Cougar Exhibit

July 27th, 2014.

Is that all of it? If it is... Not good.

@JigerofLemuria That is the entire exhibit at this facility that acts as a sort of 'rescue center' for big cats. None of the enclosures are very good and some of the exhibits are downright awful.

@snowleopard Pretty funny that quite a few "animal rights defenders" say that zoos shouldn't exist and Rescue Centers like this should. They base their arguments on the feeblest and widest of arguments, yet people still listen to them! It's a damn shame...

@JigerofLemuria I fully agree.

Here is an excerpt from my 2014 road trip thread:

Cat Tales Zoological Park is a non-AZA-accredited facility located in Spokane, Washington, and it opened in 1991. (It is technically in Mead, slightly on the outskirts of Spokane.) The husband and wife team of Mike and Debbie Wyche still run the park and the facility houses almost exclusively felines, and according to the zoo’s website there are approximately 35 cats currently in residence. The establishment also has a zoo-keeper training center that has produced several employees that have moved to various zoos across the United States.

Cat Tales is very small in size and even though I quickly used the restroom, walked through the tiny gift shop and took a photo of every enclosure I was back in the parking lot after 35 minutes. During that short period of time I saw about 20 animals of 7 species and the zoo is only a few acres in size. With only 20 animals on show it is obvious from the plethora of holding cages behind the main exhibits that there are additional cats that are rotated on exhibit at various times of the week. All of the enclosures are basic chain-link cages that are fairly barren and tiny for many of the animals. A small string of metal cages house a handful of bobcats; a pair of larger cages have a couple of lynx inside; I saw two Amur leopards (including a beautiful melanistic form); there were a trio of cougars; a single American black bear (the cinnamon colour phase); a male and female lion are separated; and there were perhaps 8 tigers including 2 white ones that used to be performing animals. Considering that bobcats, lynx, cougars and black bears are all found in the United States the only exotics were the lions, tigers and leopards.

The facility is a rescue establishment as all of the animals were confiscated from pet owners, rehabilitated from a dire situation or abandoned in the wild. There are descriptions of the plight of the individual animals on signposts in front of the cages and plenty of employees are on hand to answer questions but the enclosures leave a lot to be desired. A number of the cages are approximately 22 feet wide and 22 feet deep with little inside other than a couple of scratching posts, some scattered hay and a tub of water to soak in. The row of bobcat cages is very tiny indeed. Many of the large cats are rotated into even smaller off-show cages and the quality of life of the specimens does not seem to be very high. Some of the cats have been at the zoo for 20 years and I cannot imagine that they lead invigorating lifestyles even though the animals appeared to be for the most part well-fed and genuinely cared for.