Ligertown Has Cost Agencies $43,000

Public agencies already have spent about $43,000 to deal with the escape of wild animals from a Lava Hot Springs facility, and the bills continue to mount.

The Bannock County Sheriff’s office is spending about $100 per week to feed 45 Ligertown wolf hybrids being kept at a former zoo near Roberts, said Lt. Gwen Evans, in charge of administrative services for the department.

Police officers killed 19 lions starting Sept. 20 after they escaped from Ligertown, a ramshackle collection of pens and wire fences just outside Lava Hot Springs. After that, another 24 lions and three lion-tiger crossbreeds called ligers were taken to a California game refuge.

Evans said her agency has spent $33,000 - money that wasn’t budgeted. “It will put a crimp in the sheriff’s budget. We didn’t budget for anything like this. It means we’ll have to find other revenue or take something else away from the budget,” she said.

The animals’ fate will be decided once criminal charges against Ligertown operators Robert Fieber and Dotti Martin are resolved.