Don’t Be Fooled by Tourist Traps—Help Animals Get to Accredited Sanctuaries
Everyone loves a good vacation or road trip, but sadly, some destinations are twisted tourist traps that dupe unwitting visitors with deceptive words like “sanctuary,” “foundation,” or “rescue.” Let’s be real: These places are exclusively in the business of exploiting animals for profit, while forcing them to languish in misery.
Below are a few of the worst abusers across the U.S. To help the animals trapped in these roadside hellholes, take the action under each button and urge these establishments to send the animals they imprison to reputable sanctuaries!
West Coast Game Park Safari
This Oregon roadside zoo is the last of its kind in the U.S. to keep a chimpanzee in complete isolation. In nature, young chimpanzees spend their formative years learning crucial skills from their mother and playing with their older siblings. Still, George was used as an entertainment prop for media productions in his infancy and was dumped at West Coast Game Park Safari when he was just 7 years old. He has languished there for over a decade and has been all alone since November 2023. The roadside zoo has been repeatedly cited by the USDA for a litany of federal animal welfare violations, including failing to provide adequate enrichment to George, who was described as sitting and staring at the walls, not actively interacting with anything as chimpanzees naturally would—a sign of severe loneliness and depression. George needs to be retired to an accredited sanctuary, where he can explore spacious habitats and have the opportunity to live in a normal social group.
Oswald’s Bear Ranch
This Michigan attraction allows the public to handle bear cubs for photo ops. Breeders that supply cubs to Oswald’s tear them away from their mothers and ship them hundreds of miles, all to fill their pockets. Cubs have been observed pacing and crying out—signs of severe distress. At least six bears at the ranch have been slaughtered, one of them for being too “mean.” As if that weren’t horrific enough, 17 bear cubs 2 years old or under have died at Oswald’s unexpectedly. This must not go on! Urge Oswald’s to send all the animals there to reputable sanctuaries.
The Preserve
The Preserve is a rebranding of the vile Have Trunk Will Travel, an entertainment company in Texas that terrorizes elephants with bullhooks so they will do tricks for patrons. This abusive attraction has endorsed the use of electrical shock devices called “hot shots,” and trainers there have been caught on video ruthlessly beating elephants, including a baby.
Tell the perverse Preserve to send all the animals it imprisons to reputable sanctuaries.
Barry R. Kirshner Wildlife Foundation
The California-based Barry R. Kirshner Wildlife Foundation’s history is indefensible: It includes abuse, attacks, escapes, violations of state and federal law, and the persistent inability to meet even bare-minimum standards for animal care. Since 2005, it has acquired at least 61 baby wild animals from cruel breeders like “Joe Exotic” and Gregg Woody. Animals at Kirshner deteriorate physically and mentally in cramped, barren cages. A tiger cub named Shyra, born in 2023, and a lion cub named Lucie, born in 2017, were both found to be severely lame, unable to walk, and suffering from painful bone deformities and fractures after the facility failed to provide them with adequate nutrition and veterinary care. Please, urge Kirshner to transfer all the animals to reputable sanctuaries.
