A Goliath in New Jersey

By Linda Tancs

In New Jersey, a Sussex County zoo held the Guinness World Record from 1967 to 1991 for the world’s largest bear in captivity. That was Goliath, a Kodiak weighing 2,000 pounds and standing 12 feet tall. He still greets visitors to Space Farms—stuffed, of course. But nowadays it’s the live action that keeps visitors coming back. Boasting more than 500 wild animals (including more than 100 species), the countryside zoo in Beemerville hosts bobcats, tigers,  lions, buffalo, hyena, wild ponies, timber wolves, foxes, bears, deer, leopards, monkeys, jaguars, coyotes, llamas, yaks, snakes and hundreds more. Internationally famous for their bear and lion cub breeding programs, Space Farms has the largest private collection of North American animals in their natural surroundings in the United States.