Went to Hovatter's Wildlife Zoo-It Was a Little Saddening

Get ready for a picture overload. My aunt was going to the Hovatter's Wildlife Zoo with her son and his family, and didn't want to drive alone, so I offered to go with her. It was a nice day overall, not too hot, and we later ate at an Applebee's in Morgantown. I got the O-M-Cheeseburger, and it was actually pretty good ngl.

I had looked it up beforehand because I wasn't sure how good of a place it was, so I wasn't exactly excited to go. The few comments I read weren't good. I'm reading different reviews now, and there are some going back 9 years reflecting poor conditions. One of the comments I saw the other day said that it got better each time they went, so I had hopes it was at least decent.

It's family-owned, and there's an actual house on the property with almost all enclosures built behind it. I don't think it's accredited, and there have been plenty of USDA citations in the past; this PDF lists some: PETA Factsheet (I don't like PETA, but it's just something I saw involving the zoo)

While I may not exactly know the right habitats for some of the animals, many of the enclosures did not seem appropriate. Too small, too many animals-crowded, little or no enrichment. I didn't see anything too concerning with the animals themselves, but there was a timber wolf that I noticed kept running its area and panting. It wasn't quite pacing, but it didn't feel right. And there was a kodiak bear that was also panting. It had a space, or really a cage, of its own that may have had water in it; it was too far away to tell. But it was just something to be noted.

Something else I have a gripe with is the feeding of animals. They had animal feed that was available in the gift shop: grass, granola, carrots, popcorn, and seed sticks. I don't know if they had anything else; I certainly didn't buy any. I don't even like to give treats to our neighbor's dog. There were these PVC pipes to shoot food down to animals, and some could be fed by hand, but what's stopping people from throwing feed to animals that shouldn't eat certain food? (doesn't matter if they don't have interest in eating it; it's the chance of providing it when they could eat it and shouldn't) There were signs for the animals that could be fed showing what food they could eat, but I'm sure plenty of people and kids don't even read them, let alone follow what they say. I didn't see any employees walking around either. Who knows how many they even have? The only ones I saw were in the gift shop/admitance. Do they think to keep an eye on things?

It wasn't the worst place in the world, but it could've been better. I know I won't go back.

^The giraffe only had gravel to stand on, and I noticed this scarring? on his front leg and side.

^They didn't have much water to roam in, which I feel like they should have. In the background, you can see the house.

^They had a lot of goats in two separate enclosures alongside some pigs and tortoises. And when I say a lot of goats, I mean it.

^There was also a lion behind the log. This picture makes it look a little bigger than it was. She was resting there but followed me with her eyes when I started walking away. To the right was a section for a bunch of fallow deer, and again I mean a lot. They at least had enough space on the side of the hill to hold them all. I went towards it to look at them, and she actually got up to follow me a bit and layed down near the fencing (pictured below).

^I came back up and watched her for a second before walking back down to a different path to the left, and again, she got up after a bit to check on the lion and then kinda followed and looked at me as I looked at the porcupines. She had lain down near the corner nearest to it. I wasn't the only one who had noticed all of this, because a couple had been observing her the entire time and even commented on how she was acting with me.

^These are the feeding pipes I was talking about. 

^A white-cheeked gibbon. They had other gibbons in a much smaller cage, while this huge one seemed to only house the one. I love gibbons, so their little coop was sad to see. 

^There was also a space for some kind of owl that looked smaller than this.

^I think that structure in the middle was supposed to hold water, but it looked empty. The bear didn't look like it was doing too well.

^The white bengal tiger. Beautiful? Yes. Wrong to have? Probably so. It's not like I know how they acquired it.

^Again, only a gravel lot. They had quite a few camels.

^They had a parakeet cage to walk in, so I checked it out. One stayed on my head for a bit before others joined and also sat on my shoulder. I knew I felt one licking me! Totally messed up my hair, too. I always did like birds. (I looked a little ugly so I covered myself up)

There were more animals that I did not take pictures of or did not upload here. Compared to some of what I read, what I saw yesterday wasn't too bad. But it still wasn't entirely right to me. So, this was just a bit depressing to see, some more than the rest.