Grand Bend big cat owners vow to stay and fight a town hall that's treated them 'like garbage'

An embattled Grand Bend couple whose collection of big cats has been ordered removed from town limits by an Ontario court says they'll comply with the judge's order, but promise to stay in the beach community where they'll continue their legal battle against a townhall they say has treated them "like garbage." 

Mark and Tammy Drysdale were ordered in February to have their animals removed from the Municipality of Lambton Shores by March 31. 

On Wednesday, the court extended the deadline for at least another month to April 30 and possibly May 15, depending on how long it takes for the COVID-19 pandemic to run its course. 

The Drysdales said while they disagree with the judge's ruling, they will obey the court's wishes and plan to move their animals to a secret location in the province's north once strict government clampdowns meant to stop the spread of COVID-19 are lifted. 

Mysterious benefactor to take big cats further north

"We have someone who will temporarily take the cats for us while we go through our legal battle," Mark Drysdale said, noting the mysterious benefactor would like to remain anonymous. 

"He is concerned, especially about all the attention that is attached to this."

The attention has been generated by a bitter and very public feud between the Drysdales and the town of Lambton Shores that's played out in the courts over the last year. At issue, is whether the couple can keep their collection of big cats, which includes eight lions and two tigers, on their 22-acre property located on the rim of Pinery Provincial Park in Grand Bend. 

Since the Drysdales bought the property last April, the town has engaged in a sometimes hamfisted campaign to shut them down, including the passage of a hastily slapped together exotic animal bylaw banning the ownership of lions and tigers. The bylaw was passed just two days after CBC News first reported the couple's plans for Roaring Cat Retreat. 

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Couple says town welcomed them, at first

In turn, the Drysdales are suing the town for $5 million, alleging local politicians held secret, closed-door meetings to create an exotic animal bylaw aimed at sinking their business.

Drysdale said at first, municipal officials welcomed the couple, their big cats and the prospect they might open a private zoo in the lakeside tourist town on a property they purchased because it was once the grounds of the former Pineridge Zoo. 

"We decided to buy a $720,000 piece of property, the entire 22 acres based on the fact there were no zoning bylaws, that we were welcome and that we would be able to run some kind of commercial venture if we wanted to," Mark Drysdale said. 

"We were told 'no problem at all, you can have your cats there,'" he said. "They told us how excited they were about us coming here." 

'We were walking around like fools'

Like a house cat that suddenly turns aggressive when touched the wrong way, the Drysdales say the town's demeanour suddenly changed, but only after the couple closed the deal on their house and the proverbial cat was out of the bag on the couple's dream of building Roaring Cat Retreat. 

"Not one word to us in the 10 days we could have gotten out of this deal. Instead, we were walking around like fools in this neighbourhood thinking that everyone thought this was a great idea." 

The Drysdales say they've been in the town's crosshairs ever since, which has laid 11 bylaw charges and taken them to court, forcing them to limit visitors and volunteers to their property and home for health and safety reasons, which Tammy Drysdale said has spilled into their personal lives.  

"Since October we've only been allowed to have six friends and six volunteers on our property. We couldn't have Christmas. We couldn't have Thanksgiving. We couldn't have birthday parties, nothing." 

"In jail, you're allowed any visitor to come, but here? No," she said. "We are treated worse than criminals in our own home."

Town blocked construction of perimeter fence

The town's attempts to control the couple's activities don't stop there.

Lambton Shores has blocked them from building a 12-foot high fence around the Drysdales property, something Mark Drysdale said would help protect the surrounding community. 

"We would obviously like a perimeter fence but the township doesn't want a perimeter fence. In fact, they'd like us to lower these fences a little bit."

Drysdale said the fact the town blocked the construction of the perimeter fence is the reason two lion cubs escaped his property after vandals cut the locks to their cages in November.

There is $80,000 worth of fencing sitting spooled in the couple's yard and in Tennesse, while a number of fence posts sit unfinished on the rim of their property. 

'We fear for our lives'

Since the the release of the two lion cubs in November, the couple has spent $4,000 on security cameras and motion detectors and say they live in constant fear an intruder will come onto their property to harm them or their animals. 

"We fear for our lives," Drysdale said. "We know it's just a matter of time before some idiot comes by and throws a bottle through the window. Because when you're framed as being this unreasonable person that's come to Grand Bend to threaten everybody's children, what do you think people are going to do?"

The couple, who have six children between them, said because of the town's attempts to shut them down, they've been pilloried on social media, where hundreds of people feel they're free to say what they want with impunity.

Tammy Drysdale said much of the online rancour came when court documents surfaced that stated town officials were concerned about the burning of animal carcasses on the property, which she said were simply food waste leftover from the big cats' meals. 

"They were just chicken bones and feathers," she said. "There's a lot of great people in this town but the ones who have been against us have basically ruined our lives."

'They don't see us as people'

"They don't see that we are people," she said. "We're people in their community and we've just been treated like garbage. They just see what they've heard." 

"It's been really hard to live normal lives. It's taken a toll on our relationship. It's taken a toll on our finances, on everything."

Mark Drysdale said they would normally receive income from putting their lions and tigers in movies, but since the controversy erupted, the couple hasn't been able to find work for their animals. 

"We have not had a movie deal in a year," he said. "We haven't got one offer because now people are running from us."

Despite everything, the couple vows to hang on to their property and fight a council and mayor who they say have refused to even speak to them. 

"We've asked to talk to them," Drysdale said. "Everything [Bill Weber has] done in dealing with us has been through social media." 

"I have never received any information or questions from Mark," Weber said, when asked by CBC News. He declined to comment further. 

"It is unfortunate that the March 31 deadline has not been met," Lambton Shores said in a written statement, emailed to CBC News.

"Certainly the current state of emergency was not foreseen when the original removal deadline was established and now we hope, more than ever, that the emergency is lifted in the very near future."