![\"West](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.animals24-7.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bandon-zoo-sign.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWest Coast Game Park Safari sign.<\/strong><\/em> BANDON,\u00a0 Oregon\u2013\u2013<\/strong>Brian Tenney, \u00a052, \u00a0owner\/operator of the West Coast Game Park Safari just south of Bandon,\u00a0 Oregon,\u00a0 was on May 27,\u00a0 2025 arrested in alleged possession of 80 grams of methamphetamine, \u00a044 firearms, \u00a0about eight grams of cocaine, \u00a0and $1.6 million in cash, cashier\u2019s checks, \u00a0bonds, \u00a0and certificates,\u00a0 the Coos County Sheriff\u2019s Office announced in a media release.<\/p>\n Tenney,\u00a0 also a sometime Super Late Model stock car driver at the Coos Bay Speedway,\u00a0 24 miles north,\u00a0 was charged with methamphetamine possession, \u00a0manufacturing, and attempted distribution.<\/p>\n Also reportedly involved in the May 27,\u00a0 2025 raid were the South Coast Interagency Narcotics Team,\u00a0 Coos County District Attorney\u2019s Office, \u00a0Oregon Department of Justice, \u00a0and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division.<\/p>\n Contrary to initial reports,\u00a0 updated Dan Kelly of NBC16 on May 28, \u00a02025,\u00a0 suspect Tenney was not jailed.<\/p>\n \u201cCoos County Sheriff Gabe Fabrizio says the Sheriff\u2019s Office had to release Tenney,\u201d\u00a0 Kelly told viewers, \u00a0\u201cbecause the drugs found need to be tested before they can hold Tenney in jail.\u201d<\/p>\n West Coast Game Park Safari tiger gets bottle.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em>(Beth Clifton photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The drugs and weapons were seized twelve days after veterinarians and other personnel from the Oregon Humane Society, \u00a0Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, \u00a0and Oregon Department of Agriculture on May 15,\u00a0 2025 began the four-day process of taking into custody the 310 animals found alive at the West Coast Game Park Safari.<\/p>\n \u201cThe West Coast Game Park Safari had been racking up violations since 2016 for offenses like a dead tiger kept in a freezer for months,\u00a0 and animals found dead, \u00a0sick, \u00a0or starving, \u00a0or never examined by a veterinarian,\u201d\u00a0 summarized Isabel Funk and Thao Nguyen of the USA Today<\/em> Network,\u00a0 citing previous coverage by the Salem Statesman Journal<\/em>, \u00a0a USA Today<\/em> network member.<\/p>\n The now closed West Coast Game Park Safari website boasted of exhibiting \u201cmore than 450 animals and 75 species, \u00a0with certain animals allowed to free-roam in the park for a \u2018hands-on\u2019 experience,\u201d\u00a0 Funk and Nguyen recounted.<\/p>\n \u201cFollowing initial assessments,\u201d\u00a0 Funk and Nguyen continued, \u00a0\u201cone camel was euthanized,\u201d\u00a0 due to \u2018multiple serious medical conditions and suffering,\u2019 \u00a0according to state police.<\/p>\n \u201cA chicken and a kinkajou were also later euthanized due to their physical conditions, \u00a0state police said.\u00a0 A USDA inspection report from April 1,\u00a0 2025 said two older lions and a black African leopard were observed with \u2018prominently\u2019 visible hips, \u00a0ribs, \u00a0and spine. \u00a0The report said a veterinarian had not been consulted or requested to examine or treat the animals.<\/p>\n \u201cFood storage containers were also found contaminated by rodent feces, and live rats were also seen on site, \u00a0the report said.<\/p>\n Caribou at West Coast Game Park Safari,\u00a0 2015.<\/strong><\/em> Another USDA inspection report,\u00a0 Funk and Nguyen added,\u00a0 found \u201cno readily identifiable facility attendant present throughout the zoo in areas where between 50 and 100 combined sheep,\u00a0 goats, \u00a0llamas, \u00a0and deer roam free and have contact with and are hand-fed by the public.\u201d<\/p>\n Paraphrased Funk and Nguyen,\u00a0 along with \u201cPiles of rotting hay and molding food,\u201d\u00a0 the USDA reports mentioned \u201ca coatimundi found dead in her enclosure,\u00a0 a capybara with a skin condition who had not been examined by a veterinarian,\u00a0 unsafe enclosures, \u00a0and a lioness confined to a cold, \u00a0dark den with no light, \u00a0ventilation, \u00a0or drainage.\u201d<\/p>\n At least \u201ca few\u201d of the West Coast Game Park Safari animals were taken to the Oregon Zoo in Portland for temporary care,\u00a0 Oregon Zoo spokesperson Hova Najarian told Hannah Seibold\u00a0of the Portland Tribune<\/em> on May 22,\u00a0 2025.<\/p>\n Najarian,\u00a0 however,\u00a0 \u201cdid not say how many animals from the West Coast Game Park Safari the Oregon Zoo was caring for,\u201d\u00a0 Seibold wrote,\u00a0 \u201ccould not disclose which animals were being cared for,\u201d\u00a0 and said none of the animals would be rehomed to the Oregon Zoo.<\/p>\n West Coast Safari Game Park bear gets bottle.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em>(Beth Clifton photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s Animal Care unit started routine inspections of the West Coast Game Park Safari about a decade ago,\u201d\u00a0 Seibold reported.<\/p>\n \u201cThe earliest citations discussed needed care for a black leopard and two alpacas in September 2015, \u00a0and a juvenile black bear with hair in October 2015.\u201d<\/p>\n The USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service noted after the October 2015 visit that,\u00a0 \u201cThis and the previous inspection are indicating a possible pattern of personnel not performing adequate daily assessment of animal health and communicating that information to supervisors and the attending veterinarian.