PENN’S CAVE SERVICE AND EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMAL POLICY

Penn's Cave cares very deeply about all of its guests including those guests that are accompanied by Service or Emotional Support animals.

Penn's Cave is located in the geographic center of Pennsylvania. In the state of Pennsylvania, as of May 2023, Pennsylvania case law appears to utilize the same considerations under The Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA) as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for all "guide or support animals" though the term "service animal" does not appear in the PHRA. In an effort to comply with both the ADA and the PHRA, Penn's Cave applies the same policy to both Service Animals and Emotional Support Animals.

Pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act, Penn’s Cave employees may ask: (1) if the animal is required because of a disability; and (2) what work or task the animal has been trained to perform. 

Penn’s Cave Grounds:

With the foregoing in mind, Service and Emotional Support animals are welcome on our grounds around the historic Penn’s Cave Hotel if they are kept on a leash or harness, and to the extent their owners are cleaning up after  them and have them under proper control around other tourists. While Service and Emotional Support animals are welcome on the grounds around the historic Penn’s Cave Hotel so long as they are kept on a leash or harness, for the safety and enjoyment of all of our visitors, and for the safety of our staff and the protection of our wildlife park animals as well as the Service and Emotional Support animals themselves, Service and Emotional Support animals are strictly prohibited from being taken to the Penn’s Cave barn and/or near any of the wildlife enclosures (bison, long horn cattle, deer and elk and/or wild horses and burros) that are located near the Penn’s Cave Hotel.

Penn’s Cave Café:

Service and Emotional Support animals are permitted in the Penn’s Cave Café so long as they are kept on a leash or harness, however such animals are not permitted to sit directly at or on the tables (e.g., on the chairs, table surface, etc.), and may not be fed at the tables. Such animals are permitted to lay down, sit or stand near their owners at the table where the owner eats. Penn’s Cave will ask the individual with disabilities to remove the Service or Emotional Support animal if such animal defecates, urinates, or is otherwise uncontrollable inside the Café; in such cases, the individual with the disability will have the option to remain in the Café without having the Service or Emotional Support animal on the premises.

Penn’s Cave Gift Shop, Miner's Maze and Gemstone Panning Sluices:

Service and Emotional Support animals are permitted in the Penn’s Cave gift shop, the Miner's Maze and at the gemstone panning sluices so long as they are kept on a leash or harness.  Penn’s Cave will ask the individual with disabilities to remove the Service or Emotional Support animal if such animal defecates, urinates, or is otherwise uncontrollable in these spaces; in such cases, the individual with the disability will have the option to remain in these spaces without having the Service or Emotional Support animal on the premises.

Cavern Tours:

Penn's Cave is a natural attraction. Penn's Cave takes great care to protect the cave's natural terrain and ecosystem.  Unlike other walk-through caverns, Penn's Cave is an all-water cavern. Penn's Cave's air temperature is 52 degrees year-round, and the water within Penn's Cave is, on average, 38 degrees year-round.  Given the air and water temperatures, a person submerged into the water within the cave will likely experience life-threatening hypothermia in under 10 minutes.  Penn’s Cave cavern tours are given entirely by boat, and, for the safety of everyone on board, all visitors to the cave are required to stay seated on the boat, with their hands within the boat, for the entire tour.  Penn's Cave is unable to safely protect the cave's natural terrain and ecosystem and/or is unable to safely provide tours by any other means without fundamental alterations to the natural cavern. Accordingly, given the all-water cave's natural terrain and ecosystem and the only means by which cavern tours are safely available, the cave is not a safe accessible attraction for Service or Emotional Support Animals and therefore Service or Emotional Support Animals are not permitted on the Penn’s Cave cavern tours.

Farm-Nature-Wildlife Tours:

For the safety and protection of the Penn’s Cave Wildlife Park animals, the Penn’s Cave Animal Care Team, and for the safety and protection of all of our visitors and our visitors' Service or Emotional Support animals, Service and Emotional Support Animals are not permitted on the Farm-Nature-Wildlife Tour. The Penn’s Cave Wildlife Park houses wild animals and natural predators that are extremely sensitive to other animals, and, therefore, any outside animals could evoke territorial and/or predatory aggressive behaviors in the Wildlife Park animals. In addition to the safety risks, some of the Penn’s Cave Wildlife Park animals will not come into view for the tour buses when they sense an outside animal on such tour bus.