NOAH'S LOST ARK Magistrate: Give lion to its owner

The ruling is subject to review by a judge.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Owners of Noah's Lost Ark have two weeks to appeal a magistrate's order that they turn Boomerang the lion over to his owner. Otherwise, the lion will be on its way to California.
The order was issued Wednesday by Magistrate Eugene Fehr of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
"We will continue to fight for Boomerang as he is not just a piece of property," said Douglas Whitehouse, who owns and operates Noah's Lost Ark with his wife, Ellen. "He is a living, breathing animal that would have died had it not been for the staff and vets at our facility."
Noah's Lost Ark is an exotic animal sanctuary on Bedell Road in Berlin Township.
Possession of the lion has been at issue since October 2003, when the then-8-day-old cub was brought to Noah's by a reporter for the New York Post. The Whitehouses have said the lion was abandoned with them and they have refused to release him.
But courts have ruled that William Long, who lives near Columbus, is the owner and should be given the lion, who is now grown. Long has said he bought the lion from a breeder in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on behalf of the Post reporter who was doing a story on the sale of exotic animals.
Pending high-court appeal
Lawyers for Noah's have filed an appeal with the Ohio Supreme Court which is still pending.
Long's attorney filed a request about two weeks ago in common pleas court asking that a date be set for the lion to be handed over to Long. The Whitehouses' attorney filed a response Tuesday. Long has said he intended all along for the lion, named Boomerang, to be taken to an animal sanctuary in California.
The reporter, Al Guart, testified last year that he took the lion to Noah's only because Boomerang was so young at the time and was unable to make the trip to the West Coast. Long has said he intended for Boomerang to stay in Mahoning County only until he was old enough to travel.
Attorneys for either side have 14 days to file objections to Fehr's decision. If an objection is filed, the matter will be reviewed by a judge who could either affirm, amend or reverse Fehr's decision. If no objections are filed, Fehr's ruling will likely be adopted by the court.
Visiting Judge Charles J. Bannon already has issued an order for Noah's to hand over the cub, but he rescinded it because it conflicted with an order Fehr had issued giving the sides more time to file motions in the case.
Fehr said in his one-page ruling that, if his decision is affirmed, the lion must be transferred to Long within three days of that decision.
bjackson@vindy.com