What a shock this morning to hear that the Catskill Game Farm is closing. It has been there simply forever, as long as I can remember (since 1933 in fact). It was a popular school field trip, a fun and educational, if exhausting, day out with the little ones and a well-known breeder of many threatened species. (The facility won awards for many of its breeding programs, including Przewalski horses.)
The farm features over 2000 animals from dozens of species. For some reason the Galapagos tortoises and the rhinos always stick in memory, as well as seeing the long blackberry colored tongues of the giraffes coil towards your hand when they reached for grain.
They say declining attendance in large part blamed on several lousy summers in succession is to blame. Insurance costs are another factor.
Although I have been there so many times that the trips and animals rather blur together it will be sorely missed. Even local farmers often sold lambs to the owners to stock the petting zoo.
There will be an auction this fall to disperse the animals and equipment. From Addax to Zebu by way of Kulan and Kudu, that will be quite an event.
We are thinking that we will take the kids and the camera back this summer for just one more visit before it all falls under the hammer.
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5 comments:
I want to thank you for the comment you left on my blog and at the same time leave you one on yours, I find the farming info and storys are really good and I also love the animal photos. Keep up the great work and I will be keeping an eye out for your new posts. Bill
It's sad when old traditional attractions lose out to "progress". Florida used to be peppered with mom and pop roadside attractions, but I-95 and Disney killed them.
You are welcome Bill, those sand sculptures you pictured are wonderful. I will relink to you when I get a minute.
FC Catskill Game Farm is such an icon it is hard to imagine it being gone.
I only made it to Florida once, back in the early 70's. There were still a lot of wonderful places there where hotels were planned but hadn't been built yet. I am sure it isnt like that any more.
We live in South Dakota now, but grew up on Lake Champlain, so Catskill Game Farm is familiar. My husband earned his degree from RPI in Troy, and we occasionally wandered that way. The very first photo album put together using our first 35mm camera has photos of critters at the game farm, including a humorous one with the Przewalski's. That was 36 years ago, thanks for the reminder.
Caroline in the Black Hills of SD
Hi Caroline, thanks for stopping by. The game farm will be sorely missed I think. We have wonderful pictures from there too. Most are of our oldest feeding all sorts of interesting critters back when she was a toddler, already wearing farmer overalls and dragging us to see the animals. Wish the scanner was working so I could post a couple.
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