Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Good
News York. You might notice that we are not in
the studio again today. No. We've been taking
lots of field trips lately. Yeah, this one. I
feel like we're slacking. Are you not doing your
homework? Is that what's? No. Amanda booked this.
I don't know what she's getting us into, but
I'm very excited. Yeah, we are at the wild here
in Chittanango. This place is absolutely incredible
from what we were told. There is a zoo, there
is a drive -through safari, and there is a resort
animal experience we've seen on the brochure.
We're really excited to take a look and see what's
really happening here. Yeah, I think what we
can do is feed some animals, talk to some animals.
Might feed you to an animal. Feed me to an animal.
You better not get out of line today, buddy.
I always say it all started with a couple goats.
I had my landscape company. It was a small landscape
company. I had an acre of land. And for his first
birthday, my excuse is you're kind of weird if
you just go buy a bunch of animals and put them
in your backyard. for his first birthday, his
birthday present was I built him a petting zoo
in my backyard. So yeah, yeah, like a full blown.
There was even like feed machines, quarter machines.
It was all for fun, you know, like and we had
goats, we had donkeys, we had then we added I
had zebra over there. Like it's weird. So just
an acre of land. And just like slowly I turned
my garage into like an indoor area. I had Codamondis,
which are like a South American raccoon. I had
reptiles in there. And with opening that for
him, I think it was that fall, I started like
a small fall festival. And the funny thing is
I had like no parking. And I think it was $2
to get in into my backyard. I had an outdoor
bar here. We turned into a food area. We had
like one bounce house that kids could bounce
in. It just it started with that. And then the
next year for his second birthday, I surprised
everyone. I've got him a camel for his birthday.
So, yeah. Yeah, I had it. I had it in my garage.
Everybody and then my dad opened up the garage
and almost fell over. We saw a camel standing
there. But that camel still to this day we have
over on the safari. So he's like the OG, like
he's been around forever and. Like it's his camel
and yeah, we just expanded. Man, so what happens
on like the 14th birthday? I mean, you went from
a zoo and then a camel. I think you're seeing
it. Yeah, yeah. Camaro. I just keep building
stuff all for them. You know, like that's my
goal is just to build a massive, you know. North
Chittanango kind of take over the area and businesses.
And it's all for both of my boys. That's incredible.
How big of property do you have here altogether?
So I have roughly I have over 300 acres total.
Oh, wow. Between all the different properties,
because I basically I have the zoo here, which
was 15 years ago, opened up the safari, opened
up during covid. And then the haven, which is
another 117 acres. We just opened up this year
and then I have support farms around 100 acre
farm where we live that we do all like I try
to be as self -sufficient as we can like all
our own construction crews and for the bigger
projects I have to bring other people in but
we do all our own hay. My father like because
the farming he manages like the hay aspect of
it so we have all our own hay equipment so we
have to bail you know. 20, 30 ,000 bales of hay
on our own. And so it's complex, like there's
a lot of moving parts to it, a lot of different
managers, pretty big staff. And yeah, like I
said, we have in -house construction crew, in
-house maintenance, everything. So I got to ask,
you got all these incredible exotic animals from
all over the world. What do you do with them
in the winter? So that's part of like all the
properties I have. Most of the animals here at
the zoo aside from like the goats and the stuff
around the pond stay here. They have heated buildings.
Anything that needs heat has heat. My passion
is African wildlife. I mean I have animals from
all around the world but African animals are
my passion so there's more of them. which is
challenging because Africa's a lot warmer than
here. But if they need heat, they have a heated
building. Some animals, the bison, different
things, don't need heat. But with my support
farms and stuff, we move them in the fall once
we close down. And just everything always has
a place to go. And it's all about ensuring. So
our number one goal is to ensure the best lives
that animals can have in captivity here. Safety
is obviously a top priority. Guest experience,
try to create. It's a different style zoo. It's
very up close, personal, interactive. And I think
people have gotten away from the interactive
side of things. I mean, I remember as a kid when
they used to do elephant rides at Rosemont Gifford.
