State and local law enforcement seize hundreds of animals during search of Southern Oregon safari park

Last week, Oregon State Police, joined by multiple state and local agencies, completed a search of a roadside zoo in Bandon on the Southern Oregon Coast. More than 300 animals were seized and relocated to animal sanctuaries or rescue facilities. Three animals, including a camel, were euthanized because they were determined to be in such poor health they could not be transported or treated, according to OSP. The Oregon Humane Society, the Coos County Sheriff’s Office, the Oregon Department of Agriculture and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife assisted OSP with the four-day search and criminal investigation, which is ongoing.

The now-closed West Coast Game Park Safari opened in 1972 and lured visitors with a chance to encounter exotic animals like tigers, lions, chimpanzees and emus. Over the years, it had garnered numerous complaints from community members and organizations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals over suspected animal neglect and possible violations of state wildlife regulations. Inspectors at the Department of Agriculture cited the roadside zoo 78 times in the past year alone for animals that had gone missing, appeared underfed or were denied adequate veterinary care, among other violations of the Animal Welfare Act.

Jefferson Public Radio reporter Justin Higginbottom has been following this story and joins us with more details.

Editor’s note: “Think Out Loud” has learned that one of the seized animals from the safari park, a chimpanzee named George, was relocated to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. We thank its co-director, Diana Goodrich, for informing us on May 27 of George’s arrival and progress at the sanctuary, which you can learn more about on its blog.

The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.

Dave Miller:  This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. The West Coast Game Park Safari opened in Bandon on Oregon’s South Coast in 1972. The attraction advertised tigers, chimps and camels, along with dozens of other animals. Officials have found many problems there over the years. But in the last year alone, inspectors at the U.S. Department of Agriculture cited the business 78 times for animals that had gone missing, appeared underfed or were not given adequate veterinary care. Last week, Oregon State Police, in partnership with local, state and federal agencies, completed a four-day search of the roadside zoo. As a result of the search, according to the State Police, 300 animals were seized and relocated to animal sanctuaries or rescue facilities. A small number had to be euthanized.

Jefferson Public Radio reporter Justin Higginbottom has been following this story and he joins us now with more details. Justin, welcome.

Justin Higginbottom:  Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Miller:  The homepage for the Safari Park is still online, but any tab you click on, like “hours and prices” or “about us,” is a broken link. So what was West Coast Game Safari Park?

Higginbottom:  Yeah, it looks like the State Police have closed down the park. I went to their website this morning and noticed it was still up, but the links aren’t going anywhere. So the West Coast Game Park Safari was quite a large roadside zoo. It was licensed by the USDA., so it was a legal zoo. It wasn’t just in someone’s backyard or anything. They had a lot of animals, hundreds of animals, a lot of exotic species.

Their advertising says they had over 75 species of animals there that included big cats like tigers and lions. They had bears, they had a chimpanzee and camels. They also had a very large petting zoo area, where deer and other animals could interact with visitors. And it was a pretty popular tourist attraction. I would see billboards for this zoo quite often around Oregon. For travelers going down the Southern Oregon Coast, it was a pretty popular place to stop and check out a local attraction.

Miller:  How far back do reports of mistreatment of animals go?

Higginbottom:  Pretty far back. I was just this morning looking at a report from 2016. That was one of the first major serious inspection reports that are available publicly. But in that case, some peacocks became scared after a car backfired and flew into the enclosure where there were two bears. One of the bears became irate, supposedly. And some staff at the zoo were forced to euthanize the bear. They shot the bear. That’s how they decided to kill it.  One of those rounds actually ricocheted off that bear and hit the other bear in the enclosure. So they were forced to euthanize that bear as well.

Since 2016, you can see a constant flurry of violations and non-compliance items that USDA inspectors were finding. Especially starting in May of 2024, there were monthly or sometimes twice a month reports from inspectors, showing a whole host of violations, non-compliance and topics related to the Federal Animal Welfare Act. And like you mentioned, in the last year alone, inspectors cited them 78 times. So these inspections go back quite a while and there’s a lot of information there.

Miller:  Well, can you give us a broader sense for the kinds of issues that those federal inspectors zeroed in on just in the last year?

Higginbottom:  It’s a lot to go through, but recently they were finding big cats like lions and leopards that had decreased muscle mass. So it looks like they weren’t getting enough food or maybe they were sick in some way. But what’s even more serious is that the veterinarian who is supposed to be looking after these animals that the park should contact, they were telling inspectors that they weren’t being contacted at all. They weren’t actually seeing these animals. So inspectors would show up, look, find an underfed or sickly animal, leave, come back a month later, and that animal still hadn’t been seen by a vet.

But there’s also instances of rodent infestation. Inspectors actually found a dead tiger in a freezer, where they were supposed to be keeping food for the animals. So this dead tiger was on top of a frozen turkey leg, if I remember. [There was] just a general lack of staff. In some cases, there was one staff member to look after and feed hundreds of animals. Then there were also some safety issues where they’ve been written up for allowing visitors to pet a jaguar and a bear. Those animals were large enough that they actually would have been dangerous for those visitors.

So, a whole host of issues related to potential animal abuse, but also just mismanagement and sanitary conditions.

Miller:  And a lot of that, as we were saying, is just in the last year. But did authorities, a week-and-a-half ago or in the time since then, say exactly why they got these search warrants for this recent four-day raid? I’m wondering if they drew an explicit connection between those citations and the search a week-and-a-half ago?

