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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 5, 2004)
STATE Thursday, August 5, 2004 THE BATTALION igers saved; room o roam in Texas By T.A. Badger THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AN ANTONIO — Nearly nine months after being rescued from squalid conditions in a New Jersey suburb, seven Bengal tigers finally have some room of their own. I One by one, the big cats sent to the Wild Animal Orphanage in November were released Wednesday into an enclosed two-acre a'ea in the hills northwest of San Antonio. I They joined two others who went into tie area, surrounded by a 25-foot-high seel mesh fence, on Tuesday night. I “Now they have the proper care and the sxtee they deserve,” said Carol Asvestas, who owns the animal sanctuary. I Another 13 tigers, some of them in H|loor health, remain in the 300-square- ONEPcEot quarantine cages they’ve occupied ofacto since being trucked to San Antonio in them November. Asvestas says she plans to nee in some acreage for them as well. Wild Animal Orphanage, which spreads icross more than 100 acres, took posses ion of 24 tigers following a five-year cus- dy battle between the state of New Jersey Joan Byron-Marasek, who bred the ats on her property in Jackson Township. The custody fight began in January 1999, when a 430-pound Bengal tiger was found roaming around Jackson, ter rifying residents until it was killed by sharpshooters. State officials never proved the tiger belonged to Byron-Marasek, known by the nickname “Tiger Lady,” but criticized conditions at her facility and later denied renewal of her permit to keep the animals. Officials with the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which played a key role in getting the tigers away from Byron- Marasek, said some of the tigers were housed for months or even years in 4-foot- high chutes covered with plastic tarps. Once in Texas they had to be treated for a variety of ailments, including malnutri tion, parasites, foot sores and dehydration. The first one released into the enclo sure Wednesday, a female named Madhya, had to have her back left leg amputated below the knee. She bounded out of her small transport cage after the door was slid open, and start ed pacing through the salt cedar and live oak trees to get familiar with her new home. The cost of the move and the tiger enclosures is estimated at nearly $300,000. IFAW and the state of New Jersey each contributed $120,000, and Asvestas will raise the remainder. ERIC GAY • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS \ rescued Bengal tiger roams its new home at the Wild Animal Orphanage in San Antonio, Wednesday. The tiger, nho spent nearly nine months in a 300-square-foot quarantine cage was released in an enclosed two-acre natural area. Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers place a sheet over the wreck age of a single-engine airplane that crashed shortly after takeoff from the municipal airport in Olney, Texas, Wednesday. All three occupants of the GARY LAWSON • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS plane were killed. A second crash occurred 50 miles southeast of Olney on its approach to Mineral Wells Municipal Airport, killing two people. Both planes were performing go-arounds attempts. Five people die in two North Texas plane crashes By Sheila Flynn THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Five people died in two separate fiery plane crashes in North Texas on Wednesday, officials said. The first plane went down in Olney around 9 a.m., killing three people, Young County Sheriff Carey Pettus said. The dead were identified as pilot Max Ray, 65, of Longview; David Hancock, 38, of Gladewater; and Joel Smith, 69, of Kerrville, said Texas Department of Public Safety spokes man Tom Vinger. The aircraft was a single-engine Mooney registered to an owner in Gladewater. The plane crashed and burned at the end of the runway at Olney Municipal Airport, said Federal Aviation Administration spokes man John Clabes. The plane “was doing a go-around at the time,” Clabes said. “It stalled out, crashed and exploded.” Pilots perform go-arounds when they can’t make a landing, so they make a second attempt, Clabes said. He said the second accident — 50 miles southeast of Olney — also likely resulted from a go-around attempt. A single-engine Piper PA- 32 crashed and exploded around 11:40 a.m. upon approach to Mineral Wells Municipal Airport, killing two people, Clabes said. The victims were identified as pilot Martin Oswald, 43, of Mineral Wells, and Donald Brooks of Willow Park, Vinger said. “The pilot, apparently, had over flown the airport,” Clabes said. The aircraft was registered to an owner in Seymour, Ind. A DPS spokeswoman said the plane went down about a half-mile northwest of the airport, hit power lines and exploded. Vinger said the crash sparked several large grass fires in the area. Gailee Cardwell, a spokeswoman forTXU Electric Delivery, said 3,500 customers lost power when the plane hit. She said power was restored to those customers a little more than an hour later. Clabes said both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating the Olney and Mineral Wells crashes. There have been four small plane crashes in Texas since Sunday. On Monday, five Texans died in a plane crash at Point Lookout, Mo. In Texas, six people were killed when a small plane crashed into a mansion near Austin on Tuesday. A father and son died Sunday when their small experimental plane crashed into the yard of a home in the North Texas town of Collinsville. Catfudic lEpteaipal igree n hon® 1 ity. nhontf ity. pend loom .ecb 01 St. Mary’s Catholic Center 603 Church Avenue in Northgate (979)846-5717 www.aggiecatholic.org Student Summer Fellowship Every Tuesday at 7:30 PM Daily Masses Mon.-Fri.: 5:30 p.m. in the Church Weekend Masses Sat: 2:00 p.m. (Korean), 5:30 p.m. (English), 7:00 p.m. (Spanish) Sun.: 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., and 7:00 p.m. Confessions Wed. 8:30-9:30 p.m., Sat. 4:00-5:15 p.m. or by appointment.. St. Thomas Episcopal 906 George Bush Dr. • College Station, TX 696-1726 Summer services - 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. Next door to Canterbury House, the Episopal Student Center 'Mm-Dmmmiadaml Cfiru'itian First Christian Church 900 South Ennis, Bryan 823-5451 Sunday School 9:30 a.m. Morning Worship 10:45 a.m. Robert D. Chandler, Minister igileliid y- ■- —he. ya Ma-fnini ....«... a.. . ... r <wwFi|p # assw r * wwl fey mnm, and pumm m ftph vafcjw m mr&m. CASUAL ATMOSPHERE Cairn# join tit 1 “'Wr w " §#ll & Steffi** im Yolky ¥)** Sr.. C.S, $im wrtm Tejfia* Awt fram tht C.S.. IMkc 5 at 1030 $m Sunday Paiia? J#?! m-p** L iifCfwkt A&M Church of Christ 2475 Earl Rudder Freeway S. (979)693-0400 Sunday Worship 9:00 a.m., College Bible Class 10:30 a.m. Mid-Week 7:00 p.m. ‘Presbyterian Aggies for Christ Call for on-campus pick-up info 693-0401 www.aggiesforchrist.org Covenant Presbyterian Church 220 Rock Prairie Road (979) 694-7700 Students Welcome Sunday Service: 9:30 a.m. Sunday School: 10:30 a.m. www.covenantpresbyterian.org Hey Ags... THE ASSOCIATION OF FORMER STUDENTS ...get your sticker!! Graduates, You're invited to. ...the next tr /?, on j 4 Your Next Move in Life... Discover the opportunities available to you as a former student! your sticker! free fajitas! N visit with your friends! win door prizes! J\get your sticker!! (did we say that already??) Wednesday, August 11 5:30 - 7:30 PM The Clayton W. Williams, Jr. Alumni Center J The Association OF FORMER STUD^. TS® /cart 505 George Bush Dr. College Station, TX 77840-2918 979-845-7514 www.AggieNetwork.com