Cat Haven Wild Animal Park Seeking opinion on whether California cat zoos are worth visiting

[DavidBrown]

My wife and I have driven past the Cat Haven park on our way to Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park a few times and I never had a desire to visit because I assumed that it was a dumpy roadside zoo that should not be supported.

Ditto the Exotic Feline Breeding Complex in Rosamond, California.

I decided that I should find out if this is actually the case.

Has anyone here visited either of these places? Are they worth visiting? I always assumed that they were the big cat equivalent of puppy mills, but hopefully I am wrong.

Any opinions will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Arizona Docent]

I already answered DavidBrown via PM, but for the benefit of all, here is a brief summary.

1) Neither of these are puppy mills. They work with SSP's and maintain very careful breeding programs and do not sell offspring to the public. The Exotic Feline Compound has imported some important founder cats from overseas zoos (fishing cat, amur and persian leopard). Likewise Cat Haven has imported jaguar and jaguarundi.

2) The enclosures at both are very basic. Cat Haven is probably a nicer experience simply because it is in the mountains. The one advantage to Feline Compound is you can go on your own (though it is quite small) whereas at Cat Haven you have to go on a guided tour. But the fact that Cat Haven is on the same highway as King's Canyon National Park makes it a nice trip to combine with a park visit. Exotic Feline Compound is in an ugly desert area not near anything - I would not go out of my way to visit, but if you happen to be traveling through California on Highway 14 then it is worth a stop. Or if you are a leopard taxonomist studying subspecies, then it is worth a stop because they have several each of amur, persian, north chinese.