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Tiger Safari Zoological Park in Tuttle, Oklahoma, is infested with cockroaches, federal officials say, and they’ve cited the roadside zoo with three violations of the Animal Welfare Act for the issue.
In May, a former Tiger Safari employee posted a review outlining numerous alarming issues at the facility. Among the former employee’s complaints were that several animal cages were infested with cockroaches.
“The owl is kept in a small parrot cage all the time and his food is thawed uncovered in a room infested with cockroaches for hours,” she wrote, adding that an entire room of the roadside zoo is covered in cockroaches.
“They infest the cages and can be found in the animals’ water dishes and food dishes,” she said.
Inspectors with the U.S. Department of Agriculture visited Tiger Safari on June 2 and found cockroaches infesting a small animal room at the back of the facility where animal encounters are held.
The cockroaches were found on the floor and walls of a cage containing four rabbits, the black and white ruffed lemurs’ enclosure, and in the enclosures and cages containing a kinkajou, hedgehog, two chinchillas and a skunk.
“One cockroach was observed on the floor of the skunk enclosure and several were observed at the bottom of the kinkajou’s metal cage on feces,” the inspector wrote in the report.
Tiger Safari was cited with three non critical violations for the cockroach infestation. Download the USDA inspection report.
Tiger Safari is owned by Bill Meadows. For years the roadside zoo has been under investigation for its animal mistreatment. The facility has racked up more than 100 USDA violations. In 2019, the USDA fined Tiger Safari $15,000 for continually violating the Animal Welfare Act by failing to provide proper care to their animals.
Last year, Meadows was cited with a non critical violation for mishandling animals after video footage circulated of a baby otter screaming and crying in fear at the facility during a pay-to-play encounter.
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