POCATELLO, Idaho — Tony Manu recalls the night of September 20, 1995, well responding to a call near Lava Hot Springs where an exotic cat owner lost control of his animals.
Ligertown, as the owner Robert Fieber called the compound, housed 20 to 30 lions, tigers, and crossbred ligers, according to Manu's best memory. The incident occurred near the beginning of his career; Manu is now the Bannock County Sheriff.
"He called us. And, you know, there was a love hate relationship prior to all that. I mean, we knew [Fieber] by first name. I've talked to him before in town, because he'd run around town in a little blue pickup with a cage and always have one of the smaller, younger cubs in the back of his pickup," Manu said. "[Manu] actually got mauled by one, and he was really always overprotective of those animals. But that night we asked him, 'What do you want to do?' He said, 'Kill them things.'"
In total, law enforcement killed 18 big cats over an 8-day span. Law enforcement found a hole in the cages; Fieber constructed the cages out of wooden pallets, chicken wire, and chain-link fence, according to Manu.
Police found a clear hole in the fence.
"You could see the trails coming down to that creek," Manu said. "They were going through their drinking out of the creek and coming back to the compound."
At the time, Idaho law did not prohibit ownership or require a permit process to own these animals. Idaho now requires a permit process to own exotic animals, including these big cats.
"In fact, I think that's why the law was created in Idaho because of that mess," Manu said. "Just pandemonium, it was a mess."
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