Lion Man's job in the balance

Lion Man Craig Busch in Zion Wildlife Gardens

The "Lion Man", Craig Busch, will discover whether he can reclaim his old job at Northland's Zion Wildlife Park this week.

Busch, who created worldwide fame for the Whangarei wildlife park in the television series The Lion Man, has a meeting with the Employment Relations Authority tomorrow, where he is applying to be reinstated.

He was sacked for alleged serious misconduct in November last year. A Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry investigation found 40 of his big cats in insanitary and crowded conditions. Inspectors were, at one stage, so concerned they considered putting the animals down.

In December, a High Court judge refused to grant Mr Busch an interim injunction that would have allowed him to return to work at the park while the case was being settled.

A hearing in January on whether he was unjustifiably dismissed was postponed.

Mr Busch faces allegations of major breaches of safety protocols, inappropriate behaviour in the workplace, performance issues, failing to keep proper training records and causing loss of revenue through cancelling tours.

He and his mother, Patricia Busch, are in a long-running battle for control of the park and its 42 rare lions and tigers.

Ms Busch took over the property in 2006 while Mr Busch was dealing with personal difficulties. She also arranged a loan of $1.7 million to pay his personal and business debts.

He alleged that his mother had overstepped her authority in sidelining him from the business he had builtup.

The park has a shortlist of replacements for Mr Busch's operations manager role.