#84 - Atlanta Safari Park

Are you looking for:

A. A great adventure that your family will be talking about for years?

B. A story about normal people, just like you, who began something extraordinary?

C. The laughter you've been needing to get you out of the funk you're in?

D. Time to reconnect with nature, wildlife, and have a smile in your soul?

E. All of the above

Solution... Atlanta Safari Park in Commerce, GA.  This is hands-down one of the MUST-SEE locations in North Georgia.  I don't know how to prepare you for how GOOD you will feel when you leave here, but trust me -- you will have memories for a lifetime (and you can come back anytime!).  Our family will be going back over Spring Break we had so much fun while we were there recording this episode!  

Transcript

[00:00:00] Welcome back to the North Georgia Life Podcast. It's Jake, your host. Today we are at the Atlanta Safari Park in Commerce, Georgia, boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages. I don't know how to prepare you for this one. I don't really care what your plans are. I you, you absolutely need to plan a day to take yourself.

If it's just you, it will be worth it if it's you know, yourself and a significant other, your roommates, your family, if you got, if you have somebody coming to town that you're just like, you dread when that person comes to town. Take them to the freaking Atlanta Safari. We were driving through the Safari Park and at one point I was laughing so hard I couldn't drive.

I, I mean, I literally, I was like, I was paralyzed with laughter. And I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna spoil everything for you. There are parts of this, this interview and the podcast with [00:01:00] Katie that you will probably, you might need to pull the car over 'cause you'll be laughing so hard. I was trying to quell my laughter so that I'm not laughing over her on my microphone.

In the podcast, this is just like, you listen to these stories and you shake your head and you're just like, these are normal people. That have like an abnormal just disposition to like seize life. Maybe that's the best way to say it. Of like, you know, we get one opportunity to, to live the life we're living and you're just gonna hear this story and you're gonna be like, how?

Like how? And it's just like they just decided they were. And, and now we have this beautiful treasure that's on its fourth season being open in North Georgia. And it, the property is gorgeous. They've got this brand new barndominium that they're, they're incorporating with their park. But the actual experience there the canary enclosure, [00:02:00] what, you know, our son got to feed giraffe lettuce, you know, by hand, like, like a giraffe face, like right there in your face.

And then going through the safari park and some of the things that have coming up that are gonna be add, you know, add-ons to the, the animals that they have there. It's just, it's just incredible. And if you are, if you're the person or maybe you know the person that it's like been a long time since you have had a good laugh, like you're just having a rough season, or you know somebody that is in a just depressing funk, put them in a car, drive them to the Atlanta Safari Park, you will not leave in the same.

Mental, emotional state that you went there in. We all know that sometimes when we get in those places, like we need something, we need something. Sometimes it's large. Animals, wildlife to get us out because we have trouble getting ourselves out in a, a [00:03:00] really good laugh and being that close with these incredible animals.

It's just, it's an easy fix to a really hard place in life. So if that's you or if you know somebody telling you, I couldn't remember. Cannot remember the last time that I laughed that hard for that long to the point that I couldn't operate. The vehicle that we, that I was driving and, and it was fine.

We didn't, you know, it was like, you, you know, we are, you're driving through. It takes 30, 45 minutes to drive through. And we just had the best time. Got some of the best videos and pictures, make it there and you're. Your experience and your life and your day and your week will all be better. Probably the best endorsement I can give anybody.

Your life is gonna get better after you, after you go to this place. So you know how to find us on Facebook, Instagram, north Georgia Life podcast@gmail.com. If you have episode suggestions for the future. And hey, [00:04:00] do, do me, I'm gonna try to be better about reminding everybody when you're going to these places, whether it's restaurants, small businesses, family places like this, you know, whatever the power of Google reviews is, is incredible.

So leave Google reviews that help other people find places like this and and just fall in love with North Georgia. And then if you find out about, you know, if any of these places, if the podcast is what brings you there like give us a little love as well. Leave a review on, on whatever platform you're listening to.

I, I'm not a good advertiser or marketer of myself 'cause I just, I'm like, I, I just don't care. But the, the more people, the more I can remind. Other people that have, like, there's value in this for you, help other people find out about it. Because the more people find out about it, the more they just like their life where they live.

And like that's a good thing. So it's not really, it's not marketing me or the podcast or whatever, it's just helping people [00:05:00] enjoy their life more. And and who doesn't? Who does not want that? Like, my gosh. That's it. Last two things before we get started. One pro tip going through the Safari Park. Ask for an empty bucket or two when you're getting your, your feed buckets going through the Safari Park.

Very critical, very, very critical to have backup buckets because some of the animals will absolutely steal it out of your hands. So have backups and make sure all the food is not in just the one bucket that will be stolen from you, just telling you. And you'll never, never, ever, never, never, never, ever look at a garden hose the same way again.

Welcome back to the North Georgia Life Podcast, Jake, your host, and today we are at a location that if you have not seen any of the feeds on social media or anything like that you're missing out because they're, if you're having a bad day, you definitely need to check it out because they're all hilarious.

But we are at the Atlanta Safari Park Commerce, Georgia. [00:06:00] Very easy to get to. Take 85 up to commerce and we're what, 15 minutes or so off the exit? Exactly. And we are with Katie Mogenson and Katie is a kind of a, all things here. I'm co-founder on my, on my business card, co co-founder on the business card, but I really do everything.

Yeah. 16 things on the back of the business card. That's right. This is one of these places that I don't even know where to start, but let's start where we start with most people, which is how did you find your way? To the Commerce Georgia area? That's a great question. You a Georgia native? I'm not, no. I grew up in Michigan.

I, yes. And my husband grew up in Virginia. Okay. So we both knew we did not wanna live in the snow. Yes. And certainly don't wanna take care of animals in that kind of intimate weather. We really wanted an area that was still very agricultural. We knew when we decided to become parents, we were thinking about what kind of.

You know, childhood we wanted for our kids and we felt really blessed to like grow up before the internet. [00:07:00] And so, yes, yes, we wanted an unplugged, you know, childhood for our kids. And so we really thought for a long time we became. Extremely blessed. Unlike I, I think a lot of people were with the real estate around the pandemic.

