Safari Park Predators

[Cody Raney]

Does anyone know stateside if you can drive through a predator exhibit in a safari park, such as Lions, Tigers, or Bears? I know the Woburn Safari Park in England allows you to drive through the Lion habitat, but I don't know if that is allowed in the Unites States.

 

[Wisp O' Mist]

Does anyone know stateside if you can drive through a predator exhibit in a safari park, such as Lions, Tigers, or Bears? I know the Woburn Safari Park in England allows you to drive through the Lion habitat, but I don't know if that is allowed in the Unites States.

Bearizona has a drive-thru Black bear exhibit.

 

[Austin the Sengi]

Lion Country Safari has an exhibit where vehicles drive by an exhibit for Lions (emphasis on by). Although, in the park’s early days, visitors did drive-through the same space as the cats.

 

[Jambo]

Lion Country Safari has an exhibit where vehicles drive by an exhibit for Lions (emphasis on by). Although, in the park’s early days, visitors did drive-through the same space as the cats.

Drive through Lion habitats were fairly common back in the day with numerous parks globally providing this opportunity. There was also once a park in Australia where guests could do this.

 

[snowleopard]

I visited a lot of zoos in Southeast Asia last summer and a few of them had buses and trams that went into exhibits with Lions and Tigers, with the animals all around the vehicles. There are European zoos that do the same thing.

However, in the United States it is a much rarer situation. In 2014 I visited Yellowstone Bear World and drove my own vehicle into a large area that had American Black Bears and Grey Wolves and here's a photo showing both species.

The zoo has a wide, paved road and it's possible to drive right up behind American Black Bears.

Bearizona is a zoo in northern Arizona that has had a similar set-up in the past, with both Grey Wolves and American Black Bears.

@vjstoffel

Another zoo with drive-through predator exhibits seen via your own vehicle is Bear Country USA. Here are some of my photos from 2014:

Bears by the dozen!

 

[zoo_enthusiast]

African Lion Safari in Ontario, Canada, had a lion drive-through area at the time of my visit in 2019, and may still have it.

 

[EliasNys]

De Beekse Bergen had a cheetah safari until a few weeks ago, and is currently being transformed to a "normal" enclosure. Dvur Kralove has a lion safari too.

 

[Cody Raney]

I visited a lot of zoos in Southeast Asia last summer and a few of them had buses and trams that went into exhibits with Lions and Tigers, with the animals all around the vehicles. There are European zoos that do the same thing.

However, in the United States it is a much rarer situation. In 2014 I visited Yellowstone Bear World and drove my own vehicle into a large area that had American Black Bears and Grey Wolves and here's a photo showing both species.

The zoo has a wide, paved road and it's possible to drive right up behind American Black Bears.

Bearizona is a zoo in northern Arizona that has had a similar set-up in the past, with both Grey Wolves and American Black Bears.

@vjstoffel

Another zoo with drive-through predator exhibits seen via your own vehicle is Bear Country USA. Here are some of my photos from 2014:

Bears by the dozen!

I think the reason you don't see a setup like this much stateside is for liability reasons because you always have that one schmuck that thinks they're Dr. Dolittle. But I personally think if you had a bus where the driver has control of the doors or a modified truck like at Disney but completely enclosed, I don't see a reason you couldn't drive through a lion or tiger exhibit.