There is a wild side to Aggieland waiting to be discovered — besides the crowds of people at Aggie football games. From creatures ranging from small otters to towering giraffes and livestock, fascinating animals are eager to be met at Aggieland Safari.
Originally a hunting range, the Aggieland Safari has since transformed into a place for wildlife education and entertainment that features everything from exotic animals to barnyard livestock.
“We opened in 2019,” said Matthew McIntyre, an Aggieland Safari manager. “They were originally, I believe, a wild game ranch, and they converted it to a safari. We were purchased in 2020 by Parks America, so we have three parks total.”
Covering several hundred acres, the safari offers participants opportunities to feed the animals in drive-thru stops and stroll the walkable areas to see the different species of birds, reptiles, otters and more that litter the area.
“In the drive-thru, the animals come right up to the car,” McIntyre said. “They can feed them. For the walk-thru, we actually have feeding experiences, so they can actually feed the giraffes and our tortoises, our parakeets and our goats and pigs.”
As for the safari’s most popular activities, the capybara encounters often come out on top. Led by a professional zoo keeper, attendees can enter the animal’s enclosure, pet them and even feed them their favorite treats.
“Capybaras and giraffes are our most popular, but we also have our hippo, Howdy,” McIntyre said. “And then honestly, every animal in the drive-thru is very, very popular.”
The safari also offers a Goodbull deal for Aggie football games: If the Aggies win a home game, the establishment will have free admissions the following Sunday.
“That’s been very, very popular,” McIntyre said. “We have a lot of people … but a lot of people we talk to, they’re just in town for the game, like, ‘I didn’t know y’all were here. We saw posts,’ and things like that.’”
One of the zookeepers, Ashleigh Paulsen, said the safari also offers a zookeeper internship to those interested in working in animal-related industries. The position gives students the chance to have personal interactions with the animals and take care of them.
“I had a lot of pre-vet students that wanted to do internships with us so they get more experience with exotics, but it’s an unpaid zookeeping internship that we do here,” Paulsen said.
With the number of different animal species on the safari, taking care of all of them often seems like a tough task, especially regarding each animal’s diet.
“All our drive-thru animals, they’re all the same herbivore-type animals, so they can all eat the same pellets,” Paulsen said. “We have designated diets. They get very specific amounts of produce that we feed out every morning, fruits and veggies. They also have designated grains for those guys … we also do lots of romaine lettuce for our animal encounters because it’s low-calorie.”
Since the animals get so much human contact, they cannot be released into the wild because they lack the instincts to defend themselves if they encounter dangers.
“A lot of animals, captive animals usually, you can’t ever really release them into the wild unless you’re a rehab facility that’s designated for, and those animals don’t get as much human contact,” Paulsen said. “So they’re not usually super friendly, and that way they keep those wild traits. And then they can go back into the wild. But here, they’re used to people every day. It wouldn’t be right to put them back in nature and something bad happens to them because they weren’t afraid of a person.”
As the safari takes great pride in the safety of its animals and animal conservation, it also hosts a variety of animal conservation-related events that attendees can participate in.
“We’re always running special events, conservation charities and donations and stuff like that, particularly for World Giraffe Day every year,” McIntyre said. “We run different events and stuff and we take donations to put towards giraffe conservation, so we’re really big about the conservation aspect.”
The Aggieland Safari is a place to visit for those who are interested in learning about animals or interacting with them. With a variety of animal-related events held by the safari, there are many activities for visitors to choose from when they stop by the zoo.
“We get to go in with animals every day,” Paulsen said. “Just being around animals honestly is the best thing for me. I love being around these guys, especially the ones you won’t see really anywhere else.”
