You know, if I go to Burger King, if I get an order of onion rings, there's always a couple
of french fries mixed in there with them.
Oh, he's, but if I get the french fries, there's never any onion rings mixed in there.
Are they in the same pile or aren't they?
You know, sometimes you go to McDonald's and Burger King, sometimes the people who work
there, they're sharp and run the ball.
Other times you just got to wonder, you know, you got to wonder what that hiring interview
was like.
Please, come in, sit down.
Can you mumble?
Can you mumble without making eye contact?
Would you be willing to go around with your coworkers while the customer grows impatient?
Great, I think you'd be good candidate for our management training program.
We're going to have you watch an eight minute training video, then we'll put you on the
front counter.
People get their own drinks, and I just got to hand them a cup.
Oh, when you hand them a cup, make sure your fingers are sticking down inside the cup.
That's our policy.
And just give them a bag of food and you're done, there's no need to say thank you because
we wrote that on the trash box.
7-0-7 in WRNG and radio are going to be a beautiful day today, sunny with the high
air 65 showers and thunder bumpers tonight, lows around 50 and sunny again tomorrow with
the high air 70 right now, 46 and sunny, it's gorgeous out there and you came in this
way.
Isn't that a beautiful morning, Jay?
They don't get more beautiful than this done.
I remember last time you were in here many years ago, same hat, was it a different hat
or same hat?
It was a different hat, in fact, I've since upgraded my hat, increased the hat budget.
I'm not too sure if Mrs. Christie was 100% on board with that, but I thought maybe
this would be the last hat I ever buy, so why not?
Jungle Jay Christie is here, he is the guy in charge, it's your place, it was probably
a childhood dream of yours, I would imagine, Safari Lake, Geneva, and it opens up tomorrow,
its Wisconsin's drive through animal kingdom where you can drive through and just enjoy
nature like you've never seen it before, I mean, you can't see the, if you want to go
to Africa, I guess you can see these animals every day, probably walking down your street,
in this country, you can only see it in certain, certain ways in Safari Lake, Geneva,
opens up tomorrow, huh?
Yes, it sure does, Don, and then we run for six months, exactly, every day, right up until
October 31st.
Okay, so what is it that I gave, it's a drive through, I know that, but want to give people
a run through what it is?
Well, it's unique in this area or at least in many ways in this region,
it wasn't an unfamiliar concept further or farther south, but, but what I've done is
turn the whole zoo concept right on its head, allowing the animals to have the run of the place,
roaming on significant acreage, and we put the people in cages, and those cages, of course,
are their own vehicles, and so as you said, they're able to observe animals in really natural
conditions, much like an actual African Safari interacting with different species and roaming
and herds.
Now, what kind of animals are there?
For the most part, it's grazing animals, or hoofed animals, so those include animals like
giraffes, and bison, camels, alpacas, we've got some ostriches out there, also got some water
buffalo and some yak, and as curious it is, as it is to people to see things like these little
horses and camels and bison all roaming together on the hills of Walworth County. In fact, that was
not an unusual site up until about 10,000 years ago, because both camels and horses trace their
ancestry to the North American continent, they evolved here millions of years ago and only
died out within the last 10,000 years. And the bison, which barely held on us, we all know,
we almost lost them 150 years ago, where the newcomers were like, because they came to us
from Eurasia crossing over the bearing land bridge there.
I went to Custer National Park out in South Dakota, we drove there with my wife,
and I expected to see buffalo roaming everywhere, and way in the distance we saw a buffalo,
but I still think it was a cardboard cut out, because I couldn't tell from the interest,
you know, or the road I was on, I couldn't tell if there was, I didn't see it moving,
because we went, you know, it was Custer National Park, that's where they filmed dances with wolves,
and there were buffalo everywhere in the movie, probably shipped in, or AI, or CGI,
but I said, my wife said, I don't know if that's real, it's not moving. Well, what do you want
to do? Charge us, you know, right? I'm not going to knock us down, but oh, I love seeing that,
and we were talking for a while, we went on the air, I grew up in a town where we had our own zoo.
