Oregon safari owner pleads guilty to animal neglect, faces sentencing

BANDON, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Back in February 2025, KTVZ News brought you a developing story regarding the West Coast Game Park Safari in Bandon, after a December 2024 inspection conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture revealed the safari's conditions.

Several big cats appeared malnourished with visible ribs and hip bones. Coos County Sheriff's Deputies arrested 52-year-old Brian Tenney in May 2025 in connection to the multi-agency investigation into the game park safari that he owns.

On Monday, April 20th, 2026, Tenney pled guilty to 47 criminal charges, 43 of which related to neglecting the animals.

PETA Foundation Managing Director of Captive Wildlife Debbie Metzler shared the following statement with us:

"After years of starving and neglecting animals and imprisoning them in filthy, decrepit enclosures, including condemning a highly social chimpanzee to solitary confinement, Brian Tenney may now get a taste of what it feels like to be stripped of his freedom, locked in a cage, and deprived of everything meaningful to him. PETA is grateful to the Oregon State Police for investigating Tenney’s crimes and urges the court to impose the maximum penalty at his July 20 sentencing."

After executing multiple search warrants at the roadside zoo in May 2025, law enforcement officials confiscated 322 animals.