And you know, like the thing is, is we need to
protect the planet, protect the species. A lot
of species are endangered or threatened, and
you can only learn so much in a book or the excitement
you don't get from a book. They can see it in
a classroom that when you interact with these
animals, it gives you a connection. It makes
you more likely to save the environment, to protect
them, to contribute to conservation. I always
say it's like conservation through education
is like one of our main things is educating people
about the animals and the need to protect them.
But what better way to establish a bond with
people, whether it's interacting with a baby
camel or feeding goats like kids, they they form
this, you know. sort of bond, you know, as they
come to the zoo and they get to interact with
them. And hopefully it carries on. And because
that's what did it for me, it was my interaction
with animals. If I didn't interact with them,
I probably wouldn't be sitting here today. But
yeah, so it's there's a lot. Speaking of interaction
with animals, you know, you said that you specifically
like animals from Africa. Have you ever traveled
to Africa for? research? No, that's like my ultimate
trip. I've traveled around the world, different
places. Africa was supposed to go for my birthday
during COVID and then COVID happened. So that
kind of changed that. But that's still going
to be like my ultimate trip is to go there and
see them in their natural element. Being a private
zoo, we're kind of looked down on because we're
not AZA and that's just an accreditation you
pay to be a member of. We still strive for high
standards of animal care. But It's just we don't
feel like our resources are spent on an organization
I'd rather put it into the animals in the exhibits
into the guest experience I mean, you know, I
own a couple dogs. I've owned a couple cats.
You have some pretty exotic animals Can you peel
the curtain back a little bit? What do you have
to do? You opened the zoo. I'm assuming you have
to get some crazy permits. Is there a lot of
hoops you got to jump? Oh yeah, like we're federally
and state licensed. We get randomly inspected.
We have to prove that we can care for the animals.
They'll show up and we have to go through full
inspections. That's enclosures, diets, vet care,
public safety. um everything and it's funny because
when I first started and my boys were young my
parents like they were against everybody was
against it when I started and then as I got going
they've been some of my biggest supporters and
embraced it my father works for me um full -time
does excavation stuff my mother just recently
retired per se but she always did my bookkeeping
and everything and uh yeah so it's uh it's it's
it's really a lot but they've they've embraced
it and then my mother or father one of them years
ago said, you know, you can get whatever, whatever,
but as long as it can't eat our grandchildren.
And yeah, well, I don't pay attention to anybody.
And now we have some of the most dangerous animals
from around the world. I mean, we have I think
that I have probably the largest big cat collection
privately in the country. I mean, we have 10
lions, 11 tigers, five leopards. We have. all
the different big cat species. We've got grizzly
bears, black bears, pygmy hippos. You know, I
think we have 18 alligators. What's the most
dangerous animal in the park? It's hard to say.
I would say like a jaguar is pretty legit. Like
I say they're like a leopard on steroids. They're
just like solid muscle. And, you know, they're
all like that's what you have to like you can
raise them in captivity. We've hand raised all
of our cats. And by hand raising them, we bottle
feed them as babies. It doesn't affect them in
a negative way, but it's just like people. Like
if you're stressed out, it's not healthy. So
these animals by us hand raising them doesn't
tame them. It doesn't take the wild out of them.
But when they see us, they don't get stressed
out. If we have to do vet care, they'll walk
over and we can inject them or, you know, it's
a lot easier and they see the public. They don't
see them as a threat, like they're not going
to be back in the back of the enclosure scared,
but they're also not going to want to kill them.
So it kind of makes them have a better life in
captivity because none of these animals, they're
all born in captivity. None of them are ever
going to be released back into the wild. They
can't learn to hunt. They never survive. So with
them in captivity, we want to give them the best
lives possible and that's by hand raising them.
