Story Created:
Aug 1, 2007 at 8:43 AM CDT
Story Updated:
Aug 1, 2007 at 11:02 AM CDT
WICHITA, Kansas, July 31, 2007 -- There's a plot of land… about 100 acres of land… just north of Kellogg in Goddard that houses some of the rarest animals in the world.
Matt Fouts is the Marketing Director for Tanganyika Wildlife Park.
"My father Jim, who is the owner of the park, he started out as one of the original keepers at Sedgwick county, has always had a passion for animals. Eventually went out on his own and started transporting and supplying different zoos around the country and around the world with animals," Matt says.
Jim Fouts - a builder by trade… and animal keeper by passion - has raised exotic animals on his property in Goddard for more than 20 years.
Jim's park has been self-sufficient through the sale of animals to zoos worldwide.
Many animals have been bred in kansas… others he brokered through a network of international wildlife contacts.
The construction needed to open the park to the public hasn't come cheap.
"Our expansion is something over 4million and then we had every bit of that in it to begin with in existing facilities and land," Jim says.
But, with the state's biggest outdoor tourist attraction just a few miles away… how can a 'zoo' compete with 'the zoo'?
"Sedgwick county has an excellent zoo and I think that just helps us - in all reality - they've created a market of 500k people who come to their zoo every year."
Tanganyika is much more than just a zoo… Jim wants to create a wildlife experience whereby you can actually interact with the animals. Visitors can come out here and do things like feed the lemurs.
Tanganyika boasts a hall called the 'Serengetti Room' that can handle more than 400 two-legged animals.
One of the attractions to this facility is the open catering.
Groups can bring in their own food and drink.
Rain delays have held up their previously scheduled summer opening, so they hope to have a 'quiet' opening in late fall,
followed by a grand opening in early spring of 2008.
Tanganyika is now open for private group tours and events, just call to reserve.
"We're not as much about making money here as we are about making enough money, to keep everything flowing," Jim says.
Jim will continue to breed animals for other zoos - and that business is expected to contribute about 20 percent of the revenue needed to run the park.
