Oregon Safari Park Reportedly Starved Lions and Left Useless Tiger in Freezer

State police raided West Coast Sport Park Safari in Bendon, Oregon, on Thursday, because the roadside zoo faces allegations of animal mistreatment and neglect.

Years of U.S. Division of Agriculture (USDA) studies have found that the park’s greater than 450 animals stay in surprising circumstances, citing a useless tiger saved in a freezer for months, ravenous lions and leopards, rodent infestations, and different severe considerations.

The studies element dozens of violations—a lot of which had been repeat violations—throughout the previous 12 months alone. Throughout the latest federal inspection on April 1, officers noticed two lions and a black African leopard with decreased muscle mass, “with hips, ribs and backbone prominently displayed below the pores and skin.”

The inspectors additionally cited stark well being and issues of safety, together with feeding bins and storage areas contaminated with rodent feces. A March 18 inspection revealed “large” quantities of metallic, piles of rotting hay, meals waste, and different particles surrounding a hay storage barn and an enclosure.

On January 22, investigators found a deceased tiger in a freezer with “quite a few frozen turkeys laying on high of it.”

“The turkeys are being fed to the zoo animals,” the report states. “The power consultant said that the tiger has been within the freezer with the meals for a number of months.”

The animals aren’t the one ones being put in hurt’s method. In 2023, inspectors cited the park for a “essential violation” after pictures posted to social media confirmed guests petting a jaguar and a Syrian brown bear—each sufficiently old and enormous sufficient to hazard individuals. USDA studies detailing these and different considerations return a decade.

Oregon State Police (OSP) officers served a number of search warrants after they arrived on scene Thursday morning, based on a statement. These warrants “are the results of a prolonged prison investigation into the power’s operations.”

“It … got here to a degree the place we wanted extra data and that was solely going to return from truly assessing the situation of the park, and in order that’s the place the warrants got here in and that’s what we’re right here to do,” OSP Captain Kyle Kennedy told native NBC station KOBI5.

Kennedy stated his division began receiving complaints in regards to the circumstances of the park from native residents and nonprofits months in the past. OSP is conducting the investigation alongside Coos County legislation enforcement and several other different state businesses, together with the Oregon Division of Fish and Wildlife and the Oregon Division of Agriculture.

Gizmodo reached out to West Coast Sport Park Safari for remark however didn’t obtain a response by the point of publication.

Established in 1968, this roadside zoo affords “up shut and private interplay” with 75 totally different animal species, based on its website. In 1985, then-owner Bob Tenney told the Eugene Register that the park attracts 60,000 guests per 12 months, although it’s unclear how widespread it’s right this moment.

Animal welfare advocates have lengthy scrutinized roadside zoos. Tigers in America, a bunch that rescues and relocates tigers from “abusive” services, estimates there are greater than 3,000 of them throughout 44 states.

The Animal Authorized Protection Fund claims these vacationer points of interest continuously drive animals to stay in small, soiled cages, fail to adequately feed them, deny them medical care, and don’t present them with satisfactory psychological stimulation.

The investigation into West Coast Sport Park Safari is ongoing, and the park is presently closed to guests. Authorities have but to announce any arrests or plans for the animals on the zoo.