They are one of the state’s largest, private, for-profit zoos. But they do breed some of their smaller, underrepresented animals as part of a broader conservation effort.Ī few hundred miles away, north of Charlotte in Iredell County, is Zootastic Park. With such little space, breeding large cats would be impractical. The park sits on ten developed acres of a 45-acre property. The decision not to breed the big cats at the Conservator’s Center is largely financial.
“They were people looking for a placement, the right place for that animal to live out its life.” “In each case, for all of those things, none of the animals were ever abandoned, or ever left hanging - these animals were not going to be put down,” says Stinner. Animals land at the Conservator’s Center after coming from other zoos as a donation or rescue, and sometimes they are donated by individual owners who can no longer take proper care of their animal. Visitors can only walk through the grounds and see the animals on the weekend, when staff and volunteers lead guided tours. I feel like they need to serve a higher purpose.” It's not just about maintaining them for our pleasure. “It's not just about 'I have a cool collection.' It's not just about the ego of an individual. “People need to understand why these animals are important,” says Mindy Stinner, the Conservator’s Center executive director and co-founder. She spent years volunteering at a similar private zoo in North Carolina before she opened her own place in 2004. About 20 big cats live there, along with 20 other species of animals including servals, fennec foxes, lemurs, binturongs, bobcats and wolves.Ĭredit Josie Taris / WUNC Mindy Stinner is the executive director and co-founder of the Animal Park at the Conservator's Center. They are a 501(c)(3) non-profit with a budget that comes primarily from donations and tour ticket sales. The Center opened to the public in 2007, after taking in a number of big cats from a shuttered zoo in Ohio three years earlier. In Caswell County, where the Conservator's Center is located, the exotic animal ordinance limits ownership only to those who can properly restrain their animal with an enclosure or leash and muzzle. She says it's difficult to know which is better for the welfare of animals. Harrison also works with private zoos – both for-profit and non-profit. So then they get sick, and they have to be put to sleep." So we have seen some instances where these animals are fed an inappropriate diet, and then they have poor bone quality and or fractures.
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"And they don't know how to take care of it. "And they get it because it's pretty, it looks cool," Harrison explains. She often treats smaller exotic animals, like servals, a type of wild cat native to sub-Saharan Africa. Harrison says that she does not know of anyone in the state with a large cat as a pet, but she can't be certain.
"The opportunity is there for the ownership of pretty much anything," says Tara Harrison, an assistant professor and veterinarian with the NC State School of Veterinary Medicine. And while some of those counties have placed restrictions on animal ownership, others have no laws at all.
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