The Incline Village General Improvement District Board of Trustees will play arbiter Wednesday evening may put the final kibosh on a fundraiser featuring wild animals as headlining entertainment.

IVGID staff is urging the board to deny an appeal from Pet Network to have a pair of trained cheetahs at next month's Fur Ball.

"This isn't about the entire ball, just about this particular event that we arranged to be there," Pet Network Executive Director Bryan Davis said. "We're in no way trying to make this an overly difficult process, but I just want to explore our options while there's still a possibility."

The annual ball is the nonprofit animal shelter's largest fundraiser. The cheetahs are owned by Animal Ark Wildlife Sanctuary in Reno and perform regularly.

According to IVGID General Manager Bill Horn, having the cheetahs at the event was all but out of the question. Citing his memorandum to the trustees, Horn said the animals posed a liability problem and violated both district and county codes.

"The Washoe County Health Code states it very clearly," Horn said. "They're welcome to have their event, so long as there are no animals."

Horn was certain the shelter had been told not to include animals in this year's program, though no one at Pet Net recalls receiving the instruction.

"The cheetahs are a minor event in the scheme of things, but it would be disappointing not to have any fur present," Pet Network Board Chairwoman Beverly Keil. "We look forward to a successful event, regardless of the outcome of our appeal."

Roundabouts

The IVGID board will also consider approving a letter addressed to Incline Resident Don Kanare, indicating their preliminary support for his proposal to have the Nevada Department of Transportation replace the intersection of state routes 28 and 431 with a roundabout.

"It'd a great vote of confidence," said Kanare, who hadn't expected the board to respond so soon after his presentation on the subject last month. "Myself and two other members of the Incline Vision infrastructure committee are finishing up the application to NDOT and our next step is to submit that to the board for comment."

Though the NDOT application for project consideration asks if the project has received approval from the "city counsel, county or tribal commission," Kanare said IVGID seemed a more appropriate agency.

"Our thinking was that since this within the physical boundaries of IVGID, it would be nice to have their support," Kanare said. "If we've missed something or made a mistake, we'd much rather have the IVGID board point it out to us than NDOT.

NDOT spokesman Scott Macgruder said an endorsement could expedite the process.

"The roundabout project is certainly something that we need to look into to see if it's viable," Macgruder said. "Having approval from a local adds a little extra weight behind a proposal. It'll help start the process."

Staff writer Tom Meyer can be reached at (775) 831-4666 ext. 112 or at tmeyer@tahoebonanza.com.