Mm. So we had had, you know, first starter home, a duplex in the panhandle of Florida, and then within like four or five years of buying it, the property value quadrupled. Yeah. And so we just had this really unique opportunity to sell it. And you're like, Hey, you know, we're still in our mid thirties if I have a chance to like try to pursue a dream.

It's now. So we did, we, we sold it. And now my husband had helped build and open two other safari parks beforehand. So we had a general idea of the, the blueprint. It's not like we did it cold Turkey, but no, I mean we, we did a lot of research. We wanted to be in a certain part of the country where it still got a little bit cold because for us, we're thinking about managing herds.

So you want it to get a little bit of a freeze to kill parasites in the soil. But you don't want it to be so cold all the time that there's a [00:08:00] major amount of infrastructure you have to build for barns and taking care of animals. And then I was pretty set on. I knew I needed to be close to 85.

Because although this is an agricultural type business, it's agritourism. So I really wanted to be off of a major highway. And then my husband's parameter was no less, you know, than a hundred acres. So we have 150 acres here with room to grow, and then we wanted to be close to a major population, so we're smack dab between Atlanta and Greenville.

Yep. And the name, we've gotten a lot of questions about Atlanta Safari Park in Commerce, Georgia. Yeah. But we, we believe we serve the Atlanta metro area. Yeah. We're close enough. Yeah. Yeah. I, I know that we're not in Atlanta. There's not 150 acres for this in Atlanta for sure. Absolutely. So we just really felt like it served the Atlanta Metro area.

The traffic jam you're gonna get out here is gonna be the llamas and not the traditional traffic jam for Atlanta. And I hope that people are able to come out and really see the beautiful countryside Georgia has just outside of Atlanta. Yeah. It's [00:09:00] a great drive. It's a very relaxing drive, especially once you get off the interstate and it's just, it's the beautiful rural North Georgia area.

Yeah. Your husband has built two safari parks before that. That's right. What is the background? I mean like, sure. Okay, so he had two, but he, the one was the first one. So how, like, how what? Great question. Great question. So Chris is a third generation, like exotic rancher. So he has, obviously he has helped, he's helped take care of, he has grown up.

He is like Chris tells you stories of his childhood. He is like, oh yeah, one time I got hit in the back of the head by a reindeer. And you're like. That's not normal. That's not normal. And we have two boys. We have, they are currently two and four years old and they go to school and everyone talks about the animals that they have.

And our boys have no idea that they have two giraffe. And like that's unusual. Like it's not just like spot the dog. They're like, oh yeah, we have giraffe. And it's really funny 'cause we have to clarify sometimes when we're like, I want. Alligator. And I'm [00:10:00] like, okay buddy. And I'm like, is it a real one or is it a toy?

I like have to specify because they're like, it's a toy. Okay, cool. Cool, cool. Great, great. I just, just clarifying like that's not normal. So, Chris had a really unique childhood. With it being like a family business and the two parks that he had helped build and open one was just south of Montgomery and Alabama.

Mm. My dad's side of the family is all from Alabama, and so, I spent many summers in this part of the country. Between Alabama and Georgia. And so we knew we liked this area. A lot, a lot of really great family values. Open spaces. And then Chris had helped build the the Dallas Safari Park just outside of Dallas as well.

So we knew the framework about what we wanted. It's very interesting working with your spouse. Yep. We do it quite well. I'm very proud of the, the teamwork that we can do. I always joke around when people are like, advice, how do you do it? I'm like, listen, if it [00:11:00] do, think about it doesn't matter in three weeks, three months, or three years.

If the answer's no, let it go. Don't fight over it, move on. If you really can't come to an answer, sleep on it. Because time will always sort it out. No matter what you're like, well, I guess this is the way that it was supposed to be. And then my background, I grew up in Michigan in southwest Michigan, and from probably as early as five, maybe early, like very young.

Can you tell, I like to talk, you know, like I'm a chatter box. I've never met a stranger, but. And I'm gonna go with, your husband is not the talker since he's the builder. No. Yes, yes. With with animals. Exotic animals, yes. Like, yes. So he and I are yin and yang in that way. Okay. We balanced each other very well, but when I was a small kid, as much as I was a chatter box and very energetic.

I would lay still for hours in these old barns to try to hand feed the stray barn cats like the feral barn cats for my hand and my babysitter. To this day, she will shout out to Shirley Peas. She's like, we should have known. Then you'd grow up [00:12:00] training wild animals because you could never get you to stop talking, except for you were out there training those wild barn cats.

And so I think early on, I, I knew that I really liked animals and the older I got, especially like you hit middle school and you're like, Hmm, I prefer animals to people. Yeah. You know? And then the older I got and learned more about animals and then endangered species, I really felt like, my gift was my voice for animals and to try to represent them and we're so blessed to, to have this life to.

To leave the world better than we found it. You built this over what period of time? We built the park one year and one day from signing the papers on the property or from moving on the property. Holy cow. I will tell you, there are photos of us like putting in fence posts by headlights at like, you know, midnight.

Yeah, because, but here's the thing, and I think like this is an example of the American dream. You do it or you go hungry, you do it, and you [00:13:00] get it done. Or like. If I could give my, you know, any advice to like younger version of me, like the sooner you realize like this one phrase, like no one's coming to save you.

Yeah. Yeah, that's it. Like it's, you have to believe in yourself so hard and, and put in the work and, and not expect no one else is coming. Like, like there were times we had a young child who's four now, but like there were times we used to put the car on speakerphone in the car and the other.

Phone on speaker phone with us working so that I could then help my husband, like set fence poles and like string lines until midnight, and then go home and sleep. And then he'd have, you know, help during the day to set a fence post, but it's him and one guy. And then, you know, during the day when the ki the toddler, you know, is taking a nap, then I'm working on building a website and like it's.

Yeah. And you've got a few fence posts. Yeah, so just a few. The property's not 150 acres. We really like to try to do a double fence barrier, and that's just 'cause [00:14:00] the whitetail deer population here in Georgia carry what's called meningeal worm, which can be really harmful to the llamas or any of the camelo species.