It was a commercial zoo, it wasn't like there were scenes, it was a commercial zoo,
and it was owned by Frank Buck, who was the great African explorer, and he brought back animals
from Africa. This is back, nearly 1900s, I guess, 1930s, Frank Buck, and his, they did a movie about
him back in the 1930s called Bringing Back Alive, where they, I found out later on, they filmed it on
the back lots of Warner Brothers, but they used footage from the Tarzan movies to make it look,
you know, real, but he brought back these animals, Frank Buck, and I don't know how he did it,
because I guess by ship, you're bringing back in the 1930s, you send him over, and he started
the zoo in my hometown of Massapiqua, and it was there for years and years and years until
family friend bought the zoo after he passed away, Frank Buck, I guess, but he brought back all
these animals, so how do you get these animals here? I mean, first of all, let's start at the
beginning. You were at the zoo, you were the CEO of the scene zoo, and was this a childhood dream
to have your own, you know, safari, Lake Geneva, was that a dream? That's 100% what it was done.
I, when I was quite young, I had been interested in working in a zoo, but by the time I was 10 or 11,
I really became fixated on this whole safari concept, so it was a dream come true. If you'd asked me
30 years ago, I don't know if I would have, well, I'm pretty sure I would not have said it's
going to be in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and probably wouldn't have even guessed it would be in Wisconsin,
but after living here for some time, it became perfectly clear that this was absolutely the market
that was ripe for something just like this. And would you find the land for it? I mean, did you
have to get special zoning for the zoo? Well, it's time to zoo, which is safari. Did you get to get
special zoning? The zoning did not change. However, we did need a conditionally use permit,
and it was not an easy road. I can say that. In fact, we were chased out of two other properties,
at least, the second time, even with some lawyers, but I think it all worked out because I must have
looked at close to 1,000 properties online and then must have walked on foot close to 60, largely
in this area, and mostly in Walworth County, a few in Illinois, only one in Racine County,
but when I saw this when I just fell in love with it, so it absolutely was the best property that I
had come across, so it all worked out perfectly in the end. Where is it? It's just southeast of downtown
Lake Geneva, less than a 10-minute drive. If you're familiar with that area, it's about halfway
between Lake Geneva and Pel Lake. I worked at a Lake Geneva radio station. I know some of the area
there, but yeah, wow. Well, that's kind of neat. I went through a drive-through, and I'm trying to
remember where it was and drive-through Safari. This is years ago. I forget what state it was in,
and I remember it's scary at first to see, you know, they come right up to your windows,
and they look at you. You don't know how to react, but it was wonderful to go through
what the heck was it in the South? Well, there were two in New Jersey, so that might check out based
on where you grew up. Yeah, my wife would know that that wasn't married to her when I lived in New
York, and it was her. I'm going to make that clear now. I'm trying to remember, and now it's going
to bother me after call her and find out unless she wants to text me and tell me where it was.
Anyway, so where do you get the animals from? Where do they come from? Well, I'm glad you mentioned
Frank Buck in the 1930s because many of the animals we have now can trace their...
lineage back to the 1930s, and in fact, I bet the vast majority of them had their ancestors on
this continent by the 1960s at the latest, with very few exceptions. So they were imported
on mass during the last century and have since reproduced, and so are many, many generations
removed from the wild in almost every case. Virtually all of them were born in the U.S.,
many of them were born right here in the Midwest, so they're fairly well acclimated to our climate
curiously, and more specifically, I can say that there's no one origin story or no one source
for animals like this, some of them were born at zoos, like the Milwaukee County Zoo, others were
technically or could be termed rescues, and then still others were born on private farms.
We're going to talk about this in a few minutes, but the care and feeding of animals is just...
I mean, I had dogs all my life, so I know what a dog vet bill is like, because when we take
rescue dogs, a lot of those dogs came with problems because they were rescued, like somebody
didn't want to deal with them. So we took them, and I know hospital vet bills were very expensive,
and I was telling you off the air, I had a parakeet. It took me almost a week to find a vet that
would deal with a parakeet. I can't imagine where you find vets that have to deal with exotic
animals. I mean, it's not because they don't have to... If you're a vet that deals with girabs,
I mean, you can't have too many clients. It's right. You just have a select few. So where do you find
the vets to deal with these animals? Well, that was another tough nut to crack because we knew that
we wouldn't get a license to operate by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, unless we did have a
veterinary of record. And of course, it had to be a large animal vets, so we were fortunate to find
one in the form of the Elcorn Veterinary Clinic. Really? Not too far. That close by, that's right.
