WEBVTT

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Good News York.

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My name is Noah Chrysler. I am here today with

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Jeff. Jeff, can you introduce yourself? Yes,

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Jeff Taylor of The Wild, The Haven, Taylor's

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Wilderness Safari. Absolutely. So tell people

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what this actually is. What is The Wild? It is

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a zoo. We have animals from all around the world.

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It's a very interactive zoo up close with a wide

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variety of animals. The guest experience is really

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important to us. animals, lives are important,

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their welfare. And it's just, you know, conservation

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through education and promoting and, you know,

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having people enjoy the park. Fantastic. So,

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yeah, you guys are a zoo right here in Chittanango,

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New York. Yeah. Yep. And and. We've walked around

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a little bit and it's absolutely massive and

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very beautiful. We also, so this is all brand

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new. We are sitting in The Haven, yeah? Or the

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venue that you have next to The Haven. Is this

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technically The Haven? What is this? Where are

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we sitting? This is The Haven. I purchased this

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property a few years ago. It was an old dairy

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farm and basically came up with the idea for

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this. It's expanded a lot since then. Started

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as just a wedding venue and since then it's...

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basically transformed into it will be a full

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concert venue, wedding venue, rooms you can stay

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in with lions and tigers, cottages where you

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see wolves. It'll be a full -blown resort so

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there's going to be all the amenities that you'd

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get at a resort right here in Chitango. I kind

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of look at it as like when you go on a cruise

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you have to offer different excursions and stuff

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and that's where all my other businesses fit

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in and we're just looking to expand and continue

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and add businesses and different ideas that I

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come up with and I come up with ideas and I have

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just an amazing team that works on it and somehow

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we always come through and they do a great job

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with everything. Beautiful. Cool. Tell us about

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so. So tell us specifically this your vision

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for this space, right? So this you said this

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is a wedding venue, but also a concert venue

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as well. Yeah, so my passion is animals growing

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up. I loved animals. I just always wanted to

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build a zoo and so I try to theme everything

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with that and the idea. The initial idea of it

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was a wedding venue that sat on a savanna, just

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like you're in Africa. So that's where this is

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behind me, is a field of, in the summer and spring,

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there's giraffe, there's zebra, there's wildebeest,

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there's ostrich, there's African. Antelope right

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out here. So during our weddings you can feed

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giraffe and you just get to see them roaming

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and it's a big area So it's like more of their

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closer their natural environment as you can have

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in captivity and then just the idea expanded

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with the concerts and And I enjoy the concerts

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personally, just because I like having them.

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But it seems to have worked. We were labeled

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by an article as the most unique concert venue

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in the country. Just where else can you listen

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to music and look out and see giraffe, like just

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chilling out in the field. So that's really taken

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off. We have a bunch of weddings booked. This

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summer, we have a lineup we're looking to add

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to. We've got Drake Milligan coming up in May.

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He was on America's Got Talent. We have Avery

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Anna, who's an up -and -coming country performer.

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She actually just got nominated for an ACM New

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Country Artist of the Year. We've got Buck Cherry

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coming in July, Fourth of July. We've got a three

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-day weekend. We're a Thursday night's Lakeview.

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They're the country rock band. Friday night is

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Montgomery Gentry. And then Saturday is Marshall

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Tucker Band. Then we just announced that we booked

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the band Perry, so a lot of concerts and big

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events, and I think we've probably got six or

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seven weddings. It's a unique place. There's

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no other place where you can get married with

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a giraffe right there. And we try to make it

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really high -end facility, like try to go above

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and beyond with everything here. We're going

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to build a resort -style pool area. You can be

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hanging out at the pool, and there's going to

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be a flamingo exhibit next to it. So you'll just

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look at the flamingos while you're hanging out.

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No way. Yeah, we'll put a gym in. Oh, cool. We're

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going to do pickleball, basketball, a lot of

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different stuff, everything you could imagine.

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Wow. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, a lot of stuff.

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Very cool. So so the twenty twenty six season

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is is opening up right now, right? It's spring

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right now. We're going to open Saturday. Fantastic.

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What new things can people expect at the wild

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this year? Things that have. You know, we've

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we've worked on some of the exhibits and redoing

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some stuff. We've got some grizzly cubs for people

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to see. They can just like normal get your picture

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taken with the baby kangaroo. There's you can

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feed the giraffe. Just a lot of stuff, you know.

