Catskill Game Farm
Updated May 16, 2022 | By Matthew Christopher
The Catskill Game Farm began in 1933 as the hobby of a New York banker named Roland Lindemann. His father had taught zoology (among other subjects) subject in Germany, and it inspired Roland to stock his farm in Palenville, New York with different varieties of deer. By 1940, he was selling them to zoos and acquired more land for breeding in Catskill, New York. Though (in what appears to be a common mistake) the farm is often listed as opening to the public in 1933, an interview in the Tucson Daily Citizen that I consider to be more reliable states that it was in 1945 that Lindemann first opened the property to paying guests because of the great demand to see his collection. To make it even more confusing, there's a sign from the park listing 1969 as their 30th season, which would make 1939 their opening year. Whatever the case may be, Lindemann's menagerie grew exponentially: a brochure in 1946 boasted that the Catskill Game Farm had bison, buffalo, yaks, llamas, alpacas, camels, antelopes, mountain lions, goats, and several exotic varieties of deer. “Over 100 tame animals bottle raised, for you to pet and feed,” the advertising material exclaimed. “50 Acre feeding ground. You WALK Right in With Them.”
The Game Farm was an immediate success. The Catskill Mountains were a popular vacation destination, located close enough to New York City, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania for a day trip. The children born during the postwar baby boom loved one of the farm’s central conceits - a feeding area where families could mingle freely with tame animals and feed them crackers or milk from bottles dispensed from conveniently placed vending machines. By 1950 nearly 200,000 visitors were coming yearly and the menagerie had grown to 600 wild animals and 250 tame animals. As hardworking as he was enterprising, Lindemann travelled constantly to acquire rare new breeds and his efforts were often centered around the preservation of endangered species, such as the American bison, whose population by that point had dwindled to only two herds. Conservation was one of the primary goals: “The Catskill Game Farm now has over 3,000 rare animals and birds and it is believed to be the fastest growing wildlife collection in America.” Lindemann said in an interview, “With our many secluded breeding grounds, the perpetuation of many species is assured.”
The Catskill Game Farm’s miniature golf kiosk, covered with moss, is one of my favorite spots on the property.
The Game Farm was officially recognized as a zoo by the Department of Agriculture in 1958, and was the first privately owned venture to gain the distinction. Lindemann was genuinely concerned with the unchecked expansion and colonialism that was eradicating species and hoped that “zoological parks of the world [would] exert their influence so that well established parks and game sanctuaries would be placed under international or even United Nations control.” He saw tourism as the best means of convincing world leaders that it was in their best economic interest to preserve indigenous species, and the Catskill Game Farm was an extension of this mentality. While brochures enticed families to the zoo with promises of baby animals in colorful storybook nurseries, train rides, and a small amusement park, Lindemann was working to round up more animals from a Jeep in the outback. “You must see the cutest baby bears we’ve ever had. Watch them pleading for ice cream,” the ads implored. “You’ll find adventure at Catskill Game Farm. Adventure is in our nature!”
The popularity of the Catskills as a vacation destination was waning with the advent of affordable airfare in the late 1970s and 1980s, but the game farm was still doing well. It was the largest privately owned zoo in the United States and featured many animals that, due to tightening restrictions, could no longer be imported. In 1989 an aging Lindemann sold the zoo to his daughter Kathie Schultz to manage with her husband Jurgen, who had a business importing animals for zoos and whose parents had had transactions with Lindemann going back to his time in Africa. Two years after Kathie and Jurgen took over, the Santa Cruz Sentinel ran an article about a former San Diego zoo employee alleging that zoo animals were being sold as fodder for canned hunts. “Many zoos have put aside ethics to rid themselves of unwanted animals that are not considered endangered,” the employee stated. “Every major zoo in the country is either contributing to the problem or turning their back on it.” A spokesman for the San Diego Zoo said it was suspending trade with the Catskill Game Farm pending an investigation due to its dealings with a hunting ranch.
The haunting reality – that an animal who children had fed with a bottle could be sold to a ranch to be executed by hunters once it was no longer young – was an ugly contrast to the wholesome image of the park. The New York Times reported in 2006, “Inspection records from the Texas Animal Health Commission show that about 150 animals including zebra, deer, and bison were shipped to Texas from the game farm between 2001 and 2004. Where those animals ended up once they entered Texas is unclear, but records show that only five camels and two zebras were later shipped out.”
Dozens of small sheds like this one sheltered the animals at the Catskill Game Farm when they weren’t outside to be viewed by visitors. Scattered about the woods on enormous property, some still have log books recording daily feeding routines and veterinary visits.
The Catskill Game Farm closed on Columbus Day, 2006 citing “mounting financial difficulties, dropping attendance, and legal regulations." “People are looking for more sophisticated entertainment,” Kathie Schultz was quoted as saying. After talking with her children she decided to “quit while I’m ahead.” Though she reportedly had offers for the game farm, she turned them down. Mounting concern over the sale of animals to canned hunts came to a head in the zoo’s final months. After efforts to convince Kathie to donate the animals to sanctuaries failed, protesters picketed the zoo. During the auction following the closure, activists tried to buy as many animals as they could to prevent them from being slaughtered. Many were saved, but many were also lost; in one notable instance, clothing designer Mark Ecko, whose logo features a rhinoceros, paid a buyer with ties to the canned hunt industry twice their winning bid to rescue two rhinoceroses and relocate them to sanctuaries where they could be watched by the public live via webcams. Ecko remarked, “I'm thrilled that I was able to spare these beautiful animals from such a horrific fate."
In 2012 the property was purchased by Ben and Cathy Ballone, who had an ambitious plan to keep the park intact but turn the site into an inn and a campsite. When I first met them in 2014 I had my doubts as the former game farm is such a large site, but in 2018 they began renovation work to turn the giraffe house into the Long Neck Inn, and as of my most recent visit in July 2019 I’m happy to report that work is almost complete and it will be open for reservations later this year; their plans for reuse as a campsite have already come to fruition. They’re a hardworking pair and while they have no plans to reopen the property as a zoo, they understand that many people have fond childhood memories of the game farm and care deeply about helping keep those happy memories alive. I’ve run photography workshops there for several years now and am amazed and impressed at what they’ve done so far.
If you’d like to find out more about the Ballone’s efforts I highly recommend you check out their website here and if you do rent a room or a campsite, tell them I said hello. Just be sure to let them know you’d like to visit, as it is still private property. They do their best to accommodate people’s wishes to visit, so trespassing is unnecessary!
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