front entrance to neverland ranch
Julie Hambleton
Julie Hambleton
April 29, 2022 Âˇ  4 min read

New Documentary Exposes The Horrors Of Michael Jackson’s Neverland Zoo

More than a decade after his passing, people are still talking about the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.  Most recently because of a new documentary about the late singer’s Neverland Zoo. In the documentary, Ross Kemp highlights the poor treatment of the animals. For the inhabitants of Neverland, it was a much less magical place.

Michael Jackson’s Neverland Zoo An Animal Rights’ Nightmare

Most will remember Michael Jackson’s Neverland Zoo. It was a place supposedly, according to the singer, full of wonder and magic. A place created to mimic some sort of fairy tale. Unfortunately, the reality of Neverland was much darker. (1)

Ross Kemp recently released a new documentary that unveils the truth about Neverland and the fate of the animals that lived there. The documentary is called Searching For Michael Jackson’s Zoo with Ross Kemp. He shows from the start of his documentary just how awful the animal’s conditions and care were. Kemp then attempts to track down those animals that are still alive and learn more about their living conditions on the ranch and how they were taken care of.

A True Animal Lover?

Jackson always in interviews insisted that he was a big animal lover. Whether or not that’s true is hard to say. From the looks of the Neverland ranch, he at least was an unqualified, highly misinformed one.

When Jackson was still alive, he had about 50 different species of animals on the ranch. This included six giraffes, eight alligators, 20 exotic birds, three elephants, seven apes and monkeys, four tigers, and various snakes and lizards. They were unfortunately not kept in proper conditions with enough space to roam, nor did those taking care of them know how to do so properly.

“Animals were incarcerated there, and so Neverland seems like a fairytale kind of a place, but it was no fairytale for the animals living there. No fairytale at all,” said former director of Companion Animal Protection Society Carol Davis. “You could see where they had rubbed themselves up against the cages. You could see that there was no way out. You could see that it was dark, that it was dreary, that it was bleak.” 

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Ali and Baba

Two of the elephants who lived on the Neverland Ranch were named Ali and Baba. Jackson purchased them as babies from South Africa. He purchased them from Ricardo Ghiazza, a notorious elephant trader. These elephants were highly abused in order to “train them down” before sending them to the United States.

The Giraffes

The giraffes at Neverland ranch didn’t fare much better. Their lives were constantly in danger due to Jackson’s lack of experience and knowledge. All of the giraffes were nearly burned alive in a barn fire. One of them died when a barn door that hadn’t been closed properly slammed the animal’s neck from the high wind. Most of the giraffes were kept in pens that were far too small for them.

After his 2005 sex abuse trial, Jackson did not come back to Neverland. Instead, he sold the ranch and all the animals in it. Wild animal owners Tommy and Freddie Hancock bought the giraffe’s offspring. Two of them died within two years because the brothers did not feed them properly and left them in an environment that was too cold for them.

None Of The Animals Were Taken Care Of Properly

One of Jackson’s two llamas died because his dogs attacked and killed it. There was a trainer at the park, Mark Biancaniello, but he seemed to have a different idea of animal conservation than actual conservationists. In fact, he seemed more interested in becoming friends with the animals than taking proper care of them. In Kemp’s documentary, he spoke lovingly of the bear, Baloo, who he raised from the time he was a cub.

“And he used to drive around in the golf cart with me – we’d go by the theatre, I’d go get him an ice cream cone,” Biancaniello recalled. “We rode the bumper cars together. I mean, picture this: a big bumper car room, with fog machines going, Michael Jackson’s music blasting, and Baloo is sitting here right next to me in the bumper car. He loved his ice cream. I was driving the golf cart and Baloo’s sitting right there next to me with his arm around my shoulder, and you could see him licking the ice cream.”

Biancaniello was forced to retire from his position at Neverland Ranch after he was in a bad car accident while there were two tigers in the vehicle with him. While we can no longer ask Jackson’s opinion, it certainly seems as though he held his own interests above those of his animals’. 

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  1. New Ross Kemp Documentary Exposing The Horrors Of Michael Jackson’s Neverland Zoo Airs Tonight.” Lad Bible. Jess Hardiman. April 27, 2022.