Look at you, very lucky. And in the rare instance that there's a case that maybe even out of their
wheelhouse, we've never been turned away from the veterinary college at the University of Madison,
which, of course, is some of the vets in the world. And food. I mean, we talked, we were kind of
joking around how you can't find giraffe chow at the pet land, but you can't find monkey chow.
That they do sell, because I've seen that before. So the feeding of these animals, you just know,
well, we're closed for the season. They got to eat year-round. They can't just... You can close for
the season and not feed them. I mean, somebody's got to be there. So actually, even though the drive
through may not be open year-round, somebody's got to be there year-round. Every single day of the year,
now I'm going to mention it done, even on Christmas. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, we're not going to be
there for Christmas in New Year. There's no food for you. Hold on a second. Jay Christie is here.
He owns and runs Safari Lake Geneva, which opens up tomorrow. We're going to tell you how you can
get reservations for for your car and your family to get in there. And you just sell out fast,
because I see some times that you guys are sold out. He only allows so many in there.
So we're going to talk about that coming up at just a moment here. WRJ and hometown radio
refreshed, a civic media station. If you have a question for our guest, 262-3-0-0-7-4-4-5.
On my way to better face, I found myself some ways, distant roads, I call it high, you damn, damn, damn, damn, damn.
Your time for a summer friend, your time for the love you send, seasons change and so did I.
You need not wonder why, you need not wonder why, there's no time left for you, no time left for you.
On my way to better face, I found myself some ways, distant roads, I call it high, you damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn.
It's 7-21 at WRJ and a radio. A beautiful day today, a great day to have.
Jungle Jay Christie in here from Safari Lake Geneva, and he's wearing the hat.
Last time you were near you wearing the hat years and years ago when you were with Racine Zoo.
Now let's back up on your history. We have a question from a listener, but before we get to that,
back up on your history here, where did you start with animals? Where would you be getting?
Obviously, did you have pets as a kid? Yes, I sure did, all manner of pets. Name some.
Fish have almost every description, including fish endemic to freshwater ecosystems,
and brackish water ecosystems, and marine ecosystems, and some marine invertebrates like
hermit crabs and things like that, both terrestrial hermit crabs and aquatic hermit crabs.
All manner of reptiles, so turtles, lizards of various descriptions, snakes, even a few crocodilian,
specifically... crocodilians. Yeah, the spectacle came in and the dwarf came in, both close relatives
of the alligator coming from South America. Crocodilians. That's wow. I like that name. Yeah.
It threw that at me. That woke me up. By the way, you mentioned turtles real quickly for
I forget. I used to have those little turntiny turtles. He used to be able to, by 99 cents, you go to
Woolworths, you get the turtles and stuff, and you buy a little plastic bowl to put them in,
and you had a little plastic palm tree in there, so the turtle can feel at home. My turtle,
they put them from Hawaii out of the home floor. I don't know why you'd feel at home. But I had that,
and for years, they had these turtles. Now you can't buy them anymore. They stopped because they
said, oh, they carried disease. I don't know. I'm pretty old, and I lived with all those turtles
and everything. And then we had a guy who did our floors at home, and he had turtles to
when he used to paint the shells. And I found that years later, that's not a good thing to do,
because they breathe the shells, but he used to paint them. And I just felt awful when I found
that out. But we have little turtles and so forth. So what else do you have?
When did you get into the big stuff, the stuff that can actually attack if it wanted to?
That was an African lion safari. It doesn't get much more dangerous than that.
And that was in the 90s. So that was my first job in a zoological setting. So it's really
been a full circle that I'm coming back now to a safari setup. But after that, I worked at
the Toronto Zoo. It's been a little time at the San Antonio San Antonio Zoo. When did you do there?
I was actually spent some, well, actually had the opportunity to work in every section. I was
kind of a swing keeper. You could say that was for a year between undergraduate and graduate
school, but spent a lot of time training the camels. So that again was kind of full circle.
And I've actually recently stumbled upon an old picture of me with those camels. So I'll put
that on my Facebook page. But camels have always had a special place.