And probably one of our biggest compliments is
how like... Most people don't go to zoos where
you can see the animals so up close and they
have nice enclosures But they're right there
a lot of places you go you they're in the back
thing closer. They're in the weeds So it's just
a different experience sitting here as these
giraffes are like ten feet away from yeah amazing
I I recently heard a survival tactic. I might
have talked about this on the show. You're an
expert So now's the time to ask we're talking
about dangerous animals I was told if you are
ever come in contact with bears, what I was told
was if it's black, fight back. If it's brown,
lay down. And if it's white, good night. Is that
true? I mean, fairly like a polar bear is like
they're known to actually hunt you. I mean, like
a grizzly is still really serious. I mean. A
grizzly can smell a drop of blood from a mile
away. That's a black bear. And they're hunters.
Grizzly, no. Black brown bear. Got it. Black
bears are an omnivore. They eat meat. They eat
vegetables. They eat everything. They're dangerous.
But what you usually hear about bear attacks
is either a polar bear, grizzly bear. Polar bears
are by far the most dangerous. But grizzlies
are definitely dangerous. I mean, if you come
across them, I mean, you lay down, you're probably
in trouble. Oh, polar bear, you're definitely
in trouble, but I guess you just got to hope
that you're with someone and they're slower than
you. So you just take off. That's why I hang
out with Matt. He thinks he's fast, but no, I'd
I'd take it for him along those lines, sort of,
I guess. Maybe you talked about, you know, hey,
that you raise here and use for different things.
But when we talk about the diet, a lot of these
things, I'm guessing, eat meat and things like
that. How do you source that sort of thing? So
right now, with my carnivores that I have, I
probably go through about 7 ,000 pounds of meat
every month. Wow. So yeah, that's a lot. And
I mean, when you think about it, probably your
average cow that you butcher, you might get four
to 500 pounds out of. So you're talking 20 cows
a month. But we obviously have to source that
and we can't raise cows. It's not feasible. It
wouldn't sustain. So we work with a beef company.
We get chicken by just the cases brought in.
It's restaurant quality chicken. but you can't
also there's more to it like we work with the
veterinarians and the diets formulating you can't
just feed them meat because they're not going
to get all the nutrients in the wild they're
going to eat the stomach they're going to eat
the intestine they're going to eat the fur they're
going to eat the bones they're going to eat everything
so part of our diet is adding vitamins to it
so we have all this these vitamin supplements
we have it's it's pretty extensive it's pretty
there's a lot to it but then you go to penguins
and penguins eat fish um you go to tortoises
they eat all vegetables so like our kitchen is
is crazy and and uh like a penguin will eat 20
fish a day per penguin and we have 17 18 penguins
something like that so but we've been fortunate
to where we uh like we have penguins that are
an endangered species that hatch out chicks so
we're able to contribute to the population and
captivity of an endangered species and We have
a Saimang baby, also an endangered species, so
we've been pretty successful at breeding things.
It's not necessarily our goal, but it's nice
to be able to supply other quality zoos with
animals or sustain ourselves. That's the challenge.
People tend to humanize everything, and they
have an outlook of animals being like people.
They're not, they're different. everything, but
they also have like a shorter lifespan. So my
goal with building all this is for my kids to
take it over and for it to be theirs. Well, a
lot of animals have a 10 year lifespan, 15 year
lifespan, 20 year lifespan. So I have to plan
for this for the future with breeding and setting
up breeding pairs in different groups, whether
it's off site, so that if we need, you know,
more primates that we have them in line or have
them off site or different things to be able
to sustain this as. a business for years to come
for them to take over. So there's a lot involved,
just future planning. And that's a nice thing
with me having all the different facilities.