And so that's just one way we have an extra buffer between any of that. But yeah, no, there's, there's a lot of fence posts out here. So you were, so, you were in Florida. You sold your duplex in Florida, was there a transition period or had you, when you were doing that, were you already eyeing this property that this is where we're gonna go when this sells?

Yes. All great questions. There's lots of people who I think would like to know the answer to this. My husband at the time was managing the Alabama Safari Park and we had found the property we're helping build to open the Dallas Park and it was family business. And there just comes a time where. You, you, it's, this is a very hard job to do because there, there's really no turning it off.

We have just over 400 animals here. Like they don't care about your day or your schedule. Like imagine being a parent, but then like animals, like just how [00:15:00] people take care of their dog and cat at home. Like these animals all have those social needs, medical needs, nutritional needs. And so when you're working that hard with something and you're putting in all of those hours, you kind of want to be able to have ownership in that. And there comes a time where you're like, if I'm working this hard you kind of want it to be your own. And then you also have an opportunity to make your own mark and to do things in your own way. And so I think there was a time where people thought we were crazy, like leaving the family business to start the exact same business.

But for us, we were both working in a corporate position. The family business had four parts that we would travel to. And the biggest thing for us was that we were starting a family. And that wasn't the childhood we wanted for our kids. You don't wanna travel between four different states. Like we want them to grow up.

Yeah. Have all their own friends in one school. And to be really stable, I really give all of my credit to my beginning to four H like I was in the four H program. It taught me so much. I was able to have a really strong [00:16:00] foundation. For friends and a work ethic. And so we wanted that for our kids and so we made this decision to leave and we currently are in our third season.

As of May, we'll start our fourth season, so we have built quite a bit. But what you're seeing right now for construction is we have this big new barndominium that will be the new like gift shop welcome center. And then behind you we have construction. This will be the state's first ever walkthrough kangaroo exhibit.

Get out here. Yes, we're gonna do mixed species in there. So there'll be some Australian shell ducks, some fish, and eventually kookaburra. That will have like a staff member to talk to guests about what they're seeing. But we're really excited as the park grows, we've got a lot of big plans to bring some, some cool stuff out here.

Your husband was in this third generation. Exotic zoo, like we're not gonna go down that rabbit trail. That's, but I have so many questions. That's right. He's not here. I'm sure he would tell it much better than I did. His great-great grandpa bring over the [00:17:00] giraffe on the Mayflower. Is that where this all started?

I think each generation likes to do things a little bit differently as well and, and maybe learn and grow and everyone wants to make their own mark. Sure. No one, no one wants to. Live in the shadow of someone their whole life either. And so like there's something really, you know, deep in that Well, and if you're doing this, let's be honest, you both have to have some level of like innate.

Entrepreneurial gene and entrepreneurs just don't work for other people. That's right. It's just it. That's right. Absolutely. Even if it's a family business, it's absolutely, it's, and there's so much love and respect. Absolutely. But at the same, but they understand that. Yeah. I don't even know where, like you have, we've met several of your staff already.

You have. So many different types of positions. I'm certain with this. Yes. And then you have the whole like animal care veterinary. You know, all of that. How do you go about, like, I had this dream and I know a system, critical part of this dream is people [00:18:00] that I don't either currently know or have expertise that I, I know not of.

How did you go about bridging that gap? Because it's one thing to be I mean, it's an exceptional thing to be out. Doing the hard work, especially like fence posts because you do not have small fence posts either. These are not small T posts. So you have that, but then you have this like possibly, you know, bigger mountain to move, which is for any of this, to work for more than a couple weeks, we have to have these skill positions or these knowledge base that it, it wasn't here.

Absolutely. It's not like you were coming into an establishment. Buying a zoo that was already had these people That's right. You're starting something somewhere completely new. Yes. On a raw piece of land and yeah. Recruitment. Right. I think that's hard finding talent. Chris and I for many years, Chris is my husband's name.

We have done a lot of the positions. We just this year are really hiring outer management team [00:19:00] because we don't wanna face burnout. We're doing crazy hours. But I think most like ranchers or farmers, they're like, unsympathetic, this is the job. Right? Right. I love that those are our neighbors, because that's really the mentality You have to be around if you're going to do this.

Like, but at the same time, we do have two young kids and we don't wanna work all the time. They love being out here. They're two little boys who are like, oh, dirt rocks. This is perfect. Right? But at the same time, you, you don't wanna work your entire life away. So right now we're building our mid-level management.

We really. See, the best way to do this work is divide it into three different departments. So we have our facilities team who helps with all of the maintenance and then new project growth. And then we have our animal care department who handles everything, animal care. And then we have our guest services team who, who helps with, you know, group bookings and school groups and admission and, and that sort of thing.

So. And then we have our vet who has a team of mobile vets who's able to come out and she's wonderful. She's a graduate from the University of [00:20:00] Georgia. And it absolutely takes a team. Completely. We're blessed with the community that we came into. Our neighbors have helped out sometimes, you know, before we even had a skidsteer or tractor to unload the fence poles when they came.

Mm. Like we were like, well, if I have to. We're just gonna cut open the bands and roll 'em off the trailer that way if I had to. Yeah. You know, like you'll make it work. But our neighbor came over and like helped unload everything Kent. And we were just like, how kind? And I think that they were excited to see this go still being used like pasture land.

Because this land was cattle, you know, grazed for so long instead of like subdivisions and that sort of thing. So. We're happy to, to keep it true to its landform, but share it with so many other people now. So let's go into what all you have here. You've got 150 some acres and you have multiple building projects going on, and I don't know how many, just from the pulling in the gate to [00:21:00] where the the walkthrough part is.

I'm like, I don't even know how many different kinds of animals I saw, but like. Many. Yes. And we haven't even, we haven't gone through the park. Yes. So how many do, do you, do you know? Yeah. Do you How many? We have like over 30 different species. Okay. We have just over 400 animals. Wow. But like close to 200 or parakeets for our bird aviary.

So that makes it feel inflated. But no, we, we have a big collection of postdocs. And birds right now. That's our, like, primarily what we have, our big highlight that you know is the centerpiece of the park here is our giraffe herd. We really conservation's a big cornerstone about what we do. I really feel like the money that we make in the park, a portion of that needs to go back to saving animals in the wild.

