Animal Adventure Park

As we got closer to our stop in Harpursville, New York in order to visit Cooperstown, something kept nagging at me that the town sounded so familiar.  What was it?  How did I know this town?  And then it dawned on me - April the giraffe!  About 5 years ago April became an internet sensation when the pending birth of her baby was live streamed on youtube.  I kept the cam on in the background of my computer and checked in often.  Many people know that I've always loved giraffes for the graceful way they run.  So the idea of, hopefully, watching this beautiful creature give birth was more than I could hope for.  And then, on Saturday morning, April 15, 2017, the calf, Tajiri ("hope") was born and Ron and I watched this incredible event.  Tajiri weighed in at a small 129 pounds and was 5.75 feet tall.  

Nearly two years later, April and Oliver (Tajiri's father) welcomed another son, Azizi.  The following year, Azizi moved to the East Texas Zoo & Gator Park because he was growing faster than older brother, Tajiri, and was taking to alfalfa hay and a fortified pelleted giraffe diet early on in his development.

Sadly, on October 27, 2020 Azizi died unexpectedly and the post-mortem review revealed a twisted gut around his cranial artery which was ultimately the cause of his death.  And then - gasp - on April 2, 2021, sixteen days before her 21st birthday, Animal Adventure Park announced that April had been euthanized at the age of 20 because of worsening arthritis.

It finally hit me - Animal Adventure Park is in Harpursville, New York!  And just 4 miles from the RV park where we were staying!  Thankfully, we had scheduled an extra day there so we made a visit to the park!

Animal Adventure Park is a Zoological Association of America (ZAA) accredited interaction educational animal park.  The goal is to communicate an appreciation for living things through the use of the human senses, allowing guests to get up close and hands on with the animal ambassadors.

We bought our tickets and a bucket of different foods so that we could feed the animals.  Fortunately, the giraffe exhibit was right when we walked in the gate so there was no trouble finding it.  My heart sunk when I saw this.

But there, just waiting to greet me, was Oliver, April's husband.

Oliver is easy to spot because he has very thick ossicones, the horn like things on the head of a giraffe.  And here he was!  I wanted desperately to touch him but we were told to only feed them lettuce and acacia branches.  I was sure Oliver was happy to see me but now that I'm thinking rationally, I think it was really the food I had in my hand.

He was so gentle as that big tongue reached out to grab the food.  He loved the acacia branch and stripped the leaves like he would do in the wild.

His new wife is Johari.  She's a little shy.

But once she saw the food, she warmed up a bit.

The giraffes need about 75 pounds of vegetation per day to keep healthy.  Pretty clever the way the visitors are only too happy to help the keepers keep them fed.

Yikes - they are near threatened!

We asked about Tajiri and learned that the opening of a new "drive-thru" preserve was opening across the street within the week and Tajiri and another giraffe were there acclimating to their new surroundings.

I could have stayed with them all day but it was time to give our attention to the other animals.

Oh wait, not this animal!

We had fun with this camel - she loved people!  Okay, maybe it was the food that she loved.

And across the way were the Alpacas.  The little guy was just two days old.

This alpaca was enjoying the sun - see the baby inside the barn next to his mama?

Many of the animals were sleepy.

Looks like the one kangaroo is keeping watch while the others sleep.

This little girl loved feeding the goats.  She ran out of food so we shared ours with her.

So many new babies.

This little guy is a fan favorite.  

He sticks pretty close to his mama

After watching them for a bit, I realized that this was the enclosure where April and Oliver lived while she was waiting for Tajiri's birth.

Baby Zeke the Zebra was just over a month old when we visited.  The mama let us know that she saw our food and she wanted it.  She would bang on the white tube to demand food and we'd throw a carrot in the tube for her to grab when it came out.

I've never heard of a Guanaco before.  I thought it was odd that she was spotted.

However, once I got closer I realized she'd been rolling in the wood shavings.  Oh, and she wanted food.

I can't help but hum Hakuna Matata when I look at this guy.

As a kid, Ron had desert tortoises.  In fact, we even took four with us when we moved to Washington.  So, he liked seeing these guys.

He had saved some of the lettuce for them.  They sure eat a lot slower than the giraffes.

The keepers were busy feeding the penguins.

There were so many animals to visit and it was so fun to see the kids interacting with them.  I felt like a kid myself!  Such a great day.