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Olympic Game Farm
Rating Details »
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
13 reviews for Olympic Game Farm
Some people will love this place and others will feel guilty for visiting. Here is a handy review for both groups.
If you have regular, enlightening conversations with your pets and are convinced that animals have feelings just like us, read the first review. However, if red meat and Bible verses about dominion over the Earth are common themes in your home, read the second.
Two reviews for two types of people:
Animal enthusiasts: You've been good. You have supported animal rights for years and generally supported PETA (except for that weird "sea kittens" business). And now, you would like to commune with the wild animals you adore. Make sure that you stock up on white bread before you arrive--the more you have the happier your animal friends will be. You'll find the "petting zoo" at the entrance -- a bit of a misnomer because most of the animals are behind fences. No matter, you can share your rainbow gladness with the goats that play here. Now, hop in your Subaru or Prius for the ride around the park. Prepare yourself for liberal guilt such as you have never experienced! Dismal dirt enclaves and hoardes of captive creatures await. Feed llamas, peacocks, bears and more. Avert your eyes at the deplorable rhinocerous enclosure. Put up your right hand and the bears will sit on their massive behinds and wave at you. Go ahead, do it once. Once, because this bear was once a performer--an animal tragedy for human entertainment. Drive on to what looks like Guantanamo Bay for wild animals. Apparently, the naughtiest animals are put in these cages and fed roadkill until the dull look in their eyes takes over their spirit. Here comes wholesome fun, however, as you enter the elk and ungulate park. After the first animal scratches your paint job or chews up your steering wheel, you'll begin obeying the signs to keep moving. Turn up your Dire Straits CD or NPR podcast to wash the guilt from your senses as you leave. You will probably return to Yelp to rate this as one star.
Animal Owners: You have been good. You generally keep your pack of dogs well fed. And, when the neighbor's cat happens to cross your property, well, it's a bonus meal for your puppies and one less cat in the world. Hop in your 1/2 ton pickup with a custom lift kit and head to Sequim. But, leave the guns at home, partner, the animals here are already cornered. Stop by the local Bakery Outlet for some bread and arrive ready for good times. Skip the "petting zoo" because you won't be able to control your impulse to slay one of the bunnies. Drive right into the park. Now you're talking -- no hiking, no sleeping in tents for days on end looking for wildlife -- just wild animals as far as you can see. Don't forget to take the Confederate flag antenna ball off before you arrive. One of those danged llamas is likely to eat it. Between feeding bears and other animals, you'll swear you are in Africa. There is a real rhinocerous just feet away. Good thing they brought one to Washington State or you might have to leave the U.S. of A. to see one this close -- unthinkable. Enter the caged animal exhibit. All your favorite animals are right where you want them, pacing in cages twenty feet away and easily spotted from your pickup. Drive on to the hooved mammal park but don't reach for your gun rack just yet. These animals aren't in season. See for the first time what a wild elk looks like with the blood still coarsing through its veins. You're right--it looks like dinner! So, crank up the AC/DC or Classic Rock Mix tape you brought and head to the nearest steakhouse. When your nephew comes over next and shows you how to find Yelp again, you'll rate this place five stars.
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This is a HARD review to write. I have strong and seriously mixed feelings about Olympic Game Farm -- like most people I've talked with and NEARLY every resident and business owner I've spoken with in Sequim and Dungeness.
Proximity to wild animals teaches us about them and their environments and allows us to have respect and compassion for them and their environments. The rub is that whatever environment we're allowed access to, we inevitably end up destroying or corrupting either on purpose or as a by-product of our "caring".
It doesn't escape anyone who has visited Olympic Game Farm that it's not operated by environmentalists, ok, but from what's seen does it look like the owners seriously care about the natural atmosphere or environment of the animals they house? You decide. My guess is that if you see the tiny cages that large wild cats (panthers, tigers, lions) are put into pacing pacing pacing back and forth as much as they're able, you'll agree it's full on depressing. There's nothing majestic about it.
