By James Fanelli

For all the people who felt the only thing missing in their lives was a giant animatronic dinosaur, Christmas came early this year.

An educational theme park in New Jersey put its collection of prehistoric creatures up for sale on Facebook Marketplace last month at bargain discounts .

David Boyle set his sights on the 39-foot Tyrannosaurus rex, priced at $2,700 and advertised as "slightly used well loved!"

"You gotta go for the boss," he said.

His home in rural North Franklin, Conn., sits along a busy road with farms and farm stands. The dinosaur, he thought, would be a fun spectacle for the community and passersby.

"My wife thought it was absolutely the worst idea in the world," he said.

Boyle didn't know exactly how he would deliver the dino to his home . "I trusted that future David would find a way of doing that."

Field Station: Dinosaurs, which is shutting down in November after 14 years, put the creatures on Marketplace at an employee's suggestion. "We had nothing to lose," said Guy Gsell, the park's founder and president. "We had no idea it would go viral the way it did."

Gsell has been inundated with offers by homeowners and businesses hoping to have the biggest lawn decoration on the block.

The park's 31 giant dinosaurs move their heads, open their mouths and roar. All are stationary, but some have arms that move. A few appear to breathe.

"Everybody wants the T. rex or the triceratops," Gsell said.

Yinan Wang, a geologist who collects minerals and fossils, liked the park's velociraptor for his backyard in Arlington, Va.

At 6.5-feet long, it was a manageable size and something he could fit on a flatbed truck. Anything larger would be a logistical nightmare involving hiring a private shipper. "That's just way too much effort," he said.

Wang was looking forward to hauling the dinosaur to the front of his home on Halloween. He wasn't worried about annoying his neighbors; there's no local homeowners association.

Field Station, which is transitioning into a traveling show with its remaining collection of fossils, casts, puppets and props, purchased the dinosaurs ahead of its 2012 opening from a company in China that hand-carves them out of foam. The circuitry that makes them move includes motors typically used to power windshield wipers. An outside expert in animatronics, who typically works in television and theater, gives them an annual tuneup.

"The biggest challenge he has is reading what it says in Chinese on the motors and trying to figure out what that means in English," Gsell said. "He just muddles through and uses Google Images and sort of figures it out that way."

The dinosaurs ranged in price from several hundred to a few thousands dollars -- a bargain, according to enthusiasts, who say brand-new versions can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

"How often are life-size dinosaurs for sale at these prices?" said Rick Farmer, who lives in Secaucus, N.J., the park's original home. "It was suddenly something that your average person, like me, could afford."

Farmer wanted to buy a stegosaurus measuring 29.5 feet from tail to head ($1,260) and four other dinosaurs and donate them to the Chicago-area elementary school he attended. The school once had a garden with two life-size dinosaurs but it was vandalized in the 1990s and never restored, he said.

"It's a unique opportunity to connect with my past and my community in the most fun way possible," Farmer said.

For Gary Wollman, it was an opportunity to build his business.

The owner of Bullet Security has for years decorated the exterior of his alarm-installation business in Nanuet, N.Y., with life-size animal statues. There are giraffes, elephants and dinosaurs, but none is animatronic. A banner along a fence reads "Be Alarmed It's a Jungle Out There!" His fake menagerie has become a popular roadside attraction.

"I probably get half my business from that zoo," Wollman said.

Those dreams will have to wait. After the deluge of inquiries, Field Station decided it would try to sell the Jurassic jawdroppers together, rather than as individual pieces.

That left a few museums and theme parks as potential buyers. After several walk-throughs, the park recently reached a tentative deal to sell the entire collection for $50,000. Gsell declined to identify the potential buyer but said if the sale goes forward, the dinosaurs would remain in New Jersey.

"We feel like people who are putting their pets up for adoption because they're moving into an apartment," Gsell said. "We would like to find a good home for them. We'd like to see them all together."

He is working to connect Farmer with another dino dealer.

Wollman is also continuing the search for an animatronic dinosaur. "PLEASE SHARE AND REACH OUT WITH ANY POSSIBLE LEADS!" his business pleaded on Facebook.

Write to James Fanelli at james.fanelli@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 23, 2025 05:30 ET (09:30 GMT)

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