I'm able to have, I have lions here, I have lions
at the safari, I have lions at the haven. I have
tigers at all different places. So we have different
sites to hold them. So there's a lot to it. How
many people you got on your team now? I would
say 60 to 70 employees seasonally because we're
a seasonal business. We've expanded our season
with we added Christmas lights to where we light
the whole zoo up. We have a professional guy
come in and put Christmas lights up. So it gives
us another month and a half of being open to
sustain staff because it's challenging because
if we're only open from April to October, what
do you do with all these employees? And to get
them to come back, they're going to find other
jobs. So the longer we can extend our season,
we're able to keep better employees. And we do
encounter where you get to interact with otters,
sloths, penguins, different things. We do that
year round where people get a one -on -one, two
-on -one with a keeper and these animals and
interact to learn about them, get educated about
them. So the business just keeps expanding. I
would say I'm an entrepreneur, and business drives
me with a passion for animals, and I try to combine
business and animals and conservation. We recently
started, and we're getting it up and running.
a non -for -profit called Friends of the Wild,
where we're going to contribute to conservation.
We're going to contribute to the lives of animals
in captivity. So that, you know, it's kind of
a controversial thing. People say it's a business.
You're making money off animals. It's not that.
It's my passion. And we want to contribute, whether
it's conservation and education, which we've
done for years. But now we want to raise money
to give back monetarily, enhancing the wild,
enhancing captivity, enhancing every aspect of
it. So there's a lot to it. We've talked a lot
about this incredible place, but as we were walking
in, you were telling us about kind of an expansion
that's kind of a whole different concept, right?
A little event space, a little Airbnb. Can you
talk about that? Yeah, so basically it all started
with a traveling petting zoo, and I didn't really
get into that. I had a landscape company, started
a traveling petting zoo, traveled around the
state doing fairs, festivals, and was doing everything
at once, then opened the zoo. And the zoo got
so busy, I had to get out of landscaping, which
benefits me because I do all my own landscaping
around the zoo and the different properties.
And eventually got out of doing the Ferris festivals
focused on this. And as I said, business is my
passion and my mind never stops. I keep thinking
of different things and different ways of, you
know, expanding, doing different projects. And
the Haven was a dairy farm that, you know, dairy
farms. It's tough for them to make it, didn't
make it. The property came available was 117
acres a mile away on the road that I live on.
So I purchased it and just my mind started thinking
about what I could do. And I like to travel.
I like to, you know, experience different things
and my goal. was to first was an event center
and this and then it kind of expanded and now
it's going to be a full -blown resort called
the Haven with lodging with an event center we
can do weddings we can do parties we do outdoor
events we recently had an Ashley Cook concert
she's an up -and -coming country star I have
like a mini outdoor amphitheater with outdoor
bar outdoor bathrooms everything It is utilizing
that property for everything we can, but it will
be a full -blown resort with places to stay,
pool area, spa, everything. Let's say I was going
to have a wedding here. I'm already married,
but let's say I was. Most people do it two or
three times. That's right. I'm on my first. I'm
on my starter marriage. Is there going to be
an add -on feature to where you can include the
animals in some sort of way? Well, the unique
thing about our wedding venue is it's unique.
I don't know if there's any other one in the
country of that style is you get married. This
massive event center that I built it all up,
brought in tens of thousands of yards of fill.
It's set on an African savanna. So out the wedding
venue is of big huge area of giraffe, zebra,
antelope, ostrich. And then part of the lodging
is around that we have luxury African tents at
work and I get open and basically you stay it's
built on a deck. it's these tents are manufactured
right in Africa they're high -end they all have
bathrooms they have tv they have wi -fi they
have all luxury interiors and you can rent these
rooms and basically wake up go out on your porch
and have a coffee and look at giraffe and zebra
right from your your room and we did the same
thing with lions and tigers we're basically outside
your bedroom kitchen you look into a tiger or
lion exhibit and that's the whole focus is the
interaction with animals our Thursday night events
party on the patio is our big outdoor area and
people can come there's a band every Thursday
there's full menu restaurant um full bar and
you're listening to music you're sitting out
in lounge chairs and you're looking at giraffe
wandering around and zebra and you can also go
down to our feeding area you can feed the giraffe
while you're there um so it's just expanding
just off of everything it all started here and
it's just kind of progressed and yeah And it's
kind of a blessing and a curse that I'm never
satisfied. So I finished one project, good, it's
done. Okay, let's move on to the next, which
makes it tough to sleep, makes it tough to slow
down. And it's my passion. I don't have the ability.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a blessing and a curse.