Sure, the idea of the Game Farm is a cool one: Pay your $10, buy some loaves of white bread, drive your car through the dirt trails, get up close and cozy with these great wild animals, get some of them to perform or you (some of them are retired animal actors), feed them white bread, let the buffalo, deer, etc. surround you and maybe stick their heads in your car, take lots of pictures and laugh it up. When the laughing's done my bet is that you'll think twice about whether this is a a life affirming experience, or not. In fact, it's pretty damn depressing and you may even feel worse after going than you did before you arrived.
The thing that gets me is that since so many of the residents and business owners share similar mixed feelings and even advise people against going to the farm, why don't they come together and insist improvements be made on behalf of the welfare of these animals who are living right their backyards? I've asked this question. The usual answer is not wanting to make waves or create discord within the small business community. PETA would have a field day with Olympic Game Farm given their vociferous protest about tossing dead fish at Pike Place Market.
I've been here. Twice. The first time I laughed and photographed then felt like shit for days afterwards. The second time I took a new person and he felt the same. I won't go back. If the owners make some MONUMENTAL improvements then we can talk. The people who govern the farm according to the DOL are Alice Beebe, Kenneth Beebe, S Lloyd Beebe. Bob Beebe is General Manager of the farm.
Here's their FAQ: http://www.olygamefarm...
I want to believe that the Beebe's really do have caring and respectful intentions for the animals in their charge. I'm no zoologist so what do I know? But I do love animals. What I see when I go through their farm just doesn't feel good to me.
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I absolutely adore this place and feel everyone should go. My story is this......
I am a wildlife rehabilitator. I received a call while broken down, on the side of I5, by a student at Evergreen College
There was a red fox laying on the grounds with a broken leg.
Fish and Wildlife would not come get it.
Now.....the fox wanted to live ...I know this because he went to people for help...if he wanted to die he would have crawled off into the woods somewhere.
I obviously couldn't retreive him myself so I sent my volunteer Claudia Supensky and her brother to pick it up.
Her brother ,trained in first aid, bandaged the leg which was bleeding profusely. They transported the fox to Tumwater Veterinary Hospital where I work. Dr. Bennett, my wildlife vet and my boss, examined, x-rayed and stabilized the fox. We decided to do an external fixator in the morning.
This fox let me pet her and hold her like a puppy.
Morning arrived we anesthetized the fox and began prepping the leg, the foot was dead.......... The decision now was amputation.
The decision to amputate left us with where the now non-releaseable fox would go. I called various rehabilitators, Nothwest Trek etc and noyone had room to keep one. I was not going to put the poor fox through the stress of surgery just to be put down due to noyone having space I would rather euthanize under anethesia.
I called the Olympic Game Farm suggested by Northwest Trek and my savior Bob Beebe said he had room for her. We performed the surgery and Dr. Gregg Bennett and Dr. Sarah Perigo removed Foxy's front leg up to the shoulder.
Foxy recovered with remarkable speed she was running around the next day, still a very loving litle girl I was getting very attatched.
The day came to drive her up, she dug at the kennel door the whole way up, quelled only by chicken fed to her during the drive.
When I arrived at the park and met the very handsome Bob Beele I was apprehensive. I usually don't agree with animals being caged myself.
There were adorable feral bunnies everywhere, beautiful peacocks strolled the grounds.
Bob led us to the location where foxey would reside. My heart hurt a little that this would be her home forever. The fact that she was so comfortable around humans made it a little easier but I honestly felt she could do just fine in the wild on three legs.
Bob walked us through the caged animals and told us the story of each one. Cougars brought by Fish and Wildlife that normally would have been killed either because they were raised by humans or just have no fear of them. Bobcats raised by humans who abandoned them in apartments, zoo animals being retired etc.
Sad stories for sure but not caused by the game farm nowadays.
The enclosures do require udating and Bob knows that. He IS working on a new layout for the caged area, he is working with a company on a new design and a new location for it. As a wildlife rehabilitator I know how expensive it is to feed all those animals and how how it is to manage the care of just a few.
Money doesn't fall from the sky.
Not visiting is the crime in my eyes, Bob is no millionaire he is a humble animal lover taking care of a concept his grandfather started a long time ago. The history is what it is.... the park now is a different thing altogether.
Instead of pointing fingers and being judgemental about the downside, we should figure out how to help and make things better.....money makes things better..don't bitch....fundraise..if your gonna judge and turn your head then keep your ignorant mouth shut, because you, like the rest of us know nothing. If you own a pet and don't agree with animals being in captivity then you are a hippocrit!
