Hearing Planned for Proposed Tiger Sanctuary in West Malibu

By
Sarah Shmerling
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Carole Bush, who owns property within walking distance to the Hauser property, speaks to the crowd at the protest. "They will cause so much havoc in the neighborhood, they're nocturnal, their noise at night is going to be outrageous, it’s going to terrify everybody and they could get loose,” she said of the tigers. 

On Feb. 13, the Ventura Coastal Zone Planning Commission will hold a public hearing to review a permit that would authorize animal trainers in west Malibu to keep up to five tigers on their 19-acre property. 

The hearing is the next step in the controversial case of whether or not sisters Irena Hauser and Sophia Kryszek can house Bengal tigers on their western Malibu property. 

The facility would include cages, an enclosed exercise yard and an 8-foot-high perimeter fence around a seven-acre portion of the property. The applicant is requesting the permit have a 20-year effective term. 

The hearing is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. at 800 S. Victoria Ave. In August and September of last year, Malibu residents voiced their concerns about housing tigers in the area with a protest and a petition to keep the large cats out of Malibu.