Animal Adventure Park Application for Broome Grant Withdrawn

The fur is flying over an application for Broome County grant money for an exotic animal park in the Town of Colesville.

Animal Adventure Park owner Jordan Patch has withdrawn the request for Small Communities Fund money for park expansion after receiving word that questions had been raised in the Legislature over the eligibility of the project and whether the park is a for-profit business or not-for-profit entity.

In a letter to the County, Patch said it was disappointing to withdraw the pending application for municipal funding but he said the park has not received “the same support from certain members of the county legislature.”  He claims the business has been used as a “political pawn.”

The letter goes on to say that Patch had been forwarded an email sent by a legislator to the Broome Planning Division alleging criminal conduct by Animal Adventure Park.

Patch said the Town of Colesville applied for the $30,000 grant on behalf of the exotic animal park.

County Executive Jason Garnar was among officials stepping up to defend assisting the Colesville business citing the recent boom in visitors to the area with the international attention given the pregnancy of the Park’s giraffe, April and the arrival of the calf.