I'm a firm believer that these animals are ambassadors for their wild counterparts. So the giraffe are just like gentle giants. They're so sweet and. You know when you go [00:22:00] through safari, guaranteed you're gonna lose a bucket If it's not from a zebra or bison. The camels, they're known as the bucket bandits.

They'll steal every bucket they can. They can, but we save the best for last. So if you don't like animals after they've robbed you on your safari trail. Then the gentle giants like the giraffe or then at the end, the parakeets are really everyone's Disney princess moment. Because you go in with your parakeet stick and it's ha and they like fly and land right on you.

And it's, it's really special. Your experience that you, that people go through here. You've got the walks through safari. Yes. And you've got just. A fantastic playground in the middle of it. So if, if you've got multiple kids with you and some of them are a little bit timid or having a bad day, you've got that.

But then surrounding that, you have the animal experience and that's gonna be, is that gonna be where part of what the kangaroo exhibits can be the parakeets and the kangaroo will be right next to each other. Okay. We're trying to, as we develop the [00:23:00] walkthrough, do like regional zones and I think that will really help with our education, like the conservation messaging.

Where you can do a little bit of storytelling through the exhibits because you're all in one region. Yeah. So that's what we're, we're hoping to do. So the kangaroo exhibit will be right next to the parakeets. How long do people typically stay moseying around and driving through? I recommend an hour and a half, maybe two hours now that we have the playground.

The drive through safari's gonna take you about 45 minutes. Wow. The zebra will come right up to, we have American bison, we have water buffalo. We've got three different species of deer. We have red deer and fallow deer in the first pasture. And our brand new species we got this year, we have a small herd of elk, which took a very long time to do because deer species.

Are very strictly regulated as they should be. But we had to get them from someone in the state who already had them, who had surplus elk. And so we found this beautiful herd and the personalities are incredible. We named them after presidents and First ladies because it just sound, it [00:24:00] just felt so fitting.

Like what an honor. That's awesome. So our, our male, our Bull Elk, his name is Teddy for Theodore Roosevelt. Which you know, great outdoors man, abs. Exactly. Exactly, exactly. And then the females are Eleanor, Martha, and Jackie. So we just love, and they all have their personalities. They'll, they'll come right up.

You'll be able to see them today when you go through safari. They're very sweet tempered. Yeah. But I mean, my personal favorite which it's a hit or miss if people just love them or don't, but it's gotta be the llama herd. So I personally love the llamas because they're a species I can get out in the pasture and kind of interact with a little bit.

They're not trying to kill you all the time. You know, like you don't wanna go buy a wildebeest mom with baby. You've seen the Lion King. Mufasa. Mufasa, that's right. But the llamas are really known. We have a nickname for them here as the Llama Mafia because as you pull in, one llama will stand at the hood of your car and the rest of the llamas all come to your windows like a, like a holdup to like check if you have more part grain to like take the part grain from you.

And I just think how [00:25:00] clever, right? I don't think people give animals enough. Credit for how clever they are. Like that's really problem solving. Who's gonna be the decoy this round? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Your turn, you get to go hold up the car's. You make it, you make it, but we're all gonna eat. Exactly.

Exactly. Yeah, so I, I really do love the personalities. I, we have 43 llamas out there. I can name every one of them by site. And the staff still. Make fun of me for that, because we probably have like six or eight, like all brown llamas. I'm like, wow. I mean, their ears are different. Their hair looks different.

This one just has this attitude, which, and, and they're like, yeah, okay. Yeah. But we do like photo IDs, so we have a name, almost every single animal out there. And then we do photo ID binders so that our animal care staff know them, know their history, know their personalities, know their tendencies. Yeah. I mean these animals aren't that much different than like dogs and cats at home, where they have all of those personality traits. It's just, they're still wild [00:26:00] though. Yes. Like we, we joke around like the staff go through and drive around all day. 'cause you would be surprised how people. Attempt to try to get out of their vehicle? Oh, no, no, no. Like I think it's what an honor that people trust you so much.

Right. But at the same time you're like, no, no, these are still wild animals. Like you need to stay in the vehicle. Yeah. Yeah. They trust you and they'll come up to you because you are the one caged. You are the one in the vehicle driving through their habitat like they're on. You know, 55, 60 acre pastures.

You are the one contained, right? You stay in your area. Yeah. Yeah. So, I, I like the bus, the model that we have set up for animals and how they interact and we're really hoping for our, like, company brand as we develop the walkthrough. I really want to stick to that as our. I believe that people should be as close to animals as possible while keeping them as safe as possible.

I think you have to have an emotional connection to an animal if you're ever gonna expect anyone to try to save them. Or have this conservation impact. 'cause kids are not gonna care about saving wild places or endangered species [00:27:00] if. All they care about are video games and, right. They don't.

Or if it's just something on a screen. Yeah, they, yeah, you don't, you know, there's something they say, you know, kids who spend more time outside, they did a study about like outdoor classrooms. And how there was like 30% higher in like science testing scores. And it was because the brain was able to pull from multiple different reference points from your senses, whether they like heard it and saw it and smelt it.

Yeah. Or touched it. Hopefully no one's. Tasting anything, but you know, like, you know, it's, it's all of those those receptors in your brain that you're able to pull memories from. And so I, I really believe that. Zoos and safari parks. Our mission should be to save wild animals and wild spaces. And I think in order to do that, you have to find a way to connect emotionally.

It's a great segue to some of the education or I, I mean, I'm just thinking about like, man, if I was in grade school, like what a cool field trip. Yeah, I mean the field trip of all field trips. Yeah. But anything that you wanna [00:28:00] talk about in terms of educational programs, what you do, what you offer, what you have coming up?

Yeah. We do offer, like, we do school field trips here, so we offer big discounts for schools because we really want education. To be a cornerstone of our purpose here and what we're doing. And then they are able to like feed the giraffe and the animals. We do the wagon tours for our school groups, so they're not going through on the bus and then they have a guide who goes with 'em and answers questions and that sort of thing.

I would say to people who are looking to go to school for something like this I went to a special college in southern California called War Park College and got a degree in exotic animal training and management, and it was two years and it was. Running a zoo. And then doing schoolwork as well.