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We're just always trying to improve. We're working

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on bringing back, we used to do animal shows,

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live animal shows, tiger feeding and stuff. We

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kind of got away from that just with the COVID

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and the staffing issues and people really enjoyed

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that. So we're actually gonna start doing tiger

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shows again. I formed a non -for -profit called

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Friends of the Wild. You know, we've got these

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businesses and it's great, it's business, but

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I'd also like to contribute to conservation and

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it's also to enhance the lives of animals in

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captivity. So we're gonna do some different things.

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We're gonna do tiger feedings during... During

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the tiger shows where you can pay to feed the

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tigers get your picture taken feeding them and

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all the money goes towards our non -for -profit

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So it's from a safe distance. Everything's safe.

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You're not going in sure. You're not handing

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them a stick from your hand No, what are you

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feeding a tiger during a tiger feed? So it's

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it's meat beef chicken And they all have vitamins

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mixed in with it. That's part of like with running

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a zoo. It's very extensive. We go through between

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eight to ten thousand pounds of meat every month.

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Wow. Which is a lot. That's a that's a lot of

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meat. But we have, you know, one of the biggest

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private cat carnivore collections in the country.

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It's kind of my passion of the cats and stuff.

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So it's a lot of mouths to feed and want to make

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sure they get everything they need. So absolutely.

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How many how many cats do you have? Between 30

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and 40, I think something like that. Yeah, so

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and and you know my business we try to be self

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-sufficient We try to do as much of our own construction

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we can we also have a division that we do farming

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We do all our own hay So I've got different farms

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where we bail all the hay we put it away and

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feed the animals So it's easy. It's it's better

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to sustain ourselves and rely on other people

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uh... so that's a whole nother aspect there's

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a lot going on around here like always so i believe

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it i don't know it's not so i i grew up on a

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farm so it's kind of like i enjoy the farming

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aspect of it on my father really helps out with

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the hay and i'm just got a great team you know

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everybody that works really hard and it makes

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it all come together absolutely no yeah i mean

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what a unique uh... what a unique business to

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have here in Chittanango. I mean, that's incredible.

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And I don't know, we've talked a little bit about

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some of the progression of the business over

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the years. Has it been difficult to kind of expand

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the business and have you gotten pushback from

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from the locals and that sort of thing? It's

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been a battle for my 16th season. I've been fighting

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from the beginning. You know, it's I push the

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limits. I like self aware of that. So but if

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I didn't push the limits, I'd probably never

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be able to build a zoo in Chittanango. So but

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it's been a constant. battle. It's been challenging,

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but I'm a fighter. I don't like the point where

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I kind of don't really enjoy it anymore. I'd

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rather just have things go smoothly. My business

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contributes so much to the community. Just you

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know employment and helping other local businesses

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and stuff. So that's where it gets frustrating

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But sometimes I'm my own worst enemy and with

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pushing the limits you kind of oh, yeah trouble

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Yeah What are some things that you've learned

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since since the start right in terms of you know?

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Navigating that or even just operating the business

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in general. So I used to like go by the Whole

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it's easier to ask for forgiveness than to be

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told no and I kind of ran out of forgiveness

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So just trying to do things there with a hit

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help within the right ways and I still can't

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sell out and do it completely. No, I'm just kidding.

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You know, that's the challenge. I like to just

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do things, just get them done and stuff. And

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I don't like red tape, and there's a lot of red

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tape. I believe it. I believe it. And just working

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with them. And I've got some great people on

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the local level now that we'll work with. And

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it's gotten to the point where I think that they

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really want to see my business succeed, and they're

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trying to help. It's challenging. It's not your

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normal business. And I don't stop. And I keep

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adding things and changing things and doing different

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things. So it's challenging to navigate. But

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we're trying to. have things in place to make

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things a little bit easier. Yeah, absolutely.

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I think one one thing in the back of people's

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minds when they come to a zoo or they come to

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things like that, you know, they want to make

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sure that the animals are, you know, being treated

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well and being taken care of. And it seems like

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you're very thoughtful about that, you know,

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with with habitats, with nutrition and that sort

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of thing. Can you speak a little bit to that

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some of the amenities that you provide the animals

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to make sure they're? Yeah, you know, it's very

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challenging. You know, we have, I don't know,

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between six and eight hundred animals, which

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is quite a lot. And it's a lot of mouths to feed.

