Decision could
clear way for
tigers’ move
By kathy baratta
Staff Writer
JACKSON — The tigers may be on their way to Texas.
In the latest of his decisions regarding the disposition of the so-called "Tiger Lady" case, state Superior Court Judge Eugene Serpentelli, sitting in Toms River, has ruled that the state now holds ownership of Joan Byron-Marasek’s 24 Bengal tigers.
This latest decision is expected to bring the state closer to removing the big cats from Byron-Marasek’s Tigers Only Pres-ervation Society, the 12-acre compound on Route 537 near Allyson Road where she and her husband, Jan, have lived with the tigers for more than 25 years.
According to Jack Kaskey, a spokes-man for the state Department of Environ-mental Protection, Serpentelli ruled that New Jersey now holds ownership of the tigers because Byron-Marasek gave up all rights to them when she failed to secure the permits she needed to keep them.
Kaskey said with the judge’s decision last week, the "next step [is] for the state to prepare the necessary paperwork for the judge to sign" to prepare the tigers to be moved to the Wild Animal Orphanage, San Antonio, Texas. "That shouldn’t take too long," he added.
The animal preserve, under its director Carol Asvestas, a former veterinary nurse, is home to 99 "big cats," 44 of them tigers, according to Kaskey.
The DEP spokesman said the state is assuming that Byron-Marasek will direct her attorney, Darren Gelber, of Wood-bridge, to appeal Serpentelli’s latest ruling as she has all the previous ones, "even though she hasn’t won any of them."
Byron-Marasek has been involved in a four-year legal battle with the state that Kaskey acknowledged still may take some time to play out if she does appeal.
Explaining that Serpentelli’s latest decision was important because Asvestas had said she would not accept the tigers if the state did not hold ownership, Kaskey said, "Our main time issue is getting Texas ready to accept the tigers."
Kaskey said Asvestas will build five separate pens for the Jackson tigers, each one 11,250 square feet and featuring a pool and shade areas. He said each pen could house five tigers.
"It will be a much more humane situation for the tigers and make Jackson a safer place for residents," he said.
Last summer, Jan Marasek, 70, was mauled by one of the tigers. He was hospitalized for several days with head and arm injuries before returning home.
Byron-Marasek’s battle with the state began after the January 1999 killing by police of a tiger found wandering in the vicinity of her compound. Following that incident and many state investigations of her property that followed, state officials 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 order. Gelber is the seventh attorney she has retained to represent her in the matter.
Attempts by the News Transcript to contact Byron-Marasek or Gelber for comment were not successful.