So we don't have any kinda like zoo school type program. There are some out there like that. But ours are primarily, the schools will come out, maybe spend two hours and be able to take lunch under the new picnic pavilion and yeah. You said you're coming up on your fourth season when you have really hard days.

[00:29:00] 'cause how can you not? Yeah. What's it just a great memory you have or, and if you can double, if you can double up. Yeah. I'm dying to know funniest story. Oh, oh, sure. I have way too many stories. For the time that we have. There's certainly a couple. I would say one of the hardest things is sometimes like emotional burnout, besides like, I know I'm always gonna have a million things to do.

But I never ask for self pity. This is all self-induced, you know, like I'm, this, to me, it's me. I, you know, this is all self-induced, right? And we, we build as much and as fast and as hard progress as what I'm the one driving it. So if we wanna, like, hey, we're good with where we're at, what we're going, yeah.

So I, I do recognize that I think there's an important, just, I'm just not dealing with it. Yeah, no, I mean, there's an, I see it. I'm just not doing anything about it. Well, Katie, who put you in this situation? Well, past Katie, so, no, but I think it's a two part [00:30:00] answer. There are days where, and this can be an emotional burnout because we love the animals, so.

Passionately so fiercely. And it doesn't always turn out right, like not everyone makes it. And there are times, so like I leave it all on the floor every day. I know that I do not walk away from this park if I have not done my absolute best for every one of them. And if they don't make it, I can live with that.

And so, and a lot of the times we're able to somehow pull something miraculous out. And the staff are like, oh, no, I, I fully believe you guys are gonna do it. And I'm like, what? Faith? Like I appreciate that. Like, wow, you really, they believe in me in that way. But there are times that you have emotional burnout and, and unfortunately animals don't live as long as people.

Right? And so you also have to remember what a blessing it is to have this heartache that I was able to have such a love. To lose it, which is hard. Because it happens, you know, like the llamas aren't gonna live very long. And I've had some great llamas, but there, there's [00:31:00] a two part where it, like, you have to have to refill your tank.

One, if I can just sit long enough, any child honestly under 10 who comes in and you get the opportunity to see them, like you hear them laugh or ask questions and you feel like you reached one. That is really like reinvigorates me, that like what we're doing here has purpose. There are times where I'm, I have had some incredible once in a lifetime relationships with animals.

That may never happen again, and I would never try to like recreate. But some of my best friends in life have been a golden eagle, a red fox, a black leopard, a tiger. Have been some of my absolute best besties. Wow. And to lose them were devastating. And some of them was old age and some was just, I left the job and moved to a different job.

And and that's okay. Like, it just, you take all of that and those lessons that you get. One story that we have right [00:32:00] now who's really special just in the last month was we, we have one species here. Called Banting. They're an endangered species of cow from Southeast Asia. And there are only species that are breeding that are endangered here.

And. We have this little cow born during the last day of the terrible ice, rain, snow. You know, it was one degree the night before. Yeah. And she was born and although the mom was attentive, she, when they're, when they're born in their wet, they can't regulate body temperature for a little while. And so when I went through and saw her, I thought she was dead already.

And I thought, you know, stillborn. And so I pulled a senior staff member to come out with me. 'cause it's very dangerous to get between mom and baby. And when I got there, she was still breathing. Hmm. And I was like, I have, I, you know what else to do. I'm, I, you know, you leave it all on the table. So I pulled her, I immediately cranked my car to 90.

I took off, you know, my jacket, I'm trying to dry her off. It took me four and a half hours [00:33:00] rotating towels out of the dryer, wrapping her up, taking her into our, you know, our home. And then I was able to finally get her body temperature to start reading on the thermometer. And then we were able to get her bo colostrum the next day.

'cause you're like, okay, great, but you're never, you're never breathing any easier until you get through 48 hours. Mm. So then the next day she wouldn't take any milk even though she was up. And alert. But the next day she was up and alert and she wouldn't take a bottle. And so we talked to our vet and of course like the vets consulted on all stages of this, but the vet came out.

So we added, then Sedate one of the other band Tang, do a blood draw, do a blood transfusion, give it to this little baby band Tang, and then save her a week later. Then she gets scours, which is like bloody diarrhea. Mm. Safer again from that a week or like 10 days later, gets a little bit again and I'm like holding my breath.

And so we finally have made it to about a month where I feel like. We're good, like solid, we can name her. You've already fallen in love with her. But when you're asking for like, funny stories, like one like [00:34:00] that recharges your battery. Yeah. Yeah. Like every time I look at little Annabelle, that cow now introduced with the goats in the petting zoo.

'cause it's very important for her mental and social development that she's with other, like hoofed animals. So that she can go back with her herd when she's big enough. But I mean, what a. That you're like, ah, we did it. You know, I pulled out a miracle. Like, I saved her. Had I, had I not been there at that time and found her and our, our vet team and our animal care team, and.

Everyone, you know, watching all the little details and subtleties 'cause an animal that small diarrhea can be, you know, huge. So, but at the same time, she's also my funniest story for this week because we're used to, I do everything I can really to try to keep moms with babies. I think that's very important.

It's also a lot of work to be fair. But we're used to, if we have to like maybe a goat, maybe a llama. Much more gentle species. Well, baby Annabelle is a cow, and I forgot it's been a a minute since I've done a bigger animal on a [00:35:00] bottle, and so I jump over the fence to go give Annabell her morning bottle.

And normally when a cow goes to help stimulate the otter, they really just like head butt up into the der. Hmm. Well, anal did that. Straight to my downtown and I was like, my God, I'm telling you, feet off the ground. And I immediately looked around like, did anyone see this? Did? No, no one saw it. I'm so grateful I should never tell this story because.

Well, now everyone knows, but and then as I'm feeding her, she goes again. And like, I'm just like, I'm so surprised. I was like, what just happened? Oh my. I like, is there an HR department I could talk to? Like, do I need counseling after this? Like this sweet little baby cow I saved is out here. Just really?

