DA to drop charge against DeSoto big cat sanctuary

Sep 17, 2014 

by AP

 

NEW ORLEANS - The DeSoto Parish district attorney says he's dropping a criminal misdemeanor charge accusing a sanctuary in Frierson of housing big cats without a state permit. And a judge in Baton Rouge has consolidated the sanctuary's challenge to a state big cat law with a similar suit filed by the owner of a truck stop outside Baton Rouge.

District Attorney Richard Johnson says that if the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has a problem with the sanctuary called Yogie and Friends, the department should deal with it.

Fur and refuge division chief Maria Davidson says she doesn't know what the state will do.

Yogie and Friends has three aging tigers, four elderly lions, three servals and a bobcat. It could have been fined up to $500 if found guilty.

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