County Board Ponders Razing Of Ligertown

A Bannock County board hopes to decide in a week whether to order demolition of Ligertown Game Farm at Lava Hot Springs, the place where 19 African lions were shot to death in September after some of them escaped.

After the incident, the ramshackle collection of pens and cages was condemned. Ligertown operators Dotti Martin and Robert Fieber are trying to stop condemnation.

County engineer Terry Bailey contends the compound, a double-wide mobile home surrounded by animal cages, fails electrical, plumbing and structural codes.

Deputy State Fire Marshal Hal Call said the compound is unsafe.

“This premise is in the worst state of dilapidation, disrepair, and filth that I have witnessed in some 40 years in the fire service,” he wrote. “The total electrical wiring system appears to be done with total disregard for the electrical code or any safety considerations.”

The board is deciding whether the couple has 90 days to bring Ligertown up to building codes or if it should be demolished.

Martin and Fieber, who have been living in McCammon since the incident, said their home is private property and county officials have no right to tell them how to live.