Zion Wildlife Gardens Lion Man

Well a lot of people gave Craig Busch great references back at the height of his career, including me when I lived in South Africa and he was first runner for supplying lions for a film about George Adamson.
The city council gave him all the support and backup they could.
People fall from favour all the time.
Would you likewise condem everyone who wrote anything good about Tiger Woods before his career suffered a set back?
 
Well a lot of people gave Craig Busch great references back at the height of his career, including me when I lived in South Africa and he was first runner for supplying lions for a film about George Adamson.
The city council gave him all the support and backup they could.
People fall from favour all the time.
Would you likewise condem everyone who wrote anything good about Tiger Woods before his career suffered a set back?

I think everyone would agree that the declawing was an unaccepatable practice , however , what I can't understand appart from this issue is why people are so against him .This is more about just falling from favour , some of the things that have been written about him are so full of hatred and venom and I genuinely do not think he deserves this .
I really do think he was doing his best for the cats when he was at Zion Wildlife Gardens .
Also , may I ask why if you gave Craig Busch a reference what changed your opinion about him please ?
 
I think everyone would agree that the declawing was an unaccepatable practice , however , what I can't understand appart from this issue is why people are so against him .This is more about just falling from favour , some of the things that have been written about him are so full of hatred and venom and I genuinely do not think he deserves this .
I really do think he was doing his best for the cats when he was at Zion Wildlife Gardens .
Also , may I ask why if you gave Craig Busch a reference what changed your opinion about him please ?

Is the de-clawing not enough? You know that it was used as torture in Medieval times because it's so painful, yet he was doing it routinely just to get a slot on Animal Planet! Sorry, but this has nothing to do with someone falling from favour and if the previous running of Zion was "his best" effort, the man should never be allowed to keep a moggy again, let alone a zoo full of large cats.
 
The declawing was bad, but remember it was carried out by a vet and approved by MAF at the time, even if they have since done a backtrack on the practice. It wasn't so long ago that chopping off lamb's tails with a knife and cutting open the gentials to drag out the testicals by hand was common.
I don't see why he had to declaw almost every cat in the park though, I think there are only about two that missed the process.
There is a technique that can restore the claws, this was suggested and the implimentation was begun by Tim Husband when he was there according to info on the wall of the Zion office. Not a cheap process though.

As for Busch attracting so much negativity, much of this is because of the assualt on his partner. Many people do react negatively to male assualts female.
However even the judge said that his reation in finding his partner in bed with another couple was understandable, and chances are if he had plead not guilty he would have been aquitted.

The rift between him and his mother has not done him any good either.

My last visit to the park was a couple of months ago, its looking good, the cages are well maintained and clean. Most have quite a bit of space, most of which they use for sleeping anyway.

However visitors were few, I noticed the list of people for the week day I was there only numbered five at 2pm.

Perhaps they need to look at pricing, maybe reduce the price for a wekeend for locals to encourage the community to visit and see the park. $60 is a lot of dosh for a family.
 
Lion Man scammed and threatened - national | Stuff.co.nz
Police have been called in after funds raised to help "Lion Man" Craig Busch buy back his big-cat park were siphoned off by scammers.

And Sunday News can reveal Busch has received threats of violence as he prepares for a major public appearance in the UK.

Significant funds were stolen from the Big Cat Rescue Trust account before Busch's advisers discovered the thefts.

Fraudsters had set up a series of illicit direct debits from the trust's British bank account. They had used account details listed on Busch's official website for potential donations.

Busch's spokeswoman confirmed British police had been alerted. The trust would push for thieves to be prosecuted.

The trust's bank account number and details remain publicly available for donations, but funds are now immediately switched into a more secure account.

"As soon as money hits, it is automatically transferred out. It is like a dummy account, so there is never money in it for people to get to," the spokeswoman said. "It is a shame you have to go to those lengths."

The Big Cat Rescue Trust was set up so Busch could either buy back Zion Wildlife Park Gardens, north of Whangarei, from mother Patricia Busch or build a new big-cat park.

"Ultimately it [the trust] is for the future of the cats. And he would prefer that to be at Zion – but we still have to look at various options," the spokeswoman said.

Patricia provided her son a financial lifeline for the park in 2006 in return for signing over voting rights for his shares in the company. Within a year their relationship had soured, and Patricia dismissed him in November 2008.

Meanwhile, Busch's spokeswoman confirmed threats had been sent to him ahead of a major public event in Nottingham on November 20 – to also feature "Wolfman" Shaun Ellis, the UK researcher who lives among wolves.

"There are a few people threatening to punch him on the nose... it is really sad and I wish people had better things to do," Busch's spokeswoman said.

Earlier this year Busch received several death threats.
it would be rude to say the Big Cat Rescue Trust account amounts to a scam itself in my opinion, so I won't :D
 
the above post (#147) had nothing to do the court case, however yes that is still on-going (and on-going, and on-going....)
 
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