I mean, we've really, really expanded, but it's
not like a lot of people will compliment me of
how amazing things are. I'm just part of it like
I you're only as good as the people around you
and I'm surrounded by great people so they all
deserve the credit too as we go forward because
it's way too much for me to do on my own yeah
it's obvious you've done an incredible job Mike
mentioned it the second that we walked in and
started looking around I mean the place is just
immaculate and you know from the fixtures to
the literally no trash on the ground. So I'm
just just it's making you doing a great job.
The whole team, the landscaping aspect. And now
it's clicking with me because I had said, you
know, I have no disrespect to other zoos and
parks like this. But, you know, you have wild
animals around us. It's it's hard to keep things
clean. I mean, this is pristine. They don't have
a professional landscape. Right. It's very impressive.
Even the layout. Everything's clean. I've got
to ask your son, are you are you still in school?
I don't know, I graduated a couple years ago.
Alright, so when you were in school, I have to
ask, what were your classmates' reactions when
they would come to hang out and what did they
think about the park? They just thought it was
crazy because I would bring them here sometimes.
I'd get them for free and we'd walk around and
they would just ask me all about it. It was just
awesome. I liked their reactions and stuff and
it's pretty cool. I'll go up and some of the
animals know me and stuff like that and their
reactions are just crazy. Yeah it's kind of unique
because like they grew up a different lifestyle
like literally had lions and tigers in our living
room so and I was always like are they gonna
realize that this isn't normal and you know it's
and I've got two amazing kids and like just to
be able to go to work with your children like
it's the best thing there could be so. You know,
you mentioned you did a big pivot during COVID.
And I remember specifically during COVID, the
big thing was Tiger King. That was a whole cultural
thing. Did you guys watch that? Do you have any
opinions on that? So I watched it out of, you
know, what do I have to combat? What are people's
opinions going to be? And, you know, first of
all, Carol did it. Yes. All right. I mean, I
mean, I hope that she doesn't watch this. I'll
probably get a cease and desist or a lawsuit.
But I mean, the facts of the facts. No, she's
about the most evil human there is. But but no,
I watched it kind of like like how bad it can
make my industry industry look. And it wasn't
as bad as I thought. I mean, it made her look
like the person that she is. Right. But it did
kind of bring some negativity to it. And. You
know, I have differing opinions on it. I've met
a lot of the people in the movie. It doesn't
represent our industry. There's a lot of really
professional people in the industry that do amazing
things. And it kind of, you know, the movie kind
of made a negative perception of the field, but
that's what movies do, since sensualization.
And like... Yeah, they're crazy. But even Joe,
you know, I personally have a pain. I've met
the guy. Really? I think he was set up. It was,
I mean, who's going to pay three thousand dollars
for a hit man? And, you know, I mean, he should
have done go fund me. The zoo industry probably
would have really helped him out with that. No,
I'm just kidding. But it's just I don't know.
I think that it was I don't I think that it was
kind of a setup. But I did, I had stopped at
that facility and there was probably two, three
hundred tigers, which is insane. When I was there,
it was clean. It didn't smell. The animals were
healthy. I think that he just let his feud with
her like just consume his life. And I think it
drove him to just and I don't know him on a personal
level or anything, but I think it just pushed
him to the point of like a little insanity. But
I still don't think that. That's the full story.
Free Joe Exotic, I guess. We can tell. This is
nothing like that at all. The way you speak about
the animals and your staff here, you can tell
that this isn't just a hobby, obviously. It's
not even just a career. It's a lifestyle and
it's something that you love. It's infectious,
man. And you can see it. when you walk around?
