Busch homeless

Megan Busch lives in a garage with her four cats and two dogs. Photo / Michael Craig

Nothing left as unpaid debts from Zion saga drive out Lion Man's mum

The mother of Lion Man Craig Busch has lost everything after a finance company called in her debt, forcing her out of her home.

Patricia and her daughter Megan were told to leave their once-freehold 25ha Karapiro farm on Tuesday.

The property was also home to their six horses, four cats and two dogs.

Patricia Busch said she hadn't been able to meet her payments on loans to help keep Whangarei lion park Zion Wildlife Gardens - now called Kingdom of Zion - open.

She estimated her debt had reached about $750,000. But she said she had lost about $2.7million on "escalated legal costs" and other expenses related to Zion.

"I'll be 72 soon. It's taken it's toll on me all of these years," a downcast Busch told the Herald on Sunday. "I could throw in the towel but what's the point? I might as well be in a box. There's nothing left for me."

She had tried but failed to sell the Karapiro property to pay the debt. Busch was staying with a friend, and her daughter and the small animals were in another friend's garage.

The horses remained on the farm but the women were urgently trying to rehome two or three of them and secure grazing for the others.

Patricia, Megan and Craig have had a public falling-out in the years since his highly popular Lion Man TV series.

Patricia Busch said did not blame the finance company and the repossession was expected as she hadn't made her payments.

She last saw Craig about a year ago in court but they didn't talk to each other.

Megan summed up her and her mother's situation: "She's a wreck. I'm a wreck."