Go to the park feed the WHEAT bread, which is the only thing the USDA will let the public feed,... tell your friends to go and help them collect the money they need to make the nescessary improvements!!!!
Foxy was just that...she managed to escape her cage the next day, Bob finds furry evidence that she is hanging around but hasn't seen her. I know she is doing fine especially since there is NO shortage of rabbits running the grounds. It is the perfect place for her to be free and a three legged human loving fox.
Now when I go it's like where's waldo.
I loved this place and wanted to drive through a 2nd time. My kids and I laughed hysterically as animals mashed their slobbery faces up against our car. We needed to wash the car to get all the slobber off. It was fun, but a guilty pleasure. At one point my son said to a bear, "I'm so sorry my people have done this to you!" The deer, zebra and bison coming up to the car were cute and fun. The bears behind electric wire, the big cats and other animals in small cages, and the apparent skin sores on many of the animals made their sad neglect apparent. It's too bad the owners don't take better care of the animals. The Rhino looked deceased. Fun at the start. Sad as heck at the end. :(
My girlfriend and i had a great time, here. Ok some of the cages are cramped, but a lot of the animals are rescue and retired circus animals. I think that their life hear is better then it was in the past.. Not to mention these animals are being hunted to extintion and losing all their natural habbitat in the wild. here They are all fed well fed and not being hunted. If you dont like their conditions maybe you should raise some money and offer to build them larger cages. I doubt they would have a problem with that.. I will be back.. Way better then the zoo..
No.
it sounded really cool. Instead, we ended up depressed.
First, should any wild animal, caged or no, really be eating white bread? That they sell to the tourists to feed the animals?
Second, except for the hooved animals that were roaming about, the enclosures were way too small. The bears were in tiny little yards. The bears also looked to me like they'd been defanged and declawed -- mind you, I said looked like they did. It's hard to imagine they'd be in such a shoddy enclosure if not, though.
We couldn't bring ourselves to drive through the dozens of cages in the hot sun with tigers and lions crammed into them, pacing back and forth.
And the yahoos in the cars ahead of us kept stopping in every damn section that it specifically said NOT to stop because herding animals occasionally like to surround cars and halt traffic for lengthy amounts of time.
So the only animals I didn't feel sorry for here were the humans.
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It's like JURASSIC PARK!!! Only no dinosaurs. Or Dr. Alan Grants and open shirted Jeff Goldblums. Or Joseph Mazzellos... what happened to that kid? I liked him. Maybe he'll be in JPIV which IS coming soon to a theater near you (no, I am not kidding, IMDB that ish).
So, ANYWAY, my BF did not really enjoy the fact that I hummed the JP theme song as we entered the Olympic Game Farm after I made him drive here but after we fed our first Yak he was hooked!
See the pics I uploaded for the whole picture, ha. Where else can you swoon over prairie dogs, try to arouse peacocks, talk to llamas, butt heads with a zebra, wave to a bear, come face to face with elk, and get slobbered on by bison all in the same place? From the comforts of your own car???
$10 entry fee per person, $2 for bread... buy two loaves... I wish I could have fed them all... we ran out of bread by the end with all the bisons and feared for our cars lives as we were swarmed and I had no more bread to divert their attention with.
The whole idea of animals in small enclosed spaces away from their natural habitat is sad... especially when you see the wolves, lions, tigers, (and bears, oh my!) in such small cages = minus one star. However, reading their story online makes me think of the farm as a nice retirement colony for movie star animals.
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Animals are in cages that are way too small, but I still really enjoy the safari type environment where you actually get to drive through herds of buffalo and what not. People whine about feeding the animals white bread etc... but they aren't wild and seem to be in good health, so I dont really have a problem with that. But then again I could really care less, there are plenty of more pressing issues to get all up in arms about. I enjoy this place and Ill be back again.
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This place is interesting and unexpected. This isn't a razzle dazzle drive-through wildlife park by any means. They take in rescued animals, like retired circus bears, and give them a temperate climate to live their days out in. You can buy loaves of bread for cheap at the entrance to the park and you can feed everything in the park that likes bread... which is everything!
