This is beyond pitiful. It’s disgusting and it’s horrid and it’s inhumane. And I spent a few days in internal contemplation, as to whether or not I would blog about this.
But it’s a story that needs to be told.
There is a roadside zoo in Three Hills, Alberta called the GuZoo. Here’s the link to their homepage. According to their website, the GuZoo is advertised as Canada’s largest private animal farm, as well as being an animal sanctuary for orphaned exotic creatures. The GuZoo has been owned and operated by the Gustafson family for nearly 20 years; first by Lynn and his late wife Chris; and then by their son Bill and his wife Irene. The website boasts many stories of how their exotic and rare animals can educate and entertain, and the admission charges help defray the cost of taking in any animals that have no home.
However, newspaper reporters have discovered a very seamy and disturbing side to the GuZoo.
Here’s a link to the original metronews.ca article. Be warned – the images captured by the photojournalists are very disturbing, and are most likely NSFW. That’s why I’m only providing links to the news articles and not pictures of the distressed animals on this page.
There have been several online petitions and Facebook pages asking for the local SPCA to investigate the GuZoo.
This article in the Calgary Herald brings up some serious and disturbing claims about the zoo – including a threat that if the tourist attraction was forced by the province of Alberta to close, the future of the animals at the GuZoo would be grim.
“Most of the animals we have here, it would be pretty near impossible to find homes for them,” said Bil Gustafson in the Herald article. “So Dad put that they would all be euthanized and used for taxidermy. I don’t think Fish and Wildlife really wants that.”
In fact, Lynn Gustafson reiterated that same threat in a news article to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which can be seen here. And last Friday, as protestors held a rally against the animal farm, the GuZoo was granted a 60-day conditional license to remain open.
I just don’t have words for what I’m seeing. I don’t. And I’m not sure there are any appropriate words.
I do know one thing, though, for sure.
Either the GuZoo needs to be fixed RIGHT NOW – with either a third party coming in to monitor and tend to the animals – or the zoo needs to close and the animals need to find new adoptive homes.
Your thoughts?
Chuck The Writer 
I choose to help animals, so this is what I deal with–OFTEN. There are times I reach my limit for the week, and there are times I suffer with nightmares (as do many animal advocates).
Some VERY TRAGIC facts:
Exotic animals are bred in this country so people can hunt (usually in a pen), kill, and mount them. This makes them feel important. There are people in our neighborhoods with mounted animals on their walls (from hunts), including babies of all descriptions. NUMEROUS such farms/ranches are in the southern states (Florida) and have very TALL fences to keep us out.
Some zoos shipped animals to what they believed were sanctuary situations (they were not).
Many people are enjoying expensive trips to hunt/kill/stuff (or leave on site to rot): lions, elephants, bears, rhinos, tigers, and polar bears.
The death of some of these magnificent creatures mean NOTHING but twisted JOY to some people.
To (finally) respond to this blog: I believe ANYTHING regarding harm to animals is possible. So many of us are trying to reverse some of these daily HORRORS.
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The pictures are misleading…The second photographer seemed to be fishing and I could totally see that picture of the kid being photoshopped.
The first photgrapher was better…
I have doubts though. Water gets dirty quickly. All the animals looked well fed.
I think it would be better to work with the zoo to get it up to code so that the animals are not euthanized, which they would be if the zoo is shut down.
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I’ve been here. It is probably one of the most disturbing places I’ve visited. People may get upset about seeing the feed carcasses in the pen, but more disturbing are the actual dead zoo animals. I wrote to the media regarding the photos to see if they were, indeed, manipulated. CTV News responded back to say that Gustafson (the owner) has not denied any of the photos. In fact, he has said, ‘it is what it is.’ People will try to refute the photos – but there are over 1200, taken by many different people, for 20 years. Even if one or two photos lie – 1200 do not. This man has been convicted three times under the Animal Protection Act, and has over 100 violations against his ‘zoo’. People are lead to believe it is a sanctuary, but this is a for-profit business, not a registered charity. The focus is clearly not on the animals. So sad.
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Keep in mind there have been reports from the WSPCA and Zoo Check Canada, both stating the zoo’s non-compliance with Alberta Zoo Standards (which are pretty low standards-the bare minimum). This has been happening over the past 15 years. The owner has also been charged and convicted of animal related offenses. Several visitors have also filed ‘bite’ reports with the government….hard to believe the place is still open.
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Thanks for writing about this, Chuck.
The man who owns this outrage has been investigated, charged, and convicted of animal offences and various other violations on various occasions since the 1980s. The specifics can be found on the Facebook site.
Canadian animal protection laws are woefully archaic, and we need to put on pressure, even if we have to embarrass them.
The Alberta Government repeatedly renews Lynn Gustovsen’s licence with only band-aid improvements made, which soon fall off. Even yesterday the MLA (Member of Legislature) of the Alberta Government who is charge of this, Mel Knight, assured the listeners of a talk show (The Rutherford Show, Calgary Alberta) that this zoo is really a sanctuary and that animals make mess, what are your going to do?
That’s paraphrasing of course – if you go to the Facebook page called ‘Shut Down Guzoo in Three Hills – End Roadside Prisons’, you can find a link to the interview in an archive of media links, along with hundreds of photos, documents, and so on.
At best, the Alberta Government is complacent and does not take the concerns of animal lovers seriously. We have close to 13000 members, and they shrug us off as uninformed radicals, when most of us are common citizens with barely a radical bone in our bodies. At worst, they are complicit.
I suspect the latter, and I would not be at all surprised if at the end of this that’s what we find.
Thanks again for your coverage.
Bruce McDonald
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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I would respond to ‘ann’ that euthanasia is Gustofson’s threat. Zoocheck Canada has pledged to fund the transfer of all placeable animals, and if I’m not mistaken, the vet care of same, should he be shut down or should he choose to do the right thing.
In a 2000 W5 interview (a Canadian 60 Minutes style program), he told the reporter about how he’d send animals to the taxidermist (again, see Facebook archives for actual quote) and in the current controversy said that, should the activists be successful, the tiger would get him $10,000 at a taxidermist. The man is despicable.
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I find it interesting that while GuZoo charges $10-$15 admissions, it only accepts checks or cash, not credit or debit cards. That sounds a bit bizarra in and of it self. I wonder if the Canadian IRS should take a look at GuZoo as well. Sounds like it’s a ripe situation for under-reporting revenue.
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I jumped on the “Shut Down the Guzoo” bandwagon and was outraged at the photos and reports. Then a funny thing happened. I rose up from behind my keyboard and drove two hours to check the place out for myself. The animals there looked content and as healthy or healthier than animals I’ve seen anywhere else. Staff answered my questions and believe me, I looked for anything and everything I could to support what I was told before I went. Don’t get me wrong, the aesthetics of the place need improving and the lion and tiger enclosures need to be greatly improved. The tiger was originally brought in by Fish and Wildlife 200 pounds underweight and he is now healthy. There are so many things I have been told that explain a lot of the BS flying around. This has turned into nothing more than a witch hunt in my opinion. I think for myself, thanks to my mom and dad for instilling that quality in me. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if more people did the same?
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That’s really quite disgusting, I hope they get shut down.
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The punishment for this should be simple. Throw them in the cage with a hungry coyote, tiger, or lion and let nature take it’s course.
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My wife and I were in Canada for vacation last summer, and one of the stops we made was at the Calgary Zoo. We both commented on how many of the animals didn’t look nearly as “healthy” as those at, say, the Bronx Zoo. While I’m by no means comparing the Calgary Zoo to this zoo, I can’t say I’m surprised to see this happening in Alberta.
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