West Virginia Zoo


Hovatter's Wildlife Zoo, also known as the West Virginia Zoo, is a zoo in Kingwood, West Virginia. The zoo is open seasonally from April to October, and on weekends in November. Opening and closing dates vary from year to year.

Animals at the zoo include

In 2015, West Virginia Zoo took tiger cubs from their mother at birth and showed them off behind a gift shop counter at two to three weeks old, before the tiger cubs had been vaccinated. West Virginia Zoo also used the tiger cubs for photo shoots. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service cited West Virginia Zoo for exposing the tiger cubs to the public before their immune protection had sufficiently developed to protect them against disease, risking their health and making the zoo noncompliant with the Animal Welfare Act.