Shalom Wildlife Zoo — Attraction in Town of Farmington

I came here with some friends on Sunday 9/14/25. Upon entering, you are given a map with the animal locations. We saw they had a black leopard and asked about it, they replied that they had “ordered” one and that it never showed up. That was the first red flag. What do you mean you “ordered” a black leopard? and is the animal now lost in transit? None of that made sense. You first walk in the building to enter the zoo, they have a few snakes, bearded dragons, and a hedgehog all crammed together in the corner in some terribly small enclosures. The bearded dragons cage had no top which allowed a bunch of flies to sit on top of them and all over their food. You could tell these cages hadn’t been cleaned in a while, as the smell was horrendous. Next, you walk outside to the line of people wanting a golf cart. I mean cmon, if you can’t walk around, don’t go. The paths are small and you constantly have to dodge the golf carts. The sound of them also scare off the animals as well. There were almost no employees and the ones we did interact with, had horrible attitudes. The large predators such as tigers, bears, wolves had enclosures smaller than my apartment. With absolutely no enrichment. People with kids tend to bring in food to feed the animals as well which is not allowed, but there are no employees to stop them. The elk, water buffalo, bison, and other similar animals had huge enclosures which felt a bit better. I’m sure they put the big predators in small cages so people can see them, or they would be hidden in the large enclosures. This is claimed as a sanctuary, not a “zoo”, as their signs all say while walking around. If it truly is a sanctuary, put the other animals in large enclosures as well. The foxes, coyotes, and lynx were in even smaller cages. Those animals can run for miles a day, they barely had 10 ft to walk around. I was feeling guiltier and guiltier the more I walked around and saw these depressed, miserable animals. They also unethically breed “white” tigers. They are bengal tigers that have been so inbred, they get white fur. Sugar and Spice, two of their tigers, were practically stolen. Not to mention they also had an incident of two tiger cubs drowning as they had no supervision and were placed in an enclosure with a pond that iced over during the night and the cubs fell in and drowned. Also had another incident where one cub just vanished. Never found it and presumed it dead. The list of wrong doings go on and on. These owners have no business owning a place like this. THIS PLACE IS NOT A SANCTUARY, ITS A PLACE OF DEATH!!!!!! PLEASE RESEARCH BEFORE GOING. I wish I did, I would have never supported this...

Overall, this zoo presents itself as an ethical roadside facility, and I do appreciate the amount of land provided for many of the animals—especially when compared to larger city zoos like the Milwaukee Zoo. However, I can’t help but question the inconsistency in how that space is allocated.

For example, the Rocky Mountain elk have an abundance of land, far more than they seem to utilize, while the black bears in the neighboring enclosure are clearly stressed—pacing repeatedly, with no real ability to retreat from constant human presence. Some of the land used for the elk could easily be divided to give the bears a more enriching and spacious habitat. The same could be said for the wolves, which are naturally reclusive animals and would benefit greatly from more room and better coverage.

One of the most concerning exhibits is the one housing the lynx. Every time I visit, I see this beautiful cat confined to a cramped space with no opportunity to run, climb, or display natural behaviors. Even more confusing is the presence of tortoises in the same enclosure—an odd pairing, especially considering the tortoises appear to have more room than the lynx, and they already have a dedicated habitat elsewhere in the zoo.

This issue of space extends to other predators as well. The coyotes and bobcat have very limited enclosures, and it’s hard to understand why they are placed right next to each other. Bobcats are solitary animals that would likely be distressed by the constant noise and activity of nearby howling coyotes—especially when they have no place to hide or escape.

One crucial factor that often gets overlooked is how much longer animals tend to live in captivity. While that may sound like a benefit, it also means that if an animal is placed in an inadequate enclosure, it’s not just a temporary issue—it’s years or even decades of suffering. Imagine spending a lifetime in a confined, unstimulating space with nowhere to hide and no way to express natural behaviors. That’s not conservation—that’s cruelty.

If this zoo wants to maintain a reputation for ethical care, it needs to seriously reevaluate how it distributes space and enrichment among its animals. If an animal cannot be provided with an appropriate enclosure that supports its physical and psychological well-being, then perhaps the zoo is not equipped to house that...

I was so terribly disappointed with the communication at this site. I work in Guest Services at Old World Wisconsin so I understand the importance of making sure your guests understand what they are paying for BEFORE they enter the site. I spent a lot of money to get our party of 3 adults, and 3 grandchildren onsite as well as renting a Golf Cart. The lady explaning the golf cart reviewed the rules of having the golf cart for 2 hours and any additional time over would be charged for. So we left under the impression, WE HAD 2 HOURS to use our Golf Cart. So we cruised around rather briefly, just under an hour, getting an idea of the lay of the park, stopping here and there to make a plan for when we got our lunch to spend more time at at a couple places that looked real interesting. Upon arriving at the golf cart pickup area we said we'll just pop out to grab our lunch and be right back. We were told "It's just one way", to which I said "well we'll continue the same way." But this meant, YOU ONLY GET ONE TIME AROUND. When you get back YOU ARE DONE and have to return the golf cart. I could tell this was confusing for others as the man with his little daughter behind us, had the same idea as us and was also annoyed that he had to turn in his golf cart too. Seeing as how I'm in the customer service business I figured I'd just call and talk to management and they would straighten this out for me, BUT NO, they just re-iterated their policy and didn't offer anything to make it right. It's just the way it is folks. BOTTOM LINE: IF YOU'RE RENTING A GOLF CART - TAKE YOUR TIME AND SPEND THE WHOLE 2 HOURS OR YOU'LL BE OUT. This ruined the whole experience for us. I will not recommend this...