Higginbottom:  Oregon State Police said the search warrants did have to do with allegations of animal abuse. So it’s fair to assume that it’s related to these inspection reports. They also said the search warrants had to do with business practices, which we don’t really know what means. But we do know that the IRS was involved, along with a whole bunch of other partners. This was a really massive investigation that started back in the fall, according to State Police.

Miller:  On the very first day of the search, officials decided that they had to euthanize a camel. What did they say about the animal’s condition?

Higginbottom:  They said that camel was in such poor health that it couldn’t be transported safely, so it probably wouldn’t survive being sent to a sanctuary. So they had to euthanize three animals: a camel, a chicken and something called a kinkajou, which is a small, very cute rodent-type mammal that’s found in South America. But those animals were just in such poor health that they couldn’t be transported. The rest of the 310 animals at the park were sent to accredited sanctuaries, according to State Police.

Miller:  Do you know where any of them ended up? If we’re talking about, say, big cats, jaguars or whatever, I imagine it’s not as easy as just taking them to a nearby no-kill shelter?

Higginbottom:  Right. That’s probably why this investigation lasted so long and has taken so long for these search warrants to be served and the property to be raided. I’m sure the authorities were setting up these places beforehand to send the animals if they needed to. In the majority of cases, we don’t know yet where the animals were sent.

But we do know that George, a chimpanzee, was written up in inspection reports earlier in the year for seeming depressed and living alone after his mate died. They had two chimpanzees and one of the chimpanzees died. They’re very social creatures and they need to be around other chimpanzees. George was not doing very well and inspectors noticed that. But George has been sent to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, which is an accredited sanctuary in Washington. So that’s good news.

We don’t know yet where the other animals are sent. I’m sure, in the weeks to come, sanctuaries will maybe send out press releases or let us know that they’ve accepted some of the animals. But the State Police right now aren’t willing to tell us.

Miller:  What role did the Oregon Humane Society play in all of this?

Higginbottom:  Yeah, a pretty big role. The Oregon Humane Society is a really unique organization here in the state. So they helped in the investigation. It’s interesting that they’re a nonprofit, but they actually have law enforcement agents. We’re one out of only two states, I believe, with animal investigators like this, actual law enforcement agents work investigating cases of animal abuse. So they have their own law enforcement team and those are commissioned by Oregon State Police.

They also have an animal forensic center. We’re also one of the only states in the country with one. Only Florida also has one of these. But those forensic centers also help in investigating claims of animal abuse. They can do things like animal autopsies to determine whether or not an animal died from foul play, neglect or abuse. We’re the only state in the entire country with these animal abuse law enforcement humane officers and a forensic center. So we’re really in a unique place in the country to investigate claims of animal abuse.

But when the search warrants were served at the zoo, Oregon Humane Society sent a law enforcement officer. They also sent a forensic veterinarian, who would go there and basically collect evidence to help law enforcement and help prosecutors build a case involving animal abuse or neglect.

Miller:  The search warrant was part of a criminal investigation. Have charges been filed?

Higginbottom:  No charges have been filed yet. The Oregon State Police says that if charges are filed, they will likely have to do with animal abuse or neglect. But no charges have been filed against the owner, Brian Tenney, on the state or local level. Also, no federal charges have yet been filed. I mentioned that the IRS is involved. So that’s something we’re going to be following to actually determine what evidence they actually collected at the zoo and what sort of criminal conduct they were able to come up with.

Miller:  What can you tell us about a theft of cash and firearms that allegedly took place at this property two years ago, in 2023, according to a federal indictment?

Higginbottom:  This is an interesting case and we’re not quite sure how this actually fits in with this law enforcement raid. But there was a federal indictment against a suspect for a robbery, actually, of a vault at the park. It was in an unbuilt large home, some people have called it a mansion, right behind the park. There was this vault there that robbers allegedly broke into. And in that vault, they took, according to this indictment, a million dollars in cash, as well as gold coins, silver coins and bullion, as well as 40 firearms. That federal case hasn’t gone to trial, still waiting for more evidence and more details about that to come out.

And we’re not sure what this has to do with the zoo yet. But like I mentioned, the IRS was involved in this raid and the search warrants did have to do with business practices. So this might just be a piece of a puzzle of how the zoo was operating. It just seems strange that the owner had a million dollars in cash at a vault in the zoo, when it seems like the zoo was having trouble feeding their animals.

Miller:  Have the owners of the Safari Park said anything publicly since the search warrants were executed?

Higginbottom:  No, and we’ve been covering this for quite a while, before the raid. [We’ve been] covering these inspection reports that would come out. And I’ve never been able to talk to the owner Brian Tenney or anyone else on the record at least, at the zoo. The zoo’s been owned by the Tenney family for a long time. Brian’s father actually bought the zoo, which was once a deer park in the late ‘60s, and then turned it into what it was until recently. So they operated it for decades and Brian took over about five or 10 years ago. But they haven’t said anything to the press. I haven’t been able to get a comment from them.

Miller:  Justin, thanks very much.

Higginbottom:  Thank you.

Miller:  That’s Justin Higginbottom, a reporter for Jefferson Public Radio, talking to us about the West Coast Game Park Safari in Bandon.

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