No, I'm fortunate. You know, I get to, you know,
live my dreams. And I mean, I mean, my kids have
sacrificed a lot throughout their lives with
me because I work all the time and and I feel
bad. But I mean, like trying to build this for
them. And it's time consuming. But like now it's
nice because we get to work together, you know,
and. It's it's been an experience and a lot of
hard work by a lot of people to get us to this
point. And it's kind of like it's like my own
little like Disneyland here, Disney World. And
and that's when like we'll travel to zoos and
visit zoos and we're walking around and I'm not
looking at the animals. I love the animals, but
I'm looking at the rock work and taking pictures
and send it to my construction guys being like,
can we do our own spin on this and and what can
we do to enhance the enclosures? And the enclosures
that we built in the beginning 15 years ago,
I don't think there's a single one still. standing
because we're always striving to improve tearing
enclosures down that you know they were okay
15 years ago but the zoo industry evolves just
like everything like we started out with you
know wood and this and we've gotten then we went
to a clean metal look that is clean it's more
industrialized so now we're getting away from
that and we're doing more than natural carved
rock work and and just trying to evolve with
it but it's challenging too because like I've
got three different properties we're working
on, so you try to spread the time out, keep improving
the zoo. The haven is meant to be very high -end.
There's a resort. It's going to have a spa. It's
going to have pools. It's going to have pickleball,
basketball. Basically, you go there and everything's
there. And I look at it like the cruise ship
model. I'm trying to come up with basically excursions.
When you're on a cruise, you go to a stop. You
can add on all these things. Well, I'm trying
to come up with all the things, whether it's
the animal encounters, or you have a horseback
tour, or you have ATV tours, stuff like that.
So they come to Chittanango. and they can experience
the area around and do different things and it's
crazy because we've been fully booked with the
Big Cat Bungalows and It's all people from out
of state and from New York City, from Long Island.
We've had two different families fly all the
way from Hawaii to stay here. California, Arizona.
And my big cat bungalows are the first in the
Western Hemisphere. There's only four of them
in the world of that style. There's one in Africa,
one in England and one in Australia. So we're
the first one. I'm sure now someone will copy
me. But you can't do it anywhere else in this
side of the world. So you got me thinking too.
It's kind of cool. is you know we're always talking
about how technology is changing daily in social
media and you know there's a lot of industries
that are affected by the rapid movement but I
feel like you're kind of protected here like
no matter how much technology and AI develops
you have your own little world here like people
are still going to want to come see animals in
person. This is the real life experience. Yeah
to an extent social media is our greatest ally
and our greatest enemy because we're able to
like promote like Thirty years ago, zoos couldn't
promote events, couldn't promote new exhibits
like you can now. You just put it out there and
people see it and they'll come. But you also
empower radical animal rights people. And, you
know, I would say 95 percent of people love zoos,
maybe 98 percent, two percent despise them. They
don't believe in animals and captivity. They
don't believe in dogs and cats as pets. Those
people are very organized. And social media gives
a, you know, a platform. And I We get attacked
here and there not a lot because we try to put
ourselves like to a different standard but you
know somebody behind a keyboard and faceless
with a fake you know profile picture they feel
pretty tough when they're typing everything and
and they can attack you and you know they're
always pushing for new laws to restrict it and
make me not be able to have big cats and this
and that so it's it's uh another aspect of my
business is we're always fighting we're always
contracting contacting congressmen or different
people to be like hey this law is like it's really
bad for my business it's not there's not it's
not valid it's not necessary but those people
are effective in raising funds and buying off
congress people and getting you know a new york
city politician to pass a law that they have
no clue about anything but they just get financing
from it so they push it through and we've got
to fight it and hope they don't gain steam so
it's it's a never -ending battle and we're always
facing stricter regulations and new laws and
different things. So it's a challenge. There's
a whole other aspect of it. But yeah, I mean,
that's the thing too, is like kids live on tablets.
