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Giraffe Ranch brings safari conservation to Florida
Giraffe Ranch in Dade City provides a near-natural habitat for exotic and domestic creatures alike.
DADE CITY, Fla. - Instead of the plains and woodlands of the African continent, the wilderness of Dade City's green swamp provides a natural habitat for exotic and domestic creatures alike.
It's called Giraffe Ranch and visitors can walk, drive or ride a camel through the more than 300 acres of property to see this amazing wildlife.
GIRAFFES IN FLORIDA
What they're saying:
"Giraffe Ranch is one of two wildlife conservation properties we have in West Central Florida that total about 310 acres," said Lex Salisbury, the owner and founder of Giraffe Ranch. "We have 600 animals here of about 60 species."
True to the name, Giraffe Ranch has several of the tallest living terrestrial animals in the world, and as a part of the ranch, visitors can interact with those tall ambassadors to the African plains.
"We have a new giraffe here named Kai, and he is an approximately 10-year-old male giraffe," shared Salisbury, "But Kai just really loves human contact because he's known it his whole life."
Visitors are given the opportunity to feed and touch the giraffes, and Kai is only all too happy to oblige them every day.
People feeding Kai
"And people are really emotionally overcome by his gentleness and his smell. He smells like sage," he admitted. "This giraffe, it's a very cool experience, and he's the kind of the star of the show right now... So, when kids are feeding giraffes, their eyes are this big, you know, and they're interacting with things, smelling, touching, which are emotional triggers which cause those experiences to be committed to memory."
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Other Animals at Giraffe Ranch
Dig deeper:
"We also have the Aldabra tortoises that are very cool," said Salisbury. "We’ve got three giant ones from the Indian Ocean that grew up here. And they're very charismatic animals that live a couple hundred years."
Tortoise
The tortoises out in the morning to get sunshine to get warmed up, and, once they get warmed up, then they start to forage for food.
He continued, "They can’t eat when they're cold. So, when you give them a little spritz of water... the water in Florida is 72 degrees year-round coming out of the wells... and how they, their hydraulics engage, and they go right up and stretch out their neck, and then you can pet them, and they’re very outgoing."
Giraffe Ranch has hippos, bongo antelope, zebras, ring-tailed lemurs and other wildlife from Africa. All the animals are available to see and interact with in different ways.
"And the thing is, you know, if you're kind to your animals, and you're consistent in their care, they act like this," said Salisbury. "We're very specific about when they get fed, and then they habituate to that, and they look forward to that... What we're trying to do is... is build a consistency for nature conservation, you know? In the end, you end up keeping the things you love, and you love what you understand, and you understand what you're taught, you know?"
READ: Cybertruck Safari at Giraffe Ranch in Dade City
What you can do:
Giraffe Ranch is located at 38650 Mickler Road in Dade City. To learn more about them and the tours that they offer, visit their website here:
The Source: This story was written based on several in-person visits to Giraffe Ranch and sit-down interviews with Lex Salisbury on the ranch property in Dade City.