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And there's different diets, different vet care.

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We have a vet that comes out twice a week or

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emergency situations as needed. We really focus

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a lot of effort on that. And it's challenging.

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People, you could tell your doctor you're sick.

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Animals, you have to pay attention to body language,

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pay attention to body condition. Intellers, sometimes

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you can't tell. So that's where it's very challenging.

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Um, but we try to just, you know, do the best

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we can for them and give them big habitats and

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give them enrichment and give them things that

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they can get out and move around. Um, and it's,

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it's not easy, but they deserve it being in captivity.

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And the other challenge thing is dealing with,

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you know, there's a sector of animal rights people

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and they're nuts. So they just, they don't even

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want you to own a dog or cat. So, but it's easier

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to, to go after a zoo than a dog or cat so you're

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always fighting new laws that they push and it's

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it's challenging so you try to just not give

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them any material and it's very hard for people

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to grasp the concept of you know life is there's

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death and you know with people people's lifespan

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i don't know 78 years and animals when you have

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800 animals their lifespans range from you know

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some are five years to 20 years and so shorter

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time period things things will happen you don't

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want it to you want them to live out their full

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lifespan and in captivity they live a lot longer

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than in the wild because they get health care

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they get their diets they get everything the

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sad thing about animals that are wild and their

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natural habit is most of them die like of starvation

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as they get older they break down they can't

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hunt they can't find things and it's you know

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it's a a bad way to go and obviously you know

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in a perfect world We'd want everything to be

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free roaming and be out there in their natural

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environment, but it's not realistic as humanity

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expands and cuts down their habitat. It's challenging,

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and people will say, release them back to the

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wild. One, an animal in captivity will not survive

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in the wild. They can't learn to hunt. They just

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wouldn't be able to function. But it's like,

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where? Where do you want me to put them? They're

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cutting down the forest. They're destroying the

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rainforest. And that's where these animals in

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captivity are basically like an ambassador for

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the animals in the wild so that we can raise

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awareness. We've gotten so far away from things

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with social media and everything the phones and

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I feel like you know you go to the zoo it takes

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kids away from their phones and gives them a

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break and actually makes them focus on on seeing

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animal. You can see an animal on TV in a book

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it's not the same as seeing a 500 pound tiger

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like right there and you know talking about it

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and feeding them it's just you know I uh I want

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to have a positive impact and hopefully, you

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know, educate people and that. And it's just,

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it's the way that it has to be. If you don't

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have them for kids to see up close like that,

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there's not going to be the awareness that we

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need to protect them. And they basically, it

00:12:22.360 --> 00:12:23.879
needs to be put in front of your face. And I

00:12:23.879 --> 00:12:26.080
feel like zoos are very, very important in that

00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:30.720
aspect. For sure. For sure. Yeah. As far as,

00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:34.440
you know, building this facility and taking care

00:12:34.440 --> 00:12:36.139
of those animals. Do you have any guiding principles,

00:12:36.220 --> 00:12:38.759
things that you keep in mind as you are taking

00:12:38.759 --> 00:12:41.580
care of these animals and designing the systems

00:12:41.580 --> 00:12:43.559
and things that help support these animals? Do

00:12:43.559 --> 00:12:45.960
you have values that you like to adhere by to

00:12:45.960 --> 00:12:47.200
make sure that the animals are well taken care

00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:51.659
of? Yeah, you know, the challenging thing is...

00:12:51.720 --> 00:12:55.340
We're so big now as finding quality employees

00:12:55.340 --> 00:13:00.299
nowadays. We have some amazing employees. And

00:13:00.299 --> 00:13:03.299
like I've said, people give me credit for building

00:13:03.299 --> 00:13:05.080
this facility. I'm nothing without my team. I

00:13:05.080 --> 00:13:07.820
mean, they do the work. I mean, this winter.

