LITTLE TUJUNGA CANYON : Rescued Tigers Now at Home at Waystation

A family of tigers rescued from starvation and abuse at an Irish farm in December were released Wednesday to their new home--a 10,000-square-foot secured area, complete with a wading pool, within the confines of the Wildlife Waystation.

“Today, they left the quarantine area looking fat and sassy and beautiful and healthy, and moved into a wonderful, naturalistic enclosure,” said Martine Colette, the facility’s founder.

The four tigers--Shankara, an adult female; Batak, an adult male, and Madras and Rani, their 3-month-old cubs--will spend the rest of their days at the animal refuge nestled in Little Tujunga Canyon above Lake View Terrace, Colette said.

“Normally, the animals who come to the Wildlife Waystation are taken to zoos, but the Irish government said they thought (the tigers) had gone through enough,” she said.

“So they would like us to keep them for the rest of their lives.”

Walter and Anne Fleischer of Bel-Air donated more than $20,000 to the Wildlife Waystation to have the enclosure built and were on hand to watch the tigers move to their new home.

“They look fantastic. They look beautiful. They are big,” Anne Fleischer said in an interview.

The Fleischers have been supporters of the facility for three years.

“The one tiger--the papa--was very hurt and he looks great now,” she added.

Colette said the male tiger was only half its normal weight upon arrival in Los Angeles.

“The male was so iffy that it was touch-and-go whether the veterinarians would let him fly,” she said.

Colette said the Irish farmer, who had kept an assortment of exotic animals under poor conditions, had been “prosecuted successfully” by the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.