Brothers John and Dave Varty won interim relief on Friday in their court case over a controversial tiger project against investors Li Quan and Stuart Bray.
The Johannesburg High Court granted the Vartys an interim order for the release of their two Bengal tigers on the Tiger Moon Wildlife Sanctuary outside Philippolis in the Free State.
It also ordered that a curator manage, in the interim, the sanctuary’s mother company, in which both the Vartys and Quan and Bray hold shares.
Quan and Bray were interdicted from interfering with the Vartys’ Bengal tiger rehabilitation project.
Dave Varty said on Friday they were relieved that their tiger conservation project could continue for now.
The interim relief is pending the main court case in which they are seeking to protect their interest in the company, as well as their eco-tourism rights to the project, he said.
The curator was to be jointly appointed by the two parties.
The Vartys are establishing the multimillion-rand Tiger Moon Sanctuary, straddling the Orange River between the Free State and Northern Cape.
Criticised severely in environmental circles, it is aimed at the rehabilitation of captive-bred tigers to be released into the wild.
Quan and Bray, a London-based married couple, invested heavily in the project.
Relations between the two parties turned sour after Quan and Bray accused the Varty of defrauding them of a substantial part of their invested millions.
They believe the Vartys’ two Bengal tigers on the sanctuary pose a threat to the more endangered South China tiger cubs they want to move there shortly from Asia.
The Vartys, who obtained the Bengal tigers from a Canadian zoo, claim to have rehabilitated them in the past few years sufficiently for release into the wild.
A fence is being constructed around a 5000-hectare camp in the sanctuary. ‒ Sapa