MyWorldtwo

My husband and I lost our house on Pine Island to Hurricane Ian. Once we could again access the island, we made a few trips back to salvage what things we could. A couple of weeks ago, we had the pieces of house bulldozed to the street. The other day we took a ride by to look at the now empty lot. Sitting in the dirt, I found a plate I had bought at The Clay Hut back when I when I first started at the safari. Amazingly it survived both the storm and the bulldozers!

Good grief! I did not realize it’s been that long since I visited!

I am in Nj dealing with some business. Having some free time today, and given that there is no better day to visit than a rainy one, my husband and I decided to visit the safari. First thing I was very aware of, was how few animals there seemed to be in some of the sections. Also, I was dismayed to see the big cats are penned rather than being able to roam in their sections. And the monkey jungle, I just wanted to cry! They are now separated from the cars and we saw only 3-4 just sitting along the building. Where did they all go! The highlight for us we’re the giraffe. One was licking rain water off the car and then finished by removing our rear windshield wiper blade!

I just read about Butch passing.... What a shame. Besides knowing so much about the animals, he was a kind person. I had been involved in something pretty upsetting that Butch was aware of. A few days later, I was out shoveling the road in the camel, sheep and goat section, and Butch drove up. Told me to set the shovel aside and join him in his truck. And that man turned his radio down and sat talking with me over an hour. As busy as Butch was, he took the time to make sure i was ok.,,, My deepest condolences to his family

I want to say it was 77 and 78 that I was there. Butch was Lion 1, Charlie Hull, Lion 2 and John King was Lion 3. I had another interesting Gate 13 incident. I was brought out to the gate in the morning and before the cats were let out I saw a small snake wiggling along in the grass. I climbed down, grabbed the snake and stuffed it into a bottle. I showed it later to the vet and learned that I had picked up a young copperhead....

Clinbing up to the tower, you pushed open a hatch door, and once in, you closed and secured that hatch. The cats were not allowed as far as the tower/moving gates. If one was approching and the warden was not in sight, it was the gate keepers job to radio and let the warden know. I was on Gate 12 one day, (ground gate, not a tower gate) and I have no idea whatsoever how it happened, but I heard a noise and there was a tiger not 10 feet from me. It was making a Brr Brr purring sort of noise and up to that moment I never had realized just how big those tigers are! In a flash I was back in my little hut and bellowing at the top of my lungs into the radio "GATE 12 to LION (can't remember the number) THERE'S A CAT DOWN HERE" Pure panic in my voice. Thankfully the warden was there in a moment and chased the tiger back to where it was supposed to be. OMG. The next morning I was called into the office by Charlie Hull. I figured that I was going to get flack about that tiger getting as close to the gate as it did and about letting the panic show in my voice. Instead, that was the morning I was promoted from Gate Keeper to Warden.

I worked Gate 13 (pretty sure that was the number) and nope, no A/C. However, the gate person did not have to stay inside the windowed hut. That was in the center and you could be outside of it as well which was useful if you had to yell down to someone who was trying to get out of their car while waiting for the gate to open.

On a sentimental note...Chas Walton was my sometimes fishing buddy. Any time we went he would make the most ridiculously overstuffed breakfast sandwiches. To this day when my husband and I go fishing, I make "Chas Walton" fishing sandwiches and as I wrap them up, I remember Chas

GAAAA! For the life of me I can not remember when I was there. Butch was Lion 1 and Charlie Hull was Lion 2. John King, Birdman, Luke, and dear Chas Walton....I was so sorry to hear that he had passed away.

My name is Michele. I worked at the safari umpteen years ago. I started out working the gates; mostly I was at the Monkey Jungle/Camel,Sheep and Goat gate and I also worked the towers in the cat sections. I learned to change a flat, do a temp fix on a fan belt and take care of an over heat. Later on I was made a warden and was again with the monkeys and camels. Hands down, this was my favorite job and I still can't believe that I got paid to do something that I enjoyed so much. One of my favorite memories is the time I was out of my truck cleaning up in the Monkey Jungle. My truck was missing a tiny vent window, but not big enough for anything to climb in...or so I thought. I looked up as I was cleaning and there was one of the monkeys sitting in a tree with my lunch bag! I had packed a great lunch with strawberries and Jarlsburg cheese. I got to sit there and watch that monkey eat those strawberries one at a time and I guess he didn't like cheese because he threw that to the ground! Another fond memory is of the morning that I crashed my truck into a rock hidden in the tall grass at the side of the Monkey Jungle, smashing the bottom of the drivers door. That same day, the warden that relieved me for lunch...I think her name was Barbara, did exactly the same thing to that same truck! We both earned a 3 day suspension, jumped into her car and spent those 3 days at (I think it was) Island Beach State Park.