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The 9-day-old lion cub dumped in Ohio after a New York Post stunt went bad was struggling to survive yesterday as a pride of animal experts sank its claws into the paper.
Suffering from dehydration and possible pneumonia, little Boomerang was breathing a bit easier as he cuddled in a blanket at the animal sanctuary where Post reporter Al Guart abandoned him Saturday.
"They're lucky he hasn't died," said Ellen Whitehouse, director of the Noah's Lost Ark near Cleveland. "He [Guart] did nothing but pull a publicity stunt."
The ASPCA, the Bronx Zoo and the veterinarian treating Boomerang all lined up to slam the Post for its plan to expose the trade in exotic animals by buying a newborn lion over the Internet for $1,000.
Guart hoped to transport the cub to an animal reserve in California but panicked when the animal got sick. He dropped off the cub at Noah's Lost Ark, according to officials there and a police report.
The sanctuary is the same place where authorities brought Ming, the pet tiger who lived in his owner's Harlem apartment.
"It is the equivalent of setting up a meeting with an 11-year-old girl at the mall to show how easy it is to pick up children," said the ASPCA's Stephen Zawistowski, an animal behavior expert.
"They should have their heads examined," added Larry Wallach, a Long Island animal trainer.
Guart hung up yesterday when asked for comment.
In a story in yesterday's Post, he claimed to have "rescued" the newborn cub by taking it away from its mother and also claimed an animal activist had cut a deal with Noah's Lost Ark to care for the newborn cub.
Officials at the sanctuary angrily denied making any deal.
The Post also put out a statement yesterday, claiming all was well with Boomerang. "The animal showed no symptoms of illness and was not harmed while in the reporter's care," a Post spokesman asserted.
But don't tell that to veterinarian Ryan Burger, who treated Boomerang a few minutes after Guart dumped him at the gate of the sanctuary.
Burger says the lion cub was wheezing, struggling for breath and had a dangerously low temperature after being snatched away from its mother. "It seems very misguided or irrational to do it to someone that young," Burger said.
Boomerang was heavily medicated and wrapped in blankets yesterday to simulate its mother's warmth. Whitehouse said it would be at least 48 hours before the little cat might be out of the woods.
Jim Doherty, general curator at the Bronx Zoo, said Guart and the Post were "playing right into the hands of the breeder."
"I think it's pretty crazy," Doherty said. "The people that bred the lion got the money they wanted for it. As far as I'm concerned, this is only encouraging them to do it again."
Current mood: Outraged
Replies: 1 shoutout
Next thing news organization will do is pay people to do crimes for first rights to their crime story.
Posted by Spooky Bob @ 10/17/2003 08:43 AM EST