Attractions to Avoid

Novelty Animal Attractions

The MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas built a lion cage so that visitors could observe a small pride of lions through glass walls. Three Bears Gift Shop in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, sells food to the public so patrons can feed its Himalayan bears, who pace constantly in tiny, filthy pens. A chain of Illinois hardware stores exhibited solitary monkeys—who had gone insane from isolation—in small cages to amuse customers. An Indiana tattoo parlor displays caged tigers in the shop's windowless basement. A Texas grocery store keeps a collection of zebras, bobcats, and wallabies to attract customers. Ivan, a gorilla captured as an infant in 1964, spent 26 years in a concrete and plexiglass cage as a department store attraction in Washington state. Baylor University in Texas dumps its older bears and buys new cubs every two years to parade around as mascots during sporting events, storing them in a pit between games. These animals spend a miserable lifetime as curiosity displays and are often dependent on caretakers with little knowledge of their specialized needs.