BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer
JACKSON — The date may be drawing near for state officials to finally remove the so-called "Tiger Lady’s" tigers from her Route 537 compound.
According to Jack Kaskey, a spokes-man for the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Joan Byron-Marasek’s 24 tigers are soon to be en route to the Wild Animal Orphanage in San Antonio, Texas.
The Texas animal preserve under the direction of Carol Asvestas, a former veterinary nurse, is presently home to 99 "big cats," 44 of which are tigers, according to Kaskey.
Kaskey said since a New Jersey appellate court decided that Byron-Marasek could not challenge the state’s jurisdiction over the tigers, state officials have only been waiting for their lawyers to confirm that the details have been ironed out and that it is OK to move the tigers.
Kaskey said Asvestas and a crew will come up to Jackson, take possession of the tigers and transport the animals in trailers in one straight run to Texas.
Kaskey said he is not certain whether a DEP official will accompany the tigers to Texas, but he said DEP officials will be on hand the day the tigers are removed from Byron-Marasek’s property and loaded onto the transport trailers.
He said the date is not certain, but noted that the move will likely take place in the next couple of weeks.
A published report in another newspaper indicated that the tigers might be moved within six weeks.
Byron-Marasek’s battle with the state over keeping tigers on her 12-acre property near Allyson Road began in January 1999 after police killed a tiger that was found wandering in the vicinity of her compound.
Following that incident and many state investigations of the property, the state denied Byron-Marasek a permit renewal for the compound and ordered that the tigers be moved from the premises.
Byron-Marasek has been in and out of court since then fighting each subsequent removal order.