My experience at White Oak was one that isn't readily available to the general public, but here is my review from 2008:
White Oak Conservation Centre - Review - 5 hours
Normally it costs $1,000 to have a tour that lasts a few hours, but due to the joy of being on ZooChat my wife Debbie and I spent an amazing 5 hours at this northern Florida park for free! It truly is a superb establishment that has had a fantastic record in breeding endangered species, and the collection would make any zoo fan salivate with envy. Not many people in the surrounding area even know of its existence.
I would never have guessed a year ago when I joined ZooChat that I would already have personally met 4 members of this website, but that is exactly what has happened this year. On our epic summer road trip my wife and I met an anonymous ZooChat member who is a keeper at a major zoo, and we spent an hour touring behind the scenes with that individual; then we met Allen, the author of "America's Best Zoos", for a lengthy chat over lunch and a tour at the Indianapolis Zoo; then Mario the volunteer at the Los Angeles Zoo who graciously showed us around; and now it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who spent his day off showing us around an impressive and yet secretive park in Florida. This ZooChat member and I have been online friends for close to a year now, sending messages back and forth and also mailing away zoo memorabilia packages for each other, and now I owe him big time for the exciting day at White Oak.
Highlights:
Cheetahs - there are cheetah pens all over this 600-acre centre, and every time we turned around there was another cheetah in a well-shaded, spacious enclosure. In total the centre has around 30 cheetahs, and the true highlight of the visit was when we were allowed to venture inside the pen of a tame cheetah! It was a full-grown animal but only just over a year-old, and she was kept with a large dog for company due to being abandoned as a youngster. My wife and I were allowed to pet and touch the animal, and it was the experience of a lifetime.
Okapis - the centre has around 15 okapis, and just like the cheetahs ever time we jumped off of the tour van there was another okapi sticking its long tongue out and licking itself. We were allowed into an enclosure that contained 3 okapi, but the animals were all too skittish for petting and handling. It was still an immense thrill to be so close to such gorgeous and unique creatures.
Rhinos - there are white, black, Indian and Sumatran rhinos at this centre, and they are working at capturing some Javans for 2009. I'm joking about the Javans (haha), but I've got photos of the other 4 species. I told my wife after we spent time at the Cincinnati Zoo in the summer that she'd more than likely never in her life see Sumatran rhinos again...and then there we were scratching and petting "Harapan" at White Oak! We also admired the black and Indian rhinos from close-up, and got some serious scratching and petting time in with a massive white rhino who was intent on positioning his head through an opening in the exhibit.
Big Cats - a rare Florida panther was resting in some grass in a spacious, naturalistic exhibit, while two other cats were half-sleeping up in a massive tree. There was also a pair of tiger brothers lounging in their expansive and well-shaded habitat.
Birds - curassows were there, as well as a semi-tame wattled crane, bald eagles, kori bustards, cassowaries, cockatoos and the extremely rare Mississippi sandhill cranes.
Hoofstock - banteng, addra gazelle, eland, gerenuk, roan antelope, Grevy's zebra, eastern bongo, lesser kudu, a single baird's tapir, nile lechwe and somali wild ass were all found in enormous, multi-acre paddocks. One of the enclosures just for a small herd of Grevy's zebra was about 12 acres in size!
We had a grand tour of the laboratory, autopsy room, medical office, Komodo dragon house and several other areas that were remarkable and intriguing. The entire day was fabulous and in all honesty it was one of the true highlights of 2008. Nowhere else on earth can one find 4 rhino species at a single location, and the massive numbers of cheetah, okapi, eland and other species make this a must-see for any zoo fan lucky enough to get a tour.
