KEY POINTS:
A New Zealand wildlife sanctuary for some of the world's rarest big cats will have its fate decided next week after a bitter wrangle with local residents campaigning for its closure.
The sanctuary plans to establish the largest big cat habitat in Australasia and is dedicated to the preservation of endangered species.
It catapulted Whangarei man Craig Busch to international TV stardom, and includes rare Barbary lions and white tigers among its 48 cats, some of which are extinct in the wild.
But people living near the park believe it has been allowed to grow out of control and insist the big cats pose a serious risk if one of them escaped.
Some anxious families fear a repeat of the horrific episode at San Francisco Zoo after an escaped 113kg Siberian tiger killed one visitor and mauled two others before police shot it dead last month.
People have also complained that the lions' distinctive roars can be heard more than 8km away, a fact disputed by a noise expert who monitored the lion park.
Whangarei District Council issued an abatement notice after the park was found to be in breach of of conditions of the certificate of compliance it was issued when granted consent in 2002. Despite this, it was allowed to stay open.
The breaches relate to the number of vehicles travelling to and from the park in Gray Rd, Kamo and the parking available.
Council staff have recommended the park's application to stay open be approved, with conditions.
The application is to continue as an existing tourist facility and to develop it further, including legalising the existing buildings and structures as well as providing for future expansion.
Of the 25 submissions received after public notification, two were in favour of the application and 22 were against.
Darcy Gilbert, 54, a mobile mechanic who owns a house in Gray Rd, said: "He [Busch] relocated the lions from Kerikeri down here into the paddocks with no notifications to neighbours or anything.
"He also appears to have been allowed to bypass resource consents by agreeing not to charge people admission.
"As people were there only by invitation and were simply asked to make a donation, it wasn't classed as a commercial operation.
"The park has grown despite objections by locals and we have been able to do absolutely nothing to stop it. The main things that concern me are safety and noise levels. We can't prove the negative effect on our land values but fear the worst."
Another objector, Evelyn Manley, owns a 3.2ha plot of land she bought from Mr Busch when he subdivided four years ago. She said the decision had been "a disaster financially".
"I need to sell my section and I see my chances of selling it diminishing by the day. The number one objection people come up with again and again is noise. A noise engineer told the hearing that there was categorically no way the noise of the animals would extend beyond the boundary. We found that unbelievable."
But another resident, Brendan Gray, who lives three houses away from the park, disputed that the noise was an issue, saying he was more concerned that the council had allowed Mr Busch to put 50 big cats in a lion park without going through any planning process.
Council resource manager Alister Hartstone said independent commissioners who attended the hearings were due to give their decision to the council next week.
"If it is declined, the Lion Park will have to revert to operating under the original scale that was granted by council. It would mean that the number of people that could visit the lion park is reduced, which, from the economic point of the view of the applicant, could be an issue."
The owner of the lion park is no stranger to controversy. Last year, Mr Busch admitted assaulting his former partner after he found her in bed with another couple.
Tony Greenwood, owner of the Peel Zoo in Pinjarra, West Australia, said it would be a disaster for conservation if Mr Busch's zoo closed.
Mr Busch declined to comment.