They give you a map and warn you about aggressive llamas trampling your car if you let them. You must stay in your car pretty much the entire time, but you can throw bread out the window to the bread-bloated animals. In the beginning of the tour there is a lookout point that is a bit lackluster. You can park and get out to stretch your legs, grab a can of soda, go potty, and chase some peacocks. We stopped here and took a break between each round of driving through. We had a blast escaping a low-speed chase with a llama, getting the bears to do tricks and wave at us for bread, watching deer knock antlers in the afternoon sunshine. There is a field full of yaks that start wandering towards the driving path as soon as they hear you coming down the hill away from the llamas. The yaks are great! You just have to be careful about letting them stick their heads into your car, as their horns can get stuck and it can cause some damage on both ends. They are very sweet and welcome head petting... unlike the llamas who will kill for your bread supply!
We spent about four hours here! We did three loops around and got more bread each time. I was able to get some really fun pictures and video. We skipped the center area that has large cats and wolves in too small cages. I don't really get why they are there. That would be the only depressing part. The animals are fed proper food besides all the bread that gets thrown at them. We were around for bear feeding time and they enjoyed some yummy salmon. The bears had enough space in my opinion... there wasn't any arguing that we saw. They had room to eat, swim, meander, and lounge around. It was also nice to stick around for awhile so we could see the changes in animal behavior throughout the day. We left tired and totally satisfied. We laughed. We got scared. We got sentimental. And left with some killer pictures.
If you are around the area, plan some time to drive through at least once. If you can just accept that not everything can be is a perfect as it should be in the world, you can have fun here. Go with a sense of humor and take it for what it is. You sure can't interact with animals like this anywhere else! Bring some blueberries for the bears! ;)
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We have nothing like this in California! It's kind of weird driving through this big area while random animals[buffalo's, deer, elk, reindeer...] are roaming around. They will come up to your car window and you can feed them bread. Its gets kind of nasty when you have big huge buffalo slobbering all over with grass coming out of its mouth. The smaller animals are in caged off areas, so you can only throw the bread at them. Sometimes the birds will fly at your window and try to take the bread out of your hand...kinda scary!
It is fun though, and a great thing for families with younger children to do. My brother and I are teenagers and we even enjoyed it! I remember it being pretty reasonably priced, and they give you full bags of bread!
Worth checking out, whether you actually drive through it or not is another story!
It's alright- been here quite a few times- as a kid, and as an adult. Of course, being a kid, I was masked as to how bland it is. But being there as an adult, it made me sad to see animals in tiny cages barely able to move. And the only part-thrilling, part-gross, part-scary part are when the loose animals walk up to you. Then again, I don't care for a huge buffalo to grunt and slobber all over my car for a piece of bread. I'd give this 2 stars, but the one cool thing was to see giraffes and rhinos up close as if you were on a safari.
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I have really mixed feelings about this place. On one hand the huge buffalo field to drive through is really cool, on the other hand the rest of the animals live in really small cages, not environments and just seem really sad.
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I too have very mixed feeling with this place. It was very different - you can literally touch some of the animals and be put closer than normal people are typically allowed. I was a foot away from a bear, fed baby deer from my hand, saw a group of buffalos rub up on my car (kinda scary) and had countless yaks, buffalo, horses, llamas and elks stick their heads in my car. It was very very cool and hilarious.
This is not a zoo and so your safety isn't 100% guaranteed - I would say that the occasional dumb family that gets out of their car when they aren't supposed to will probably have something bad happen to them so be smart and follow the rules! It does get you thinking that this much bread can't be good for the animals and it is very DEPRESSING to see a LION, tiger and cougars in very small cages especially after seeing these same animals is natural habitats at the zoo. The animals out in the open seem happy and well taken care of. Many seem like they were probably rescued from a circus or something because the bears seemed trained to do tricks so I guess better here than in a circus. The lions also looked really old so again to get me through the place I told myself they were rescued from being killed.
The cost is 10.00 per person which is cheaper than NW Trek and you get much closer to the animals. It was so cool being 1 foot away from a bear that you could wave to and he would wave back! We brought extra loaves of bread but you can buy some for 50 cents. I can see this as really fun for kids and even adults who are kids at heart.