WAY STATION ORDER WON'T BE REMOVED.

Byline: Donna Huffaker Staff Writer

TUJUNGA - The state Department of Fish and Game will not reopen the Wildlife Waystation until the facility corrects a slew of violations, state officials said.

In response to a letter from the Wildlife Waystation, in which way station attorneys asked the state department to lift its cease-and-desist order - and therefore allow the way station to operate - Fish and Game officials said there is no basis to justify withdrawing the order.

The way station will have to continue turning away animals and may not exhibit any of the animals until all of the cage violations and potential health and safety hazards are corrected.

Fish and Game officials plan to meet with way station founder and Director Martine Colette on Friday, spokesman Steve Martarano said Monday. The department wants to work with the way station to resolve the caging problems, security issues and their process for waste disposal, he said.

To Colette, the state department's refusal to reopen her facility is only hurting the 1,200 animals who live there.

``We're sort of stuck for the moment,'' she said, adding she plans to ask officials again Friday to lift the cease-and-desist order.

Officials closed the way station April 7 after a Fish and Game inspection revealed employees washed animal waste into a creek. And of the 200 cages on the 160-acre facility, two-thirds were not in compliance with state law. The violations ranged from being too cramped with animals to not having a roof atop the cage. Fish and Game said an open bear cage, for example, puts people at risk. Colette said the bears are too heavy to scurry up and out of the fence cage.

Earlier this month, the state Regional Water Quality Care Control Board ordered Colette to stop washing animal waste into the stream beds. Colette admits using recycled water for watering the plants, and whatever the plants do not absorb does end up in the streambed, she said.

In the way station's letter to Fish and Game, attorney Byron Countryman noted state officials closed the animal refuge before receiving tests on the stream water.

Michael Valentine, the Fish and Game attorney who wrote last week's response letter to the way station, said ``it is unnecessary to wait for test results to confirm what has been seen by witnesses.''

Colette must submit a clean-up plan for her compound by May 31. She must determine the extent and investigate effects of emptying animal excrement into the streams, which dump into Little Tujunga Wash, by June 30. And by October, she must give state officials a final project report.