardians of the sanctuary. Today on CNN it was revealed that

The entire tiger population at the Sariska tiger reserve in western India has been killed by poachers.

The government of India refers to this as "embarrassing".

The Bengal Tiger population is now about half what it had been thought to be last month - as at least one other Tiger preserve has - well, no tigers in it. It was the one subspecies of the original eight that was thought to be relatively safe. Not so.

If your dead corpse can be sold for $140,000 under the right conditions (no other species has such a curse) and all of your habitat is going away anyway, it's pretty hopeless.

I caught that story on CNN as I was getting coffee this morning. It didn't help to have this story immediately follow it. So in February 70 yards was "too close to us and other people" but now 7 feet is just fine, provided it's a bear.

LTB was sold out of every comic shop within 50 miles of here, and the copy I got off Ebay and paid for first class shipping still isn't here!