'I wanted kids in B.C. to see a cheetah before they're extinct': Big cat owner appeals to keep beloved pets
Earl Pfeifer says he has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars building a facility to keep the cats
The owners of two cheetahs in British Columbia's West Kootenay are seeking an exemption to the province's Wildlife Act so they can keep their beloved pets, despite drawing international attention after one of them escaped three years ago.
Earl Pfeifer is scheduled to appear before the B.C. Environmental Appeal Board in Nelson, B.C., for five days beginning Oct. 1 to appeal the decision to deny their application to possess two cheetahs.
"I have spent six years of my life and all of my pension on this because I wanted kids in B.C. to see a cheetah before they are extinct in the wild," Pfeifer said in an email to CBC reporter Bob Keating.
"I will never make any money from this. I have no other reason for doing this except for sacrifice."
Pfeifer has owned the cheetahs for about five years. In 2015, one of them made international headlines after it was spotted loping along a snowy B.C. highway near the couple's home in Crawford Bay, near the eastern shore of Kootenay Lake.
At the time, it wasn't known how the wildcat wound up on a B.C. highway. Nearly all the cheetahs that remain in the wild live in Africa.
Three conservation officers were dispatched to the remote Crawford Bay area to search the animal for days during a snowstorm, but the officers never found it. They warned parents to keep their children indoors.
Pfeifer and his partner, Carol Plato, have never spoken publicly about what happened that snowy December or if the cheetah was ever recovered. Since then, it's not known where either of the cheetahs is, although neighbours say they don't believe they're on the Crawford Bay property.
A year later, the couple was charged with possessing an alien species without a permit. B.C. residents who don't have permission to own an exotic animal can face a fine of up to $250,000 or two years in jail.
A few months later, the charges were stayed. A spokesperson in the attorney general's office said they didn't think there was enough evidence to proceed with charges.
Pfeifer has been scheduled to appear before the Environmental Appeal Board before, but the hearing was rescheduled twice.
His direct neighbours say they have nothing against him or his pets, they just don't want cheetahs locked up in their neighbourhood overlooking a golf course. They say they haven't been notified about the hearing.
Pfeifer says he has waited two years for this appeal. He also says he has spent "hundreds of thousands of dollars building a good facility, getting insurance and vet checks" to keep the two cheetahs.
On their Facebook page, Pfeifer and Plato once wrote that the animals were imported from South Africa in April 2013 to be a part of conservation awareness programs.
The cats were at Alberta's Discovery Wildlife Park for a short time after they arrived in Canada. The facility takes in orphaned animals as well as wild animals that can't legally be kept as pets.
With files from Bob Keating