They live on phones. They live on that. Like
this gives them an experience to put the phone
away, put the tablet away and just go out and
enjoy the animals and experience it and see it.
Which is a tough thing to do is to get kids or
even adults to put their phones down at this
point. Too much more of your time, but I do.
I gotta ask you one question and see maybe we
can get some news. What is the next coming piece
that? we might see in the zoo or obviously we
know the spawn all that's coming but is there
another exhibit on deck or things like that?
Um we've got some new animals coming in that
we're working on new exhibits um some you know
at the at the haven we've got a flock of flamingos
coming in that it's a unique experience that
it's Basically, we're going to build a flamingo
exhibit next to the pool area and do like a tropical
Caribbean type feel where basically you can lay
by the pool, lay out in the sun, enjoy the pool
with your kids, but look to your right or left
and you see flamingos just hanging out. And then
we're going to do encounters with the flamingos
where you get to go and interact with them and
feed them. We're going to do Caribbean style
Airbnbs where you can stay looking in on the
flamingo exhibit. And so that's one of the big
things coming up, our African tents opening,
wolf Airbnb's where you get to stay with a pack
of wolves outside your bedroom and lit windows,
the spa, and then basically. a lot more. It'll
never stop. I've got a lot of land. If we do
a campground, if we do, you know, we're looking
at doing a miniature golf course, basically coffee
shop, ice cream shop, different things. So it
never stops. It depends on what I think of and
come up with. your to -do list is gonna be changed.
Yeah, it just keeps expanding. You check one
thing off, you add four things. I have one last
question. I mean, I feel like you've answered
it in that everything you just named, but, you
know, just walking in, you get a sense that this
place is different than most of the zoos or animal
parks that I've been to. Not just it being clean,
but a lot of the things you're talking about.
But maybe you can give a little more detail.
What sets you apart from the average zoo? Maybe
in the area, but maybe even anywhere. What separates
you guys? I would say that, you know, it's there's
more of a passion. It's more of like a family
run facility and these animals. aren't just animals
to us or exhibits to us. They're like family
to us. We recently, and my boys helped me, we
raised raccoons and up until recently, it's crazy.
I get tigers, lions, anything. I couldn't get
raccoons. Like you couldn't get them. You couldn't
get them on your permit. They changed it. And
raccoons are where it all started. Yeah, on the
farm with me raising raccoons that my parents
brought in. We bottle raised them in the house.
We never like kept them in enclosure or anything
and they would just take off in the fall and
go back down. the wild. So like it's you know
and they helped us help me raise the raccoons.
So these raccoons like they can go in with they
can walk around the zoo. So like the animals
like their lives are more than just exhibits
to us like we truly care and I feel like my staff
truly cares about them. And you know I have people
that have been with me a long time and helped
out and when it started it was a lot of just
family and friends helping out. and you know
they have I've got a guy that helps feed out
meat and stuff and he'll walk up to an enclosure
and the cats come right over to him because they
know him and uh yeah so it's there's a lot a
lot to it um and then you know the safari is
a whole nother place for you you know you drive
through with the animals and the safari is an
interesting story because it was covid we were
looking at possibly being shut down for a year
or so and I'm like not being able to sleep, thinking
of different things to save my business. I mean,
you got 500 animals to feed. It's not cheap.
And if you have no income. So like 11 o 'clock
at night, I like had an idea. I own this property
next door. I was like, you know, I can fence
it and I put roads and you have people stay in
their cars. It's safe for them and we can make
money. I messaged my buddy that does excavation
at like four in the morning, told him to call
me up. He called me like six. And I was like.
I want to do this. And he was like, all right,
let's do it. And in 12 days, we put over a mile
of road and we put up fencing. I traveled all
over the country, stocked with animals and opened
up a safari and had bumper to bumper traffic.
