How does the “Olympic Game Farm” get away with housing tigers & lions?

Submitted by YoureNotSalinger t3_11cwlka in Washington

Im visiting the PNW for the first time, and visited the Olympic Game Farm on a whim after seeing one of their travel brochures.

I was surprised by the (woefully small) cages housing some (clearly obese) tigers and lions, especially since the big cats were NOT advertised on the mini-map of the farm.

Anybody have any knowledge on this? thanks

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BarnabyWoods t1_ja5hhic wrote

I've never visited there, because private zoos are generally awful places. Olympic Game Farm is being sued for animal cruelty, etc: https://aldf.org/case/challenging-the-treatment-of-captive-animals-at-olympic-game-farm/

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YoureNotSalinger OP t1_ja5ujbi wrote

Thank you, this is an interesting document and explains a lot lol.

I'm from the New England, so the concept of a "roadside zoo" is pretty foreign to me. At least they had cheap peacock feathers in the gift shop.

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Calicapture t1_ja615ay wrote

I dont know now, but they used to feed the Bear with Bread. They were extremely obese the time we visited back in 2020 during the peak of the pandemic. The whole thing felt like Tiger King documentary.

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savvy-librarian t1_ja5khym wrote

I had a similar experience. My group believed we would see bovine and herd animals and some birds due to the way it was advertised. We were shocked to see big cats and wolves kept in what looked like dog-run sized kennels and some bears that had more space than the other large predators but their areas looked sadly dirty.

I won't ever go back.

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Maxtrt t1_ja64eyx wrote

Northwest Trek is the best wildlife of Washington sanctuary. All the large herbivores roam free in a large preserve. All of the animals have natural habitats or as close as they can be. You can go anytime of the year and you will see something new each season.

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daatone t1_ja68nk2 wrote

I grew up in Clallam county and never wanted to go after seeing a video a friend showed me of her visit when I was in high school back in 2011. Now that I'm living over in the metro Seattle area I warn people away from going whenever I can. Those poor animals have been neglected and mistreated for far too long.

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YoureNotSalinger OP t1_ja5v4zk wrote

Yeah, I was kind of confused by what exactly was going on just reading the brochure. My gut told me something was off but I had an afternoon to kill. definitely made me feel weird.

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chromecod t1_ja64jsv wrote

I'm not sure about now, but a lot of the animals were for the movies and television. Most famous was Bart, and I believe Big Ben, who was actually a female.

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DickTooRadical t1_ja9yged wrote

Bart was housed there?? That’s crazy I never even knew! Do know of any articles about it I really want to read about him staying at olympic game farm.

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Perma-Chonk t1_ja8w0iw wrote

I love the Olympic Game Farm!!!! Family favorite!

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