Yeah. So I give her her bottle and she goes like she gets halfway through and it's typical for them to go again to like. Try to like get, get the flow to go more whatever, and she just pow knocks this thing outta my hands. And I like to this point, [00:36:00] I'm like, I'm, I look like such a rookie, like someone who, is she in charge here?

Absolutely. No way. Like someone check her resume. 'cause Wow. But I mean, so that, this week alone is my funny story. I, I've had some pretty. You know, like in this industry, you're gonna make mistakes. Hopefully they're not mistakes that kill people. My funniest mistake I've ever made was a friend of mine and I, we had been cleaning I all the big cat exhibits and it was so hot and it was so thirsty and we had made, we were out and kind of in the field and so we had come up to the back of a barn and I was like, oh, please go get the garden hose.

Like I just will just drink outta the garden hose. Anyone who's listening, who's grossed out by drinking outta the garden hose should just stop listening now because what comes next? Oh gosh, we'll scar you. So we go to drink and she drinks first and I drink next. And then I pull the garden hose back and I look at it and I'm like, Hey, Anne.

Where'd you get this garden hose? And she's like, oh, from the back of the barn. I was like, the [00:37:00] back of the barn, which is the vet clinic. And she's like, yeah. And I was like, do you notice anything about this garden hose? She goes, no. And I'm like, the end's been cut off. And she's like, yeah. I was like, why would the end be cut off?

And she's like, why? And I was like, the male lion fozzie, the week before had been pulled up for an enema from a hairball from his mane, and she had handed me the lion enema hose, and we were both drinking out of it. And I was like, oh. This is, ah, I just, you know, sometimes, sometimes you can't make this stuff up.

You can't, it's not my proudest moment, I will tell you that. But you asked for my funniest story. That's my go-to at a, at a conference that, yeah. Yeah. My go-to. That also needs to probably make its way into some sort of like. Family gathering Thanksgiving. I'm not proud of that moment, but you know, that's pretty epic.

I don't, I mean, that is pretty epic. Yeah. But you know, to be fair, I've got a lot of really great highlight moments, but I, I'm not good about bragging on [00:38:00] myself. I'd rather. Poke fun. I would say probably the, the relationship that probably changed me forever was there was this little black leopard who was born and her mom, it was the first time mom, she wasn't taking care of the cubs.

When you would go to tent, the skin, you like a hydration test to see if the skin comes back. The, the. Skin was staying tented. Mm. And so we knew that we would probably lose the Cubs, so we pulled them. I had helped raise a bunch of lines and tigers in the past, so I was familiar with what we were doing, but this was my first ever leopard.

And they are so different in that they just, they're born with this like fighting spirit. Mm. And so it was Xena and Mystique were their names. And Zena, I got to name, she was the runt. She was Zena Warrior Princess because she was the runt, and you know, they went through so much again. I wish we would've like knowing what I know now with raising the leopard cubs.

I wish we would've done a blood transfusion because these cubs didn't get that. Passive transfer to make them healthier. So we dealt with health issues quite a bit [00:39:00] until they were like three months old. But again, you like learn every time. You learn like a little bit something so that you can do better for the next animal.

We were able to successfully raise those cubs and they've gone on to their own reading programs elsewhere. But Zena was my best friend. And was that here that you No, no. It was another place that I had worked. Okay. We hope in the future to be able to have like cats and primates here. But we wanna grow slowly.

Organically. Yeah. Right now it's pretty easy. Anything here, eat hay. But in the future, you know, that would be something I'm passionate about. I was gonna ask you what your, in the, the coming years plans for growth, which you've already shared some of those Yeah. With some of the construction projects, any animals that you have on your.

Docket for that are already on their way here, just haven't arrived or that you have coming. Oh, exactly. Good questions. Okay. This is not public knowledge, but we have already spoken for, and the plan is in motion. The construction team is set up, but we break ground. [00:40:00] May for the State's first ever Nile Hippo exhibit.

Get outta here. Yes. So we have built this last year we did some grading work 'cause we'd like to do a much larger giraffe yard. And while we were over there, we realized there's this big, beautiful natural spring that has fed upon currently in safari. Well, we realized if we put a road between there where we would wanna access the back of the draft yard, that all of a sudden I could have a whole second pond.

And so we measured out, it'll be the third largest Nile Hippo exhibit in the country. Yeah. And we're very excited about it. Very excited. And again, they're just like a water cow, so it doesn't change our food bill really much here at all. They eat hay, they eat some grain. The watermelons. Hay. We are watermelons.

Yeah. This is a good area for growing watermelons. Yeah. Yes. The Georgia Produce. Yeah. Represent. But no, that's gonna be very exciting and I think that there's some really cool, like conservation. Storytelling with that. I like Nile Hippos used to be just super plentiful. They're now listed as vulnerable.

I think one of the big things that we're seeing in Africa with [00:41:00] conservation is that there's a type of medicine that's being given to cattle. It was banned in some of the Asian countries 'cause it just decimated the vulture populations. Mm. And people don't normally like vultures, they don't look very pretty, but they are, they serve a purpose.

Absolutely. Like vultures save you millions of dollars, billions, probably realistically in like the cleanup crew. Right? And so you're seeing when you have less vultures, more carcasses and more spread of disease. And so you had a whole like group of Nile hippos pass away from anthrax from carcass and the, and so now all of a sudden you're seeing a, a drop in HIPAA populations.

And I, I believe. Everything is delicately connected. And it's all balanced. Even if we don't understand it. You know, that's how it was made to be. And so, I think that there's a really cool educational messaging that we can do there with hippos and, and how they help out. And so that's starting in May.

When do you think you might, I would love to open that this fall. Wow. Yeah. Okay. We try to move quick. All right. Again, may it, it may be setback. When we update our permit, that will be [00:42:00] something we update on our permit. So, we're permitted by both state and federal. So those are all things, all the powers that be, if they give blessing, it will open by fall.

He has to be here for the inspection, for the permit. So he could be on grounds by the summer, but he cannot be on display until he's added to the permit. Gotcha. So, yes, from like, just a big picture, just, you know, I mean, you, you shared earlier just that whole. Like, no one's coming to save you. Like you.