Well, I keep thinking of that commercial on TV. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, we just do think you
remember that commercial? Oh, sure. The camel comes in Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike. Or there was
another earlier one with candy bars. I want a clock bar with a camel. They would talk
into the camel. He says, I want a clock bar. But yeah, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike. Okay,
see, we're at the Toronto Zoo. Then you go to what San Antonio. That's right. So what did you do
there? You know, that was really more of an internship as this was after I finished my MBA. And I was
looking for a job. So I wasn't there too long. And then I was hired to run a zoo in Southern
New Jersey. Okay. Down in and bridged and called the co-handsick zoo. So did you go to college?
Do you take college courses in this? Not one of the specialized community colleges that we see
in in California and Florida and elsewhere that they're specific to zoo keeping. No, you know,
everybody asked me, did you go to college for radio? No, I actually went for geology.
But my dream was to be an ice cream guy, a good humor man or a stock car driver. Somehow,
I wound up in radio. So for 52 years, this is all I've done in my entire life. I've never done
anything else. So, but you, this is all you've done, right? That's right. This is your entire
life dealing with animals. That's got to be satisfying knowing your dream and you lived that
you're entitled. Now, this is the pinnacle of your dream. This is it actually running a safari.
That is true. I've been known to quote the Thai. I liked running a zoo, but I love owning one.
Did you ever see the movie Hattari with John Wayne many times?
John Wayne, they were trying to lasso all these animals in Africa. I remember the rhino coming
up and tipping over the Jeep. We're smashing the Jeep. I mean, that, you know, those are big wild
animals out in that John Wayne movie in Africa. It's been to Africa multiple times. In fact,
it was there last month. Really? Oh, that's right. In the same country where Hattari was filmed. In fact,
Tanzania or Tanzania, as they call it. They call it that. Yeah. I guess we're mispronouncing it.
That's right. When the locals say it, I guess that's the right way to do it. Oh, that's
right. What's that honeymoon? It was kind of a family honeymoon. Our actual honeymoon ended up
being in Singapore in Malaysia. Look at your world traveler. Wow. Yeah, I took mine. I'm just
Wyoming and South Dakota. I mean, I kept it. I just would be afraid to go to those countries.
I was overseas in Israel and also in the Netherlands, but that's when I was my 20s. I don't know
if I'd do it again. Well, you know, Don, it's coincidental that you mentioned Frank Buck because I
don't think we would have gone there. Had it not been my interest in that TV show from the 1980s,
bringing back a live, which, as you might recall, was set in Singapore. And that's how I
Bruce Bruce box lightener started. It was a CBS series called bringing back alive. It was CBS.
And you can look it up on IMDB and check out the series. I don't know how long it lasted,
but I remember the show because I used to watch it because Frank Buck was our zoo. And it was just
interesting to see the guy who had our local zoo. I'm going to talk more about I get to talk about
the, um, I had to make reservations. We're going to talk about that in a few minutes. I don't
want to interrupt it with a break coming up. So after you left the, uh, the locals who's,
you're still a young guy. What do you do in between the recene zoo and those? How did you get
that? You had to receive? I answered an ad in the, in the association of zoos and aquariums,
monthly magazine looking for, uh, uh, CEO. Uh, so that was in the late 90s. And I'd never set foot
in the state of Wisconsin. But, uh, but did so. This has been February, but of course it didn't
phase me. I'd grown up in Ontario. Oh, is that where you're from? That's right. Oh, I don't know,
that's okay. And, uh, said this place has some potential and, uh, and it turns out that I was
right because for 16 years, we were able to do all, all manner of, uh, exciting initiatives,
including helping save wildlife around the world and also doing a capital improvement between,
uh, well, six or seven figures every three years.
If you have a question for Jay Christie, text me 262's 3007445. We have some questions. I will
get to the answers. I promise. We'll, we'll get to the, we'll ask Jay the questions. 262 3007445.
What's a subtle doubt? And you know we'd rather be with you, be out of mind.
Lucky guy is what I am. And I'll tell you why you understand.
She doesn't fly at all. She can.
Put that play that for you, Jay. The turtles.
I love that. The turtles.
I heard too many, uh, group that we played at earlier. I played the animals house otherwise in
sun. Yeah. And we had the animals. Um, we probably could have got the lion's sleeps tonight.
