Zion Wildlife Gardens' big cats appear to have a
stay on their possible execution, but their future and that of the park
remains uncertain.
The park's receivers PriceWaterhouseCoopers
have dropped a legal bid asking for the 36 big cats to be removed from
the property near Whangarei by February 3 or euthanised, ahead of a
scheduled February hearing on their future.
The matter went to the
High Court in Auckland on Wednesday where the receivers' lawyer Justin
Toebes said he reserved the right to make another application.
He
said the application was made after an offer to buy Zion Wildlife
Gardens as a going concern, though whether the buyer wanted to keep the
cats was unclear.
Any buyer who wants to run the park with the cats would need MAF approval.
Mr Toebes also made an application to confirm the receivers' right to enter the park.
Evgeny
Orlov, the lawyer for the park's operator Patricia Busch, said the
application about the cats and subsequent resiling from it was an abuse
of process and said he would seek indemnity costs.
He said no other issues about the park should be decided until after the hearing about the cats.
Zion Wildlife Gardens became famous through the television series The Lion Man, featuring Ms Busch's son Craig.
The
park subsequently got into financial trouble and there was a
falling-out between Craig and Patricia Busch, which resulted in Craig
Busch leaving the park in 2008 after an employment battle.
Zoo keeper Dalu Mncube was killed by one of the cats the following year.
NZN