Tiger ‘Rescuer’ Is Found Guilty

A Riverside County jury convicted animal sanctuary operator John Weinhart of child endangerment and animal cruelty charges Tuesday for keeping malnourished tigers and decomposing carcasses at his facility, and tranquilizers and live alligators within reach of his young son.

The convictions leave Weinhart, 62, subject to a maximum prison term of 36 years when he is sentenced March 22, although his attorney argued that Weinhart deserved no jail time.

“On a first offense, child endangerment when no one was hurt, and animal neglect? That’s not worthy of jail time,” R. Addison Steele II, Weinhart’s attorney, said after the verdict was announced. “I was very surprised. A great injustice was done here today.”

A nine-woman, three-man jury listened to more than three weeks of testimony and deliberated two days before convicting Weinhart of 56 of 61 counts.

Weinhart was arrested after Riverside County animal control authorities raided his Glen Avon compound in April 2003 and found 58 dead tiger cubs stuffed into freezers, dead adult tigers rotting on the property and alligators swimming in a bathtub.

His son, then 8, was living at the sanctuary.

In Weinhart’s refrigerator, authorities discovered chocolate Easter bunnies sitting atop tiger tranquilizers, according to court testimony.

“Those were deplorable, filthy conditions,” said jury forewoman Janet Jensen after the verdict was announced. “There were exposed needles in the refrigerator, a live tiger swiping outside the back door ... that’s a dangerous situation for a young boy to be around.”

Another juror, Deanna Heller, said she believed Weinhart, a longtime animal keeper, became “overwhelmed by a lot of things that needed to be fixed. He was doing the best his ability allowed. Unfortunately for him, that doesn’t stand accountable to the rules and regulations.”

Stephanie Weissman, the Riverside County deputy district attorney who prosecuted Weinhart, said he deserved prison time.

“It was the combination of things that made for the dangerous condition -- the drugs, the alligators, the tiger on the patio, the filth and the feces,” Weissman said. “The totality of the circumstances were dangerous, and [the boy] testified he knew that.”

Steele argued during the trial that Weinhart was preserving the decomposing tigers’ bones for possible later sales, and that he froze the dead cubs for a pending postmortem examination.

“When we have a group of city folk asked to judge what’s happened on a farm, it’s just too difficult for them to understand,” Steele said outside the courtroom.

“Convicting him because of the tranquilizers in the refrigerator is no different than the government coming into your house and arresting you for not having your kitchen knives not locked up. I mean that.”

In January, Weinhart’s former partner, Marla Smith, pleaded guilty to all 63 counts against her, saying she couldn’t bear forcing her son to testify against her. Judge Ronald Taylor said that Smith could face 120 days in jail and three years’ probation when sentenced March 10.