The Wild Animal Park The Wild Animal Park News

Smaggledagle

Smaggledagle

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5+ year member
The Wild Animal Park is a 14 acre facility located in Chittenango, New York. It is one of the only zoos in the US to exhibit all 7 big cat species, as well as other animals such as pygmy hippos, siamangs, Javan langurs, water buffalo, aoudads, reticulated giraffes, plains zebras, African penguins, blackbuck, American bison, spotted hyenas, southern white rhino, and olive baboons.

On January 8th, 2021, it was reported that the zoo will now be doing "Animal Encounters" with its 2 generic reticulated giraffes and a pygmy hippo.

Chittenango's Animal Encounters at The Wild welcomes new giraffes and pygmy hippo

On January 27th, the zoo announced that the lawsuit filed against them by Sullivan County over the lack of permits to run a safari drive-thru park has been dropped.

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Drive Thru Safari Stays at The Wild Animal Park After Town Drops Lawsuit

On February 3rd, the zoo announced that one of their female giraffes, Jasmine, is pregnant.

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On February 12th, the zoo announced that a (1.0) water buffalo was born. On March 15th, the zoo officially announced his name, Brutus.

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On February 13th, the zoo announced that a (0.0.1) pygmy goat was born.

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On April 16th, the zoo announced that they now have a building on the property for arcade machines.

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Also on April 16th, the zoo announced that a (0.0.1) two-toed sloth was born.

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On April 22nd, the zoo announced they have opened a new exhibit for their North American black bears.

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On April 23rd, the zoo announced they will be opening a new exhibit for their African black-footed penguins on April 24th.

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On May 11th, the zoo announced it has made "many improvements" to the drive-thru portion of the park but due to heavy rains, it has been pushed back to May 29th.

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On May 21st, the zoo announced that their new pygmy hippo exhibit will be opened on May 22nd.

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On May 27th, the zoo announced that a (0.0.1) American bison was born.

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On May 29th, the zoo officially announced that a (0.0.1) plains zebra was born.

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On June 7th, the zoo announced that another (0.0.1) plains zebra was born.

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On June 9th, the zoo announced that they have renovated their olive baboon exhibit, and that their baboons are back on exhibit.

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On June 18th, the zoo announced the birth* of a (0.0.1) white-bearded wildebeest (I don't know if it was the same wildebeest baby that was born in December of last year).

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On June 30th, the park announced the arrival of a (1.0) southern white rhino named Khari. He came to the park on June 29th.

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On July 25th, the zoo announced the opening of their new giraffe feeding station.

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Also on July 25th, the zoo announced a (0.0.1) miniature zebu was born.

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On August 3rd, the zoo teased a new exhibit containing "3 different African species" intersecting with the giraffe yard.

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On August 10th, the zoo announced they will start doing guided tours of the drive-thru safari on a safari truck called "The Beast".

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On August 12th, the zoo announced that a (0.0.1) brahma cow was born.

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On September 28th, the zoo announced that a (0.0.1) blackbuck was born.

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On October 22nd, the zoo teased an addition of an aquarium to the park.

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On October 28th, the zoo announced the birth of a (0.0.1) reticulated giraffe. The baby was born on October 25th.

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Note: There were other births that the zoo either didn't announce or showcased but I can't confirm if they were born this year or what specific species it was.
 
Along with having all 5 panthera, they have all 3 of the lesser big cats - puma, cheetah, and clouded (not counting Sunda). This is also the only zoo in NY with cheetahs on exhibit, since Bronx's are kept bts.
 
It'll be interesting to see how this goes. They already have an event center across the street, and the zoo and safari have a couple of houses between them. It's bringing in a lot of people (and money) to the town, but the roads aren't set up for it and it's right in the middle of a tiny town. They need to start considering buying out the surrounding neighbors.

Here's a screenshot from google. Red is the zoo, pink is the safari, and blue are residential houses. I'm not sure if that bit between the zoo and safari is their property, I would think so? But it's not in use currently. That blue square between them, in particular, gets a bunch of traffic from people driving between the two (you have to go back out to the road), and from people accidentally turning into the wrong place (the signs are really small). Dads Ice Cream was also very busy on my visit.