00:13:08.299 --> 00:13:10.220
what they dealt with with the winter and the

00:13:10.220 --> 00:13:12.600
freezing and the frozen water buckets and different

00:13:12.600 --> 00:13:14.460
things like I give them all the credit in the

00:13:14.460 --> 00:13:16.580
world because they're out there when it's you

00:13:16.580 --> 00:13:18.679
know 20 blow they're taking care of animals and

00:13:18.679 --> 00:13:20.740
it's not comfortable but they they work hard

00:13:20.740 --> 00:13:23.700
and and but it's it's challenging you know we

00:13:23.700 --> 00:13:27.360
find good people and try to keep them and but

00:13:27.549 --> 00:13:29.929
You have to go through a few to get some good

00:13:29.929 --> 00:13:32.129
ones. But I'm fortunate I do have some really

00:13:32.129 --> 00:13:37.870
great employees. We try to push the team. We're

00:13:37.870 --> 00:13:39.690
a giant team. Everybody working together have

00:13:39.690 --> 00:13:41.970
their different parts. And that's where, yes,

00:13:41.970 --> 00:13:44.750
I'm the owner. It's my business. But I'm nothing

00:13:44.750 --> 00:13:47.990
without the people that work for me. And over

00:13:47.990 --> 00:13:50.500
the course of the years, There's people that

00:13:50.500 --> 00:13:52.580
have worked for me that are no longer here working,

00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:54.860
but they were a contributor to get to the point

00:13:54.860 --> 00:13:59.019
that I'm at now. I'm forever grateful for that.

00:13:59.320 --> 00:14:02.179
If people leave, I wish them the best and success

00:14:02.179 --> 00:14:04.440
because if they want to move on and do bigger

00:14:04.440 --> 00:14:06.519
and better things, I'm always looking to do better

00:14:06.519 --> 00:14:10.980
with my life. I hope they can do the same. It

00:14:10.980 --> 00:14:13.059
kind of sucks when you lose good people, but

00:14:13.059 --> 00:14:15.539
you can't. can't hold people back and you want

00:14:15.539 --> 00:14:18.879
them to enjoy things and succeed as much as possible

00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:21.500
also. Absolutely. Cool. Beautiful. Cool. The

00:14:21.500 --> 00:14:25.120
2026 season opens on Saturday. How can people

00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:27.820
find out, come out here and are there any like

00:14:27.820 --> 00:14:29.360
events or things that you want people to come

00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:32.720
to this this season? Yeah, we've got the wildpark

00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:37.320
.com our website. Our social media pages are

00:14:37.320 --> 00:14:39.259
big to follow because we list all our new events

00:14:39.259 --> 00:14:41.659
and we do special events at the zoo. We do, you

00:14:41.659 --> 00:14:43.840
know, Halloween nights. We do different things

00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:46.519
throughout the end of school year bashes. And

00:14:46.519 --> 00:14:49.120
then the Haven page. I think it's Havenofthewild

00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:51.539
.com. And then we have our Haven Facebook page.

00:14:51.620 --> 00:14:55.559
We have Instagram pages. And it's just the best

00:14:55.559 --> 00:14:58.779
way to see concert updates and stuff. Everything

00:14:58.779 --> 00:15:01.860
is just based on those pages. Visit the zoo.

00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:04.830
You get tickets right at the door. Um, yeah,

00:15:04.889 --> 00:15:06.490
just come check it out. I think, you know, people

00:15:06.490 --> 00:15:08.690
will be surprised and our visitors tend to come

00:15:08.690 --> 00:15:12.029
back and I greatly appreciate everyone that has

00:15:12.029 --> 00:15:14.389
ever come and visit over the 16 years because

00:15:14.389 --> 00:15:16.769
I can have all the ideas in the world, but I

00:15:16.769 --> 00:15:18.889
can't build anything without the visitors that

00:15:18.889 --> 00:15:21.250
are helping support us. And they're a big part

00:15:21.250 --> 00:15:24.710
of where we're at today and the future. We have

00:15:24.710 --> 00:15:27.029
a crazy amount of plans. Like it's only going

00:15:27.029 --> 00:15:29.049
to get bigger and better and I'm not going to

00:15:29.049 --> 00:15:32.279
ever stop. beautiful allowable jeff thank you

00:15:32.279 --> 00:15:34.340
so much ladies and this is the news your thanks

00:15:34.340 --> 00:15:36.139
so much for watching see you next time