Yeah. You have to realize that if you're, you know, if you're gonna sail around the world. You're gonna be, you know, you're gonna be your, your chef, you're gonna be your flight crew, you're gonna be your navigator. Yeah. You're gonna ride the boat. You know, like you're gonna do all the things. Yeah. From your journey over just your, we'll just say your pro, your professional time in this, in this realm, what do you feel like outside of that is the best thing that you've done to help yourself?

I think it would be a blend. The first thing that comes right off the top of my [00:43:00] head is reading. I, there's nothing better than a walk in a room full of books because like you have so many friends, so many minds. So many, like so much experience. Just at your fingertips and mistakes that you can learn that you'd never have to make yourself.

So reading can really help you in some capacity, strengthen yourself or teach you things you don't know, or YouTube even, you know, like the people can self teach a lot. But I think the really important mentality that we have here is that I never wanna be the smartest person in the room. And if I am, I'm in the wrong room.

And I try to always hire people who are smarter than me or can help bring something different that I'm not good at. Like, I don't need to hire people who are good at what I'm good at. Like, you have to be really honest with yourself about what your weakness is. To be able to, if you wanna be stronger and better.

You have to do an analysis on yourself and, and be real, like, and then also at the same time, forgive yourself. You know, take it easy. You know, where you're like, Hey, it, it's [00:44:00] okay to not be okay right now, or to be tired or, coffee really helps. Coffee. Coffee's amazing. Yeah, coffee's amazing. But also, I think sometimes, I mean, for us, especially with, with our family, like loyalty is huge, but also remember that.

Sometimes what got you here is not gonna get you there. And so I'm not saying like we would never move out old employees what they have helped us do and build incredible, they'll be like family, like they've seen us when we had a shoestring budget. You know, versus how we're growing, what we're doing.

But also it's okay. And like I always try to tell the staff, like when we bring in new management, we bring in new team, like, your job's not threatened. You're not going anywhere. But what got us here and where we're at now is not gonna get us to the next, like, if I wanna double what this park is doing, what is the insanity saying?

Like, you can't keep doing the same thing over and over and expect different results. So bring in other talent and other. You know, mentality. Like, it's hard. I'm so grateful for our new guest [00:45:00] services manager who we hired. But it was so funny to feel those feelings in me when I saw her for the first time, walk away with my little school like reservation calendar book where I was like, oh, that's my book.

The first time I saw her I'm like, what's she doing? My book? And then the next time I saw her I was like, oh, look, like there she goes. Like she, you know, she has wings. She's taken off all the schools will now contact her instead of me. And, and then I'm just like, immediately now I'm like. Okay. Now what else can I be doing?

Like, what else have I not been able to do? Because I am, you know, the marketing team as well and the signage team and like helping, my dream is to be able to hire out all those positions and have the park run without me having to be here. I think that's the only way you have a business, outlive you. Yeah.

Yeah. And then my dream would be to go back to some of the fun stuff with the education and the training and the, the like guest programs. My dream long term and I already have like a name set aside and a logo, but I'd really like to do a nonprofit branch to the business that strictly is like our conservation education type stuff because [00:46:00] that way we can do quite a bit with like volunteer work.

And coming from the background that I came from, from War Park College, I also saw a unique way that you can have students help out in some way. And obviously it's tricky because these are still wild animals and this is still dangerous scenarios, but we're close enough and our vets from UGAI would love to partner in the future as you know, something with University of Georgia for exotic animal medicine or programs here. So those are probably, if you have to ask like what's, you know, the tenure plus plan, like those are definitely on the list. And you just dream big, right? 'cause even if you only get 50% of them done, right? Like how cool, how cool. Yeah. This is not something, I think we kicked around, but I've just, anytime I have a chance to ask people how they go about hiring good people, do you have a, a hidden trait or a singular thing that you look for when you're hiring people?

What is something that you look for that maybe you're. Your applicants don't know you're [00:47:00] looking for. Yeah. That's so hard. Hiring I think is finding good staff is, is hands down one of the hardest things. And I think that maybe this generation, and I'm sure probably every generation has said this if we're being honest, like, but I think that it's, it's hard to get old because like you just look at everyone like young up and comers where you're like.

Well, you have to work. And they're like, what do you mean? And I think that that's probably everyone. Is that an app? Is that Yeah. Yeah. Is there an app for that? Can I do it remotely? Is a work app? I, I'd like to work on the animal care department, but can I do it remotely? And I, I don't, I, in no way. I, I love younger generations.

I'm not saying that in any way to. To be disrespectful, but I think the best thing that I can, when I'm looking for maybe someone in animal care, right, who really wants to work with animals, I really, personally, I'm not looking for someone with a bachelor's degree. And I would say like, if you have the opportunity to, and you don't have to get a bachelor's degree.

These jobs don't [00:48:00] pay, I don't think enough for you to get a bachelor's degree. And I think it's really unfair for all of the zoos who require that from zookeepers. But then don't pay them appropriate wages for like what you would need to live plus pay your student loans for a bachelor's degree. So, I mean, for me, I'm looking for someone, maybe an associate's degree, but the best advice like, and I don't know how to find this necessarily easily on a resume, but it's like the person who shows up first and leaves last who's willing to like, listen.

Take direction. Those are the people we're looking for. 'cause I can train you animals. I, I'm, how do you find someone on paper who has like, the work ethic is what you're looking for. Like, I need you to show up. That's 50% of the job. I can train you the rest of it. I want someone who likes animals a lot, but doesn't think Disney Princes.

Because we don't want 'em to get hurt. Right. And I want 'em to have like a healthy respect and fear at the same time. You know? Like mm-hmm. Don't be scared of them, but also like, don't try to ride. The ostrich or you know, the zebra. Like I actually had a staff member once [00:49:00] who really, he, he told me, he is like, I'm gonna, when you're gone, I'm gonna ride that ostrich.

And I was like, you will die. Like what? I named that ostrich Godzilla because it was the meanest thing and then one day it was the best. I one day over the this, I don't work at the zoo anymore, so I could tell the story one day over the radio I heard. You know, like animal care to Katie Godzilla is loose.

Godzilla is loose, and he had broken out of his pen. He was running around safari. He wasn't like out with the public, but he was just like loose with the cows. And I was like, he's, he's fine. We'll get 'em. But I never thought I'd hear the day where the radio that they called Godzilla is loose. Godzilla is loose.

