Fair do's then - can honestly say I've never come across that one. I did wonder after posting if it might be an American spelling, but I left it there knowing someone would soon put me right!
As an aside, my favourite 'older' spelling of an animal name is 'Nylghaie', which I first encountered in an old Dudley guide. Just thought I'd share that.
The owner wanted to retire and with business down to only about 100,000 a season continuing to operate the zoo wouldn't be feasible. She estimates it would take about 150,000 to 200,000 visitors annually to make the operation viable. Plus the zoo need a 5 million uplift. At its peak in the 1960s, the game farm had an average season of up to half a million visitors.
Fair do's then - can honestly say I've never come across that one. I did wonder after posting if it might be an American spelling, but I left it there knowing someone would soon put me right!
The owner wanted to retire and with business down to only about 100,000 a season continuing to operate the zoo wouldn't be feasible. She estimates it would take about 150,000 to 200,000 visitors annually to make the operation viable. Plus the zoo need a 5 million uplift. At its peak in the 1960s, the game farm had an average season of up to half a million visitors.
The zoo also took a real downturn during the last 5 or 6 years it was opened. The smell of the place got really bad in the final years beyond what is normal for an zoo. I think they were just running out of money to keep in running.
More on why it closed. Catskill Game Farm was really the last surviving on the great Catskills tourist attraction. It join the Friar Tuck Resort & Spa, Carson City and Indian Village, Ted Martin's Reptile Adventure(also know as in the past as Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland and Catskill Reptile Institute) and many smaller attraction.
The Catskill Game Farm was part of the Borscht Belt. [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borscht_Belt]Borscht Belt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
The zoo also took a real downturn during the last 5 or 6 years it was opened. The smell of the place got really bad in the final years beyond what is normal for an zoo. I think they were just running out of money to keep in running.
