Ninety dead tigers found at cat rescue home

Thursday, April 24, 2003 Posted: 10:46 PM EDT (0246 GMT)


LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Jon Weinhart saw himself as a big cat lover who for over 35 years provided a sanctuary in Southern California, under the name of Tiger Rescue, for retired animal actors whose performing days were long gone,

But California authorities Thursday held a starkly different view of Weinhart's activities after discovering nearly 90 dead tigers and leopards at his home -- including 58 dead cubs stuffed into three freezers -- and piles of big cat pelts stacked in a storage barn.

Authorities raided Weinhart's home in Riverside, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, this week after being tipped that he was keeping a tiger cub and two alligators there without permits, Assistant Chief Mike McBride, of the California Department of Fish and Game said Thursday.

"We found a whole lot more," McBride said. Agents first found a 4-month-old tiger tethered to a pole and a 7-month-old confined to a four-foot-square cage.

A search of the attic, where agents heard noises, yielded a litter of seven tiger cubs and two leopard cubs, all less than two weeks old.

But the yard was most disturbing to agents, who found carcasses of at least 30 animals, including the skeleton of one big cat sharing a cage with a live burro, McBride said. Inside three freezers were the frozen bodies of 58 cubs, and the bodies of numerous animals in various states of decomposition.

The alligators were there, too, in a bathtub inside the house. "This kind of adds up into concern by our department," McBride said.

Fish and game officials called in the sheriff's department after discovering Weinhart's 8-year-old son living among the animals, McBride said. Deputies arrested Weinhart and the boy's mother, Marla Smith, on suspicion of child endangerment and placed the boy in protective custody Tuesday.

Authorities also arrested Tiger Rescue's veterinarian, Wendelin Rae Ringel, on an animal cruelty charge, said Deputy District Attorney Paul Dickerson.

Although Dickerson said he hasn't received law enforcement reports about the raid, the trio likely will face additional charges of animal cruelty at their first court appearance on May 21, he said.

"I am going to be prosecuting this case aggressively -- based on the information I have heard so far it sounds like they were mistreating a lot of animals," he said.

What a complete bastard

Maybe it is just me, but I really hope that the fucks responsible for this get to go to prison for a very long time.

Maybe we should tether them to a pole in a 3ft cage

mdiver said:

Or skin them and stack their pelts in a large pile.

What a complete ass. I hope he enjoys the cage he's gonna be in when they lock him up. People like that should be exempt from the cruel and unusual punishment rule.

IceNine said:

I agree with you...

What a arseholes hope they get what they deserve

I hate animal cruelty

Much love Pochacco

Pochacco said:

me too.

I don't see how anyone can be cruel to an animal like this especially a baby animal.
[This message was edited Fri Apr 25 5:31:18 PDT 2003 by NovaAngel]

NovaAngel said:

Some people are giant fucking assholes.

IceNine said:

Yeah. This particular asshole Weinhart or whatever his name is needs to be anally introduced to a giant baseball bat with rusty nails driven through it.

NovaAngel said:

You say that but animal cruelty doesn't usually carry much more than a fine. You can tread on bugs or torture a rat or fish with no problems... where is the line drawn?

IceNine said:

yeah man. WTF!

Essence said:[quote]

NovaAngel said:

You say that but animal cruelty doesn't usually carry much more than a fine.

I don't think there is any set distinction. There are people who go out of their way not to be cruel to any life yes bugs are included

I do see your point though. My guess is that we tend to care for things that bring out some sort of emotional response. For example,tigers are, in my opinion, admired by human beings for such qualities like independence and fierceness yet gentleness with their young. We can empathize more readily with them as opposed to a rat or a fish or a bug. Plus the cubs are so damn cute.
tiggeredit
[This message was edited Fri Apr 25 6:36:32 PDT 2003 by NovaAngel]

OMG...this is so sad. What is wrong with people
These animals are already endangered. Those 58 cubs could have helped repopulate natural habitats.
Poor kitties.

I hope these guys fry for what they've done.

NovaAngel said:[quote]

Essence said:

Not to mention rats and bugs aren't exactly endangered top-of-the-food-chain types and big cats never invade our homes and carry disease and historically didn't cause the black plague.

This is the kind of thing that makes you want to kill, ya know?

this is sooo incredibly sad...


if I ruled the world I would
feed these fuckers to those alligators

or just skin them alive...


thought ya knew!!...

NovaAngel said:

Co-sign.

That's so sad. Just to think about the lives that those cats had to live. . .

tackam said:

Well a wild animal living in a zoo is sad existence regardless, as is a wild animal in the wild. Reducing habitats as ecosystems are destroyed for paper production etc and the threat of poachers eager to sell animal corpses for fur and fantasy medicines.

I just don't think animals have a great future co-exisiting on a human-dominated planet anymore really...

applekisses said:

Me too but unfortunately Essence is right. Even if they are found guilty, the punishment they'll receive won't be proportional to the crime. They'll probably be fined and/or spend an insignificant amount of time in jail.

Hell there are crimes that humans commit on each other and sometimes the criminals don't get punished at all. There's not much value placed on human life anymore (ex. the DC sniper killings) so what chance do animals have? The whole thing disgusts me.

Too upsetting for comment!

...
[This message was edited Fri Apr 25 10:42:02 PDT 2003 by Muse2noPharaoh]

Muse2noPharaoh said:

no comment edit
[This message was edited Fri Apr 25 10:03:08 PDT 2003 by luv4thepurple1]

Essence said:

I have to agree on that one. Certain members of our species are an embarassment.

Sick fucking bastard!

I just don´t understand how somebody can be able to hurt a animal or somebody else... It´s sad.