Yeah. Yeah. The showing up part. I, I feel like it was, it was probably on a podcast year, years ago, I had a a client of ours that. He had told he, it is just this weird conversation we got into. He had told his daughters, he had two daughters when when they were entering the workforce. You have one role.[00:50:00] 

Look to the person on the left, look to the person on your right and work harder than both of them. You'll be fine if you do that. That's, that's it. I was like, I told our, you know, our older kids when, when they were getting the first job. I said, there's only two rules for any job you'll ever have forever.

I said one is do more than what's expected. Yeah. Even if it's not that much, just do more than what's expected. And I said the second is own your mistakes. Yeah. So true. I said, if you do those two things, I said, people are not used to having people who will show up. Who also are coachable. Are coachable.

Yeah. And I said, when, when the time comes for promotion. Those are the two requirements that every good manager looks for because they know they can trust you with more. Yeah. Because you're, you're going to do the work, but then you have the, you have the character Yeah. To do the work well. Yeah. And for them to be able to trust you.

And I'm like, that's really it. Yeah. I think like [00:51:00] we get down this rabbit hole, right? Where you're like a mat, like our generation has been able to say, I want food warm. Put it in a microwave. We thinking about like our grandparents, like I want food warm. Yeah. Like maybe heat it up. Maybe our parents was like, heat it up on the stove and like our grandparents were like, go cut firewood.

Yeah. Our grandparents are the first generation who had hot water inside. Yeah. Yeah. When I asked my grandmother about the first time they moved to a new house, she tells me how it was by horse and buggy still. Yeah. And I was like, really? That blew my mind. Yeah. But you know, so I don't know. I mean, there's.

I think it's, it's hard, right? Like we're in a cultural movement right now where like everything, you're trying to make it easier and faster, but are you sacrificing the soul of the nation with like, faster, easier? Because that's not always going to, to create these work ethics that you do have, have in mind that doesn't anything better.

Yes. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not sure about that. Alright, so a question I'd like to do [00:52:00] before the end of episode is called the lightning round, which is a question that has nothing to do with anything. What is somewhere that you have never been that you'd like to go and it does, or it can have an animal theme or I wanna go see this, whatever.

Or it could just be, I've never been, I'd love to go Sri Lanka. Slon. Okay. And it has the highest density population of leopards in the world and excellent snorkeling. Okay, so I get both. That took you zero seconds to think of. I know immediately, like I, it's both jungle and a beach vacation all in one.

Okay. I want to go now. That sounds amazing. It, I mean, from what I, and like they have some beautiful big, like Asian elephants. That are in their national forest. Wow. That you can like watch, bathe in the wa it sounds like. Who, if you don't want to go to Sri Lanka, will you buy us both tickets? Yes. I want to go now.

Yes, exactly. Yeah. And some of the, like they're snorkeling out there. They do sea turtle conservation. Yeah. It, it looks, it looks streamy. You wanna hear my sea turtle story? Yes. [00:53:00] So I'm about to save everybody. If you, if you have ever thought about going anywhere in the Caribbean that has sea turtles, let me just, let me just save you hundreds of dollars.

Amber and I went to Barbados on our honeymoon. There's, I don't know, four, three or four different kinds of sea turtles that they have there. And it's, you know, it's all the. You know, TripAdvisor tour or whatever the hotels are, you know, doing the, the, the things Well, we go and I don't know, it's like day two and we're, you know, let's go swim the, the sea turtles.

And I, I, I, I should draw this out because it's, it is, I'm certain we're not the only people who had this story, but you know, we meet at the beach and there's, you know, the guide and he's talking about the sea turtles, whatever. And then we go out in the boat and like. Everybody was like us. We're like just geeked up for going to CC turtles.

I'm not exaggerating. We're maybe 50 yards off the ocean. It's a, you know, it's a slow slope or whatever. So we're [00:54:00] just walking out there to the boat and then he like fires up the engine and I'm not kidding. We drive. We couldn't have gone a hundred yards down down the beach to where there was a public beach next to the resort, and that's where the turtles, I'm like, are you kidding me?

Like we can, we can see our hotel room from, from here. Like I'm thinking we're going to some the backside of the island or some hidden cove or something like that. No. So the next day so we, I mean we laughed about it or whatever. The next day I am like, we're getting on because they, the public transportation bus or whatever.

I said, we're getting on the party bus. That's what we called it because it was, it looked like everybody there was going to a party. We're getting on the party bus and we're just taking the party bus down to the public beach and we literally just walked into the public beach. Into the water and have just incredible videos.

I got one of those little camera bag, you know, things you take under water. It, it wasn't, it [00:55:00] probably wasn't more than 20 feet deep and there's just turtles swimming around. Wow. And it's incredible. It was so cool. Yeah. Incredible. But was just like, y'all know, you're just robbing, you know, you're just robbing people.

There are no repeat customers in your entire business ever. Anyway. That's great. How do people find you reservations group bookings, anything like that? And then your social media? Yeah, our social media is gonna be Atlanta Safari Park all, all accounts, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and we have a lot of.

Information if people have questions about the park on our website, and they can call if they want to, but really we try to make it as easy as possible to send an email or you can book reservations online if you want to. You don't have to. And tickets are good a full year from the day of purchase.

So you book and decide a different day works best. It's really easy to just come a different day. Okay. I imagine weekends are probably busy. Weekends are busier than weekdays. Definitely. And then one thing that we do [00:56:00] offer is on the weekends, sometimes people don't wanna drive their own vehicle through.

So we do offer public wagons on the weekends. Those go out at 11, one and three. And then sometimes we, we have people with large groups for birthday parties who may want like a private wagon. So we have different times that we offer those. But we'll have people Awesome email about that. Yeah. Well, Katie, I know you have probably 16 things that you need to go do immediately right now, but That's all right.

We are so grateful you came out. We love sharing this with you guys. You know, it's really a blessing that we're able to, to do this. We love the animals dearly. We love sharing 'em with people, and it's always fun to watch other people get to enjoy it like we do. Awesome. Thanks Katie. Thank you so much.