By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

Two starkly different pictures emerge when discussion turns to the Prairie Cat Animal Refuge where an Oakley man was bitten by a lion a week ago.

Even some of the details of the mauling are starkly different, based on interviews with Thomas County Sheriff Rod Taylor and refuge owner Jeff Harsh.

Taylor said the wounds suffered by Bradley Buchanan were severe, with bites going all the way to the bone, and with some tearing of the flesh.

"You could see the bone down there," Taylor said of the bite marks. "It was bad."

Harsh, who referred to Buchanan instead as Jeff, his middle name, said the bites were severe, but that he was transferred to a Denver hospital only because a surgeon was not available at Citizens Medical Center in Colby.

Photographs show gaping holes and torn flesh.

While Harsh tells a tale of persecution for his efforts to preserve and protect lions and tigers, Taylor said Harsh has been trouble for years, costing Thomas County considerable time and money.

In addition, Taylor said Harsh has no permit to keep the animals, a requirement under state law.

"It's a filthy mess," he said of where Harsh keeps the animals, just north of the Free Breakfast Inn near the intersection of Interstate 70 and U.S. Highway 83 at Oakley. The refuge is just inside the Thomas County line.

PETA -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals -- has helped find a home for the lions, and agreed that conditions are deplorable, that the animals are living in a junkyard.

They also expressed astonishment problems haven't developed before.

"It's not a safe site," said Lisa Wathne, PETA's captive exotic animal specialist. "It's truly a miracle that nothing has happened before like the recent lion bite, The cages are dilapidated. Our experts said they could get out. It really is to me a wonder that nothing has happened before this."

Wathne said the experts are zoo officials who have examined the cages holdings Harsh's lions and tigers. Photos provided by PETA show that the cages have gaping holes.

Taylor is hopeful that the three Barbary lions -- one of which bit Buchanan on Feb. 21 -- will soon be gone from the High Plains of northwest Kansas.

Arrangements have been made, and agreements reached, to transfer ownership of the three lions to the Detroit Zoo within the next two to three weeks if tests show that the lions are not suffering from any sort of malady that might jeopardize other animals at the zoo.

Blood tests might be taken as early as Tuesday to determine the health of the lions, Wathne said. Those costs could fall to Thomas County, Taylor said.

If the lions are healthy, the Detroit Zoo will dispatch a transfer team and a zoo veterinarian to take possession of the animals.

That still doesn't resolve the fate of two tigers at the refuge, a Bengal and Siberian tigers.

"I hope we find a home for the other two," Taylor said.

PETA has sent out a plea to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to help find a home for the tigers.

If a facility can be located for the tigers, Wathne said PETA is willing to cover the cost of blood tests and transportation, as well as the cost of neutering both males.

Harsh said both tigers are old, so he doubts if any zoos will be interested in them. Harsh said he would resist any efforts to force him to get rid of the animals, going to court, appealing whatever decision is handed down.

"It will delay it another two to three years, and they will be dead," he said.

Taylor agreed that Harsh has had a practice of filing a multitude of documents to slow down the legal system.

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There's also some disagreement on how Buchanan was injured.

Harsh said he had gone down to the refuge to feed the animals on the evening of Feb. 21.

"Normally, I don't feed that late, but I had something come up," he said. That's when he saw an outside gate open. The pen for the lions is surrounded by an outer perimeter fence.

And that's when he heard screaming coming from the cage.

Harsh then saw Buchanan with his arm over the top of the door leading to the pen, a lion biting down on his arm.

Both Harsh and Taylor say it appears Buchanan was intoxicated.

Harsh used a metal pipe to beat off the lion, and then drove Buchanan to the Colby hospital. Taylor said Harsh called 911 on the way, alerting officials to the incident.

Taylor said Harsh dropped Buchanan off at the hospital and then headed back to the refuge. Buchanan was then flown to a hospital in Denver for treatment.

"They sewed him back up, and he has been released," Harsh said.

The sheriff's office headed to the refuge to investigate the incident.

Harsh said that's when the sheriff's office once again raised the issue of problems with owning the animals.

"What happens is political people come after us," Harsh said.

Over the years, he said, the sheriff's office and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks have harassed him about the animals.

"This has been going on out here 20 to 25 years with Jeff Harsh," Taylor said.

While Harsh said he's not the owner of the Free Breakfast Inn near where the animals are kept, and that Buchanan was not his employee, Taylor said otherwise. He said Harsh is the owner and that he listed Buchanan as an electrician and carpenter.

Harsh instead said Buchanan was homeless and was staying in one of several rooms in the motel that is leased for help house the homeless. Buchanan was working on some carpentry projects to help pay the costs of staying at the motel.

"We've had over 100 people we've run through the program here," Harsh said of his efforts to help homeless people.