About

John and I began with a background in pet shops. We both worked in and specialized in fish, reptiles, and birds. We also both took a zookeeping class through the former Marion Nature Park (Now Florida International Teaching Zoo).

While at the Teaching Zoo we learned a common sense, practical way of keeping wildlife in captivity. Dr. Mark Wilson was and is still the President and Director of FITZ. Dr. Wilson was one of the pioneers in the reptile industry. He was the consulting vet for the major importers in the 80’s and 90’s. Dr Wilson had the luck of working with a lot of the “new” imports in the early days, emerald tree boas, green tree pythons, and even boelen’s pythons.

The Three of us all had a common vision that the animals of the zoo could help take care of it. Through captive breeding we could produce animals that were being wild caught for other zoos. Quickly the former Marion Nature Park was a leader in Jaguars (black included!), Nene Geese, and Antelope reproduction as well as breeding primates and displaying animals that were not on display anywhere else in the country.

An agreement with the Mayaguez Zoo in Puerto Rico to re-train their staff, introduced us to a different type of income. We quickly realized that we could extend our reach, even on the tight budget of a small zoo, by developing programs that benefit a geographical area. We hit a snag when we looked at the budgets from zoos in third world countries, understanding they didn’t have the funds to hire us outright.

From that point we spent quite a few nights talking and brainstorming. We were both going through some tough times, so we really spent time working on a new plan. We were talking quite a bit and I can’t tell you who made the first connection, but we started thinking about trading animals with these zoos to create an income source so we could go evaluate their zookeepers and give our recommendations.

The evolution of that idea was to actually involve the local communities in breeding their local animals. The social aspect of our program will ensure the indigenous we work with receive training, revenues, and capacity building programs which will allow their communities to grow in a healthy way, not whither away by meager wages from the big corporations. What you see now is the culmination of about 8 years of ideas and refinement.

We currently have importers signed up, as well as zoos interested, and animals are already spoken for. We have some amazing plans in the works. Expansion to different countries, educational programs for kids all over the world, biodiversity data on animals that have none, reintroductions, and more.

We are a small group of people that share a vision. If this sounds like something that you are interested in, please come along for the ride, I am sure we could use your help, if it is herping with us in Costa Rica, a monetary donation, or just helping with anything else. The effect of this program lies in our volunteers. We have met some really great people so far, and hope to get to meet and know you.

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