The whole safari was full and just survived only
to be sued by the town to get to shut me down
because I didn't go through the proper channels
because everything was shut down. I couldn't.
But we end up winning. and we're good now we
have the safari so it's you know it's a it's
always a fight but it's a fight that we're always
up for. You go to zoos and animal parks right
and you you take it all in and you enjoy it but
you don't really know You never meet who's behind
it. I'm genuine when I say, I mean, you are such
an impressive person as an entrepreneur, but
you really can hear and see how much you love
these animals and your passion. We really appreciate
you. No, I appreciate it. And I mean, I think
that the whole private sector, like through the
years, like I. I'm nobody special but I was like
a nobody in the industry and just I got going,
I got meeting people and there's just so many
great people in the private sector industry that
have similar goals, similar passions. Some of
my best friends I see twice a year and they own
zoos in Minnesota or North Carolina. just all
over the country and they share the passion and
and they do a great job you know and it's pretty
cool to to get to a point where you know we can
get these animals from other zoos that they entrust
us with them and we send them to quality zoos
that we trust and It's just come a long ways.
That's awesome. The last thing I'll ask is just
kind of give us the basic details. Where can
people find out the information and then what
is your seasonal schedule? So basically the zoo
itself, our regular season is April through October.
You can find all our information on thewildpark
.com. The Haven is thehavenofthewild .com. But
we come up with different ideas, different things.
October, we open up for flashlights for Halloween
nights. We've done it from the beginning. We
decorate with Halloween. We have animatronics.
And you can come and see the animals at night
on Fridays and Saturdays. And a lot of these
animals are more active at night. And it's all
lit up, food, everything. And we have campfire
out there. It's a fun experience. We go through
the end of October. We then close for about two
or three weeks. put animals away that can't handle
the cold and then deck the entire zoo out with
Christmas lights. Then we're open I think Thursday
through Sunday. That's on our website. For Christmas
lights we have Santa here where you can get your
picture taken with Santa, baby kangaroo, bounce
houses are open, gift shop, we have animatronics
singing reindeer. It's really really pretty extravagant
and so they can do that. The haven, the big cat
bungalows are open year -round. We'll have more
lodging there that's open year -round. There's
just a lot. Our animal encounters are year -round.
You can find all that on our website. But yeah.
So cool. Yeah, there's a lot to it. What is the
website? Thewildpark .com. That's awesome. I'll
be back with my kids, and you have my word on
that. Oh, no, perfect. Listen, I've been here
with my kids, and they absolutely love it. But
it's been a little while, and there's a lot more
to see. So I'm excited to get them back here.
This has been awesome. Thank you so much for
taking the time with us. Yeah, I appreciate you
guys coming out. I like talking about it and
giving people more of an in -depth. insight into
it because A lot of people have contributed to
it and like people don't necessarily see that
just walking in and I'm just fortunate and you
guys are nothing better than working with my
kids, my dad, my mom. It's just and it all started
with a couple of goats and you know, just reinvested
and a couple of goats and got into the point
where we're at and we're not looking back. We're
just going to keep pushing forward. You're going
to make a lot of aspiring young entrepreneurs
run out and grab a goat right now. Yeah, yeah.
Don't do that. Just stay outside a hundred mile
radius of me or something like that. You know,
no, but that's the thing. And like kids, you
know, they need to realize like if you work hard,
you can can have your dreams come true. I mean,
this is a different dream. But like I just work
and work and work. And I've been lucky that a
crazy idea took off. And I'm lucky to be surrounded
by the people I'm surrounded by. And, you know,
just just work hard and you can you can do things.
You guys are so inspiring and. You know, you're
such great people. Oh, I appreciate it comes
out in the way that you speak about your family
in this place. So I'm wildly impressed. No pun
intended. I see what you did there. Yeah. Yeah.
Perfect. Well, thank you. Thank you, guys. Appreciate
it.