Drug Charges Are Dismissed Against Pair

Felony drug charges have been dropped against the operators of a wild animal compound at Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, and their attorney says he will seek dismissal of the remaining 107 misdemeanor counts at a hearing later this month.

Dotti Martin and Robert Fieber were charged after lions escaped from the compound Sept. 20. Bannock County deputies killed 19 of them, and the remaining lions and lion-tiger hybrids known as “ligers” were placed at a California wildlife refuge.

The couple were charged with improper use of a prescription animal tranquilizer drug and misdemeanors in connection with the squalid and filthy conditions the animals were being kept in.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled Monday on the drug charges. Prosecutor Mark Hiedeman said he decided to drop the felony charges after learning the key witness, veterinarian Stanley Hull, is uncertain how many vials of the drug he had authorized for the couple.

Hiedeman said Hull earlier said he had authorized one vial of a tranquilizer but now says he might have authorized more.

“We were basing the charges on the fact that we had found several bottles of the medication at the compound,” Hiedeman said. Because it’s unclear how many vials were properly authorized, it would be difficult for the state to prove its case, he said.