\u201d<\/p>\n Continued Seibold,\u00a0 \u201cFederal inspectors visited the park 32 times over the past 10 years, \u00a0with seven visits in 2024. \u00a0On a visit to the park on December 3, \u00a02024, \u00a0Pharoh, \u00a0a 10-year-old lion, \u00a0was reported as having his \u2018ribs showing, \u00a0spine visible, \u00a0jutting hip bones and muscle wasting.\u2019 \u00a0A 15-year-old black leopard named Onyx was reported as \u2018quite thin with rib shadowing, \u00a0and noticeable muscle wasting of his head and body.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cOther adult lions, \u00a0along with Onyx, \u00a0were reported again in April 2025 with decreased muscle mass and their spines prominently displayed under their skin.\u201d<\/p>\n West Coast Game Park Safari camel,<\/strong><\/em> USDA concern about conditions at the West Coast Game Park Safari escalated after a 2016 incident,\u00a0 Funk and Nguyen described,\u00a0 in which \u201cTwo bears named Sugar and Spice were shot after a car backfired in the parking lot, \u00a0causing a flock of peacocks to disperse and land in their enclosure.<\/p>\n \u201cThe peacocks agitated Sugar, \u00a0and an employee shot the bear due to concerns she would escape and hurt someone.\u201d<\/p>\n An intended coup-d\u2019grace shot hit Spice instead,\u00a0 who was then shot dead along with Sugar.<\/p>\n West Coast Game Park Safari billboard.<\/strong><\/em> The West Coast Game Park Safari animals were at last impounded,\u00a0 People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals spokesperson Elena Waldman recounted in a May 28, 2025 media release,\u00a0 after \u201cmultiple PETA complaints to the USDA, \u00a0U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, \u00a0the Department of Justice, \u00a0and the State of Oregon.<\/p>\n \u201cThe West Coast Game Park Safari used Lucifer, \u00a0a black jaguar, \u00a0in illegal, \u00a0dangerous photo ops\u2014even after the passage of the Big Cat Public Safety Act, \u00a0which prohibits public contact with big cats,\u201d\u00a0 Waldman charged.<\/p>\n \u201cHandlers exploited Lucifer like a selfie prop, \u00a0forcing him into stressful, \u00a0unnatural interactions with visitors, \u00a0which continued even when he was nearly a year old and much too large and dangerous for public contact,\u201d\u00a0 after which \u201cthe facility condemned Lucifer to solitary confinement in a small, \u00a0barren, \u00a0concrete-walled gravel pit,\u201d\u00a0 Waldman said.<\/p>\n Daphne.\u00a0 (Beth Clifton photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cRecent footage of Lucifer\u2019s conditions at the roadside zoo showed that he appeared to be unnaturally thin,\u201d\u00a0 Waldman continued,\u00a0 mentioning also that Lucifer \u201cand 14 other wild cats from West Coast Game Park Safari were safely transported to accredited and reputable sanctuaries.\u201d<\/p>\n Lucifer,\u00a0 now three years old,\u00a0 went to The Wildcat Sanctuary,\u00a0 in Sandstone,\u00a0 Minnesota.<\/p>\n Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest,\u00a0 Waldman said,\u00a0 took \u201ca 21-year-old chimpanzee named George,\u201d\u00a0 who \u201cwas suffering in solitary confinement since the death of his companion Daphne, in November 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n George,\u00a0 said Waldman,\u00a0 \u201cwas the last remaining solitary chimpanzee in a roadside zoo in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n West Coast Game Park Safari kinkajou, 2015<\/strong><\/em> Observed Animal Wellness Action president Wayne Pacelle,\u00a0 \u201cThere is often an ugly backstory to the operations of roadside zoos, \u00a0as is the case with West Coast Game Park Safari.<\/p>\n \u201cOften, \u00a0neglect and even active mistreatment of animals is bound up with other criminal conduct, \u00a0and that appears to be the case here.\u201d<\/p>\n Founded in 1968 as Deer Park,\u00a0 the West Coast Game Park Safari was sold to Robert Stanley Tenney,\u00a0 father of Brian Tenney,\u00a0 and given the present name in 1976.<\/p>\n Robert Stanley Tenney,\u00a0 then a 31-year-old former overseas oil field worker,\u00a0 with his wife Mary,\u00a0 operated the West Coast Game Park Safari relatively uneventfully until Mary,\u00a0 68,\u00a0 died in 2007.<\/p>\n Retiring at age 72,\u00a0 Robert Tenney turned the management of the West Coast Game Park Safari over to Brian Tenney in 2009.<\/p>\n Robert Tenney remained somewhat involved for some time,\u00a0 but died from mesothelioma in Myrtle Point,\u00a0 Oregon,\u00a0 at age 84 in 2021.<\/p>\n
(Beth Clifton photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nWest Coast Game Park Safari owner Brian Tenney apparently at last took a few chances too many<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n310 animals rescued<\/h2>\n
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(Beth Clifton photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nCoatimundi found dead<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nCitations since 2015<\/h2>\n
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2015.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em>(Beth Clifton photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nUSDA concern escalated<\/h2>\n
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(Beth Clifton photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nPETA complaints<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nLucifer went to Sandstone<\/h2>\n
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(Beth Clifton photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\u201cNeglect & mistreatment bound up with other criminal conduct\u201d<\/h2>\n