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I Live near the zoo and follow him fairly closely, The highlighted areas (rough estimate, as I don't know exactly what he owns, just an approximate idea) is land he owns, some of it is his own home property but the land north of New Boston Rd is primarily Barns and facilities he uses for storage and I believe winter quarters for some. The Land South of New Boston Rd is what is more than likely going to be used for his new campground project, they have been doing ground work and digging ditches for utlities as well as planting some new trees and clearing old ones. I don't believe he will be using land near the current zoo or drive thru
 

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CuseZoofan said:
I Live near the zoo and follow him fairly closely, The highlighted areas (rough estimate, as I don't know exactly what he owns, just an approximate idea) is land he owns, some of it is his own home property but the land north of New Boston Rd is primarily Barns and facilities he uses for storage and I believe winter quarters for some. The Land South of New Boston Rd is what is more than likely going to be used for his new campground project, they have been doing ground work and digging ditches for utlities as well as planting some new trees and clearing old ones. I don't believe he will be using land near the current zoo or drive thru
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Thanks! So they own most of the land immediately around 3 of the 4 corners of that main intersection in town?
 
Yeah he owns a ton of land in the nearby area, I have heard the rumors of a campground for over a year or so now, and he bought a bunch of old farms that had barns on them and fixed them all up. Some I believe he uses for hay storage among other things. The House and barn that are in front of the drive thru safari were actually an old horse farm.
 
CuseZoofan said:
Yeah he owns a ton of land in the nearby area, I have heard the rumors of a campground for over a year or so now, and he bought a bunch of old farms that had barns on them and fixed them all up. Some I believe he uses for hay storage among other things. The House and barn that are in front of the drive thru safari were actually an old horse farm.
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Has the town had a favorable reaction to it, other than the one person with the signs?
 
I would say yes for the most part, I know the locals and people who come from nearby love the poark and never really have anything bad to say about it. My biggest issue is just the parking situation could be better, especially when overflow has people walking along the road. I get space is limited but its still something that needs fixing.

I have been a season pass holder for over 8 years now and never get tired of the constant improvments and changes they make. And when compared to the other private zoo near Binghamton, the Wild does a much better job with their exhibits and park. Mr Taylor owns a landscaping company so he knows how to make an exhibit look nice and they more recent exhibits for the pygmy Hippo and African Penguins he even brought in an outside company to help.

I hope they keep getting support because what they have built is very special and I love seeing the new things added each year and the new animals he brings. Plus the constant animal births re great as it shows he is doing something right. Its well worth a visit if your not to far away or passing thru, if your going to the Rosamond Gifford zoo, make a day of it and stop here as well.
 
Wow! Looks like a super cool facility! I've never heard of it before, but will have to add it to my list for next time in upstate New York (which likely will be in the relative future since three of the five colleges I applied to are in upstate NY).
 
Since big cats were mentioned earlier, I thought I'd add that one of the snow leopards they have is Penny, who previously lived at the San Diego Zoo. She left San Diego to return to her birthplace at Tanganyika Wildlife Park in November 2020 and sometime after that she moved to The Wild Animal Park.
 
Elena said:
Since big cats were mentioned earlier, I thought I'd add that one of the snow leopards they have is Penny, who previously lived at the San Diego Zoo. She left San Diego to return to her birthplace at Tanganyika Wildlife Park in November 2020 and sometime after that she moved to The Wild Animal Park.
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I assume you have a source (studbook) for this? Would be nice to know the other cats name!

It seems their male goes by the name Kadence. Does that ring a Bell?
 
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Smaggledagle said:
On November 13th, the zoo announced that they have acquired (2.0) southern white rhinos.

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Bert and Ernie. The 3rd rhino male is Khari or Kahari.

I assume these are all rhino surplus to the AZA program or its partners.

The only Khari I know is to be an FR breeding male. So, cannot be the one here.

Anyhow, I am guessing ... does the owner have ties to Exotic Animal Encounters Ngala?


Any idea where he got the pygmy hippo off?
I seem to remember sering the name Yeti.... somewhere mentioned on FB.
 
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Kifaru Bwana said:
I assume you have a source (studbook) for this? Would be nice to know the other cats name!
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Some collaborative zoo detective work among San Diego Zoo regulars after hearing she was moved to a zoo in the Syracuse, NY area, identifying possible zoos, scouring social media posts, and identifying her at this zoo by her spots in photos of their snow leopards. One of her San Diego fans confirmed she was there when they visited her there in the Fall 2021. Unfortunately I do not have any information about any other snow leopards there.
 
Thanks, the other snow leopard, a male, I believe called Kadence. Go figure ... if anyone has a lead, be our guest!
 
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