Not too many giraffe songs. I guess if you play the lion king, you can, uh,
true. There's some of that. But, uh, we played, uh, Africa by Toto. Yes.
song that my, uh, wife walked down the aisle to. And yes, Toto is named after the dog from
the Wizard of Oz. They said that's where they got the name for her. He says, well,
is it named after? Yeah. Um, here, let's get some of these questions here because, uh, day
bass, the Racine Zoo used to have giant pythons in the main house growing up. Kids like
the big reptiles, any chance of Jay adding a big python to the safari property.
My, before you answer, my guess would be no, because it's a safari, the animals roam free.
I catch you can't have too many pythons roaming free on the property.
True. Uh, we do have a fairly mature boa constrictor actually. She's probably over 26 years old.
Although she's not on display, we use her more for, uh, kind of educational outreach.
When I was in Florida, I took my parents, they lived in Florida, but they never did any
tourist stuff went to a crocodile or alligator park. You know, what they have millions of
alligators running around. Sure. Uh, it's closest. They let us come to these. I mean,
these things were hissing. They opened their mouths and they kept them well fed. Obviously,
but you're still behind a fence, but they come, you know, roaming around and they're one bite
and you're done. And they had these people out there feeding them by hand. You know, they had
like a pole with the food on it. They snap at this stuff. I mean, animals are unpredictable.
I mean, even if you have a dog, a dog can bite you as well. I mean, cats can scratch you.
I mean, hamsters bit me, you know, all my life. So how do you deal with the animals? I mean, you just
got to, uh, you got to keep them well fed, obviously. So they don't get hungry at the, at the,
at the visitors got again. But talk about the food. You serve the animals there because it's,
it's got to be specialized. Yes, it sure is. And, uh, there's no one source. Although,
there is a manufacturer here in the US. It's called Missouri brand A, sorry, M-A-Z-U-R-I.
It does have a diet for just about any zoo animal you, you can think of.
We do have a special grain that's produced for us at a local mill, actually, and delivered in
50 pound bags. And we actually allow the customers to feed the animals, which in many ways is
a more, uh, natural way for the animals to, uh, well, to, to thrive in that they're eating all day
as, as these grazing type animals would. They don't just eat, eat once a day as, as they might
at a zoo or something if you were to feed them, but get to feed really whenever they want throughout
the hours that we're open every day. And when you close for the night or close for the season,
the feeding doesn't stop. I mean, you say, all right, guys, I'll catch you back in May first.
We'll get the food back for a promise. You will feed you when we get back here. So you have a
staff there 24, 7, 365 days a year. 366 on a leap year. Even if no money's coming in
through the safari because it closed down for the winter months, even though there's no money
coming in, the money's going out. No, that's true. Uh, in my experience, the vast majority of
zoological institutions are only making money for about five months out of the year. So
I see in this climate. That's a good point. Down south. They're open year round. Yes, they sure are.
Although I, this was a statistic I first heard from a zoo director in, in Tampa, actually.
So, so there's even some seasonality in some of these southern locations. That's true, but
uh, in any rate, we, we thought if we were going to be not making money for, for six months of
the year, then, then why even be, be open was kind of our, like a drive in movie theater.
That's right. You're only open for a few months a year and the rest of the time,
they're paying taxes on the land. Now they don't have to somebody of the drive in movie theater
watching the place, but it still needs upkeep. Upkeep. You can't let the, the projector is
wrought. You got to keep them moving all winter because when you come in the spring,
they won't work anymore. So a person I know who ran a drive in, they said, we got to go there
in the winter. These projectors can't just sit there all winter freezing cold. We got to,
there's got to be heat in those buildings because projectors will, they're very expensive now.
They don't just projectors anymore, but when they did, they're very expensive. So it's like,
your place, you got to keep this place, you know, so when you keep the animals,
huge buildings, it might be one of the most, the most popular question we get done is what,
what happens in the winter and every single one of them does have a shelter of some sort.
And even the ones that wouldn't really require things like bison that, of course, are native to
Wisconsin, things like yak or highland cattle or bacteria and camels, they do all have shelters.
And a surprising number of African and Asian animals also can endure our winters with just
an unheated shelter. We've gone one step above that, though. So some of these antelope and things
like that do half-heated shelters in zebra stew, which is, of course, an iconic African animal,
but it's interesting. We'll see them outside all day and even at night that often surprises me in
a cold snap. I'll look at my window and see these animals from India or Africa mandering
about in the snow. Are you letting them out in the snow and everything? Yes, we sure do.
Got to get exercise. That's right. So it is quite interesting. And they're not used to that.
Well, these are animals that, you know, were didn't grow up in Africa. But,
or did they? Some of them did? None of them did. Okay, none of them did. So when they see snow,
I like my dogs. When I used to let them outside in the snow, they used to borrow through it,
roll in it. But, you know, when my mother used to bring her dog back from Florida when she
came to bed, a dog never saw snow before. I mean, I got to see the what is this out here.
It's frozen stuff. Am I supposed to touch it? Or what am I supposed to do? Do you have names for
these animals? Do they actually have names? Do you call them by their names? Yes, virtually
every single one of them does. And in my experience, if I haven't assigned a name to one within
about 24 hours, a bit of it arriving someone on staff will come up with a pretty good. Now,
be honest now. I want to honest question. You ever go up to them and say, give me a kiss.
Go on, give me a kiss. You know, I don't know if I've ever said that exactly.
It's like your dog. You always say, go on, give me your kiss. But it is surprising that there are
some animals that would like nothing better than that, including some of the members of the
camel family, like the camels themselves and some of the alpacas and some of the other animals
that might have been bottled raised. So they're so habituated to people that they'll come right
up and put their face in your face. Here's my camel story. So we're broadcasting from the Milwaukee
zoo. It was during that thing they do in September or late August. I think they do the food thing,
you know, zoo alacard. Yeah, zoo alacard. We're broadcasting zoo alacard. And every radio station
had its own area there where we used to, you know, where we broadcast from. So they put us
near the camels. The problem was the camel spit. And they spit in a long distance. And we were
getting hit. And I told the lady from the zoo, I can't, we can't be here. I mean, that every
reverberant small, the camel can't spit. So they had to move us away a little bit from this,
there's one particular thing. He didn't want us there for some reason. Oh, why? Then like,
we were playing music. Maybe the music was too low. Maybe you didn't like the oldies we were playing.
But anyway, it was spitting at us. So that's my, that's my camel story. And
Wabotard bank camels were quickly humps. Now, one, you got two humps, you got three, two lumps,
two humps, one hump. What's the difference? Well, that's, that's an excellent question.
There are actually three species of true camels alive today. And that one's the Arabian camel,
often called a dromedary in this country. Oh, he's a dromedary, yeah. Got the one hump. It's
by far the most common camel in the world today, probably 90% of the world's camels are, are these
Arabian types. And I've seen those far south as, as Kenya, northern Kenya and Africa, but they
range all the way west to, or yeah, to the Atlantic and in the Sahara and then throughout the
Middle East and as far east as India. And then there are also two species that have two humps,
one's called the back tree and camel, which, which we have a safari lake Geneva that does have
two humps and it's been domesticated for thousands of years. And the final one is called the wild
camel. It also has two humps, but it's in a danger species only found in China and Mongolia.
Let's talk about people visiting safari lake Geneva. And you say, just 10 minutes from downtown
Lake Geneva, you can find this is GPS and or look online. There are rules about the car,
what kind of cars you can bring in. Yes, there are. Okay, let's get through these rules. Sure,
we need to have doors on your vehicle. That, that means you Jeep owners. And I guess Bronco owners
now too. Well, they have a flaps and they could take them off. Yeah, you don't want those. That's
right. Yeah. Also, we need a, we need sides on your, your vehicle. And again, I'm talking to the,
the Jeep owners, but you could all have your sun roof open. But in other words, if you had a Jeep
that the top could not be, be off, although the, the sun roof panels could. And that's what won't,
really a fun experience is to have the kids out, out the top of the, the sun roof, just like an
African safari. And beyond that, we would do allow convertibles as long as the, the top is up.
Now, what about, you know, you want to cars emitting like bad oil fumes in the back.
True. If your cars burning a lot of oil, don't bring it in first of all, it's not good for humans
or animals to breathe that stuff in. So, but is here a limit to how many people can be in the car?
No, there is not. There is a limit to how many cars per hour we allow through. Okay, let's talk
about that. 30 cars per hour and eight different installments or shifts. People are sometimes confused
because we have this time entry. Do they have to be in and out with in an hour and they certainly
do not. Yeah, how long does it take to drive through? Well, it might take, well, it's, it's a little
over an hour or so, sorry, it's a little a mile and we ask people not to drive faster than two
miles per hour. So, even if you didn't stop at all, you'd be in for over 30 minutes, but of course,
people want to stop and take some pictures and feed the animals. So, you know, I would say you
want a budget at least 45 minutes each time through and most people go through a second time.
There's, you know, a charge to go through as many times. Oh, really? You just circle around,
huh? That's right. And it's probably worth mentioning with the time entry that if someone
is running late or coming early, but by all means, just come on over. We don't need people waiting
on the road. And also, the ticket is good for the whole day. So, if it's raining in the morning,
when you were supposed to come, that's great. Free to come in the afternoon. So, it's like,
it's like car wash. It's good all day long. That's right. What is open rain or shine?
Yeah. Now, I noticed sometimes on the Facebook page, the animals are in for the day and you kind of
closed it down. Why would you bring the animals in? Did I ever see that on Facebook or did I have
a dream one day about that? Well, it's quite likely that maybe the giraffes weren't visible.
That's it. That's what it was. Yeah. And that's the case if we have lightning or rain.
Oh, that's right. Yeah. That's right. But otherwise, most of the other animals are real
troopers about it. So, it's only if it's really coming down that they start to seek shelter.
Do they come right up to the car? Then could you feed them from your cars or no?
Yes, you sure can. You can feed the giraffes, but not from your car. That's a separate experience
where you experience that on foot. But you are still allowed to drive in with the giraffes,
which makes us one of only maybe half a dozen places in the country where you can actually
drive your car. What do you bring in your car to feed them? For most of the animals,
it is the specialized grain of primary ingredients corn. For the giraff experience,
it's typically romaine lettuce or some kind of brows that we've cut from the local.
Oh, I love romaine lettuce. That's why I'm sympathical here. But you can't bring food in from
your house to feed the animals, right? Because it may be bad for them, no? That's a possibility.
It's actually not even legal per USDA regulation. Like they didn't want to get skittles or anything
like that and make them sick. All right. Jake Christie is here from Safari Lake Geneva. We're
going to tell you how you can make reservations to bring your family there. We got the season
opening up tomorrow. Got reservations already set up for tomorrow? Yes, we sure do. I know. You
guys sell out sometimes. I know that. All right. So you might as well get these in now. It's 749
WRJ and hometown radio repressed. A civic media station of 1400 AM 99.9 FM 98 for one FM
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Three dog night. I love it. Thanks, Don. You know what? They got their name from three dog night?
I'm going to tell you a little background of that because I know look on your face, so you don't know.
You know I don't. All right. I'm thinking with that hat, you might know because it's Australian.
Back in Australia, the average in these, it was very cold at night. They sleep with a dog
to keep them warm. No. And if they really coldly slept with two dogs, it was really
ice cold. It was a three dog night. Amazing. And that's where the name comes, some three dog night.
So you came here thinking you're not going to learn anything. You said, I know everything
about animals. You just learned something. I sure did. Thank you, Don. You take that back and do
whatever you want with that knowledge. Okay. If people want to make reservations for this J.
Christie, by the way, Kitchie Justinian from Safari, Lake Geneva, it's, is this the only drive
through animal kingdom in Wisconsin? As far as you know, they're actually our,
since we open, we, I guess imitation is the serious form of ladder. So we've got,
there are actually three now, including us. Really? Do you want to open more or is this just
way too much to handle one? You know, if I thought any of the kids would really had a fire in
the belly desire to take these, these over, I might be able to be convinced to do that. But so far,
I'm not too sure. So this is a big hand. This big, this is big. All right. So if people want to make,
first of all, let's get your website. What's the website address? It's safari Lake Geneva.com.
Oh, look at you. Lucky to get that. Safari Lake Geneva.com also on Facebook. That's where I
follow you. That's right. And Instagram. And it's, I never got onto Instagram. I was just,
uh, that was a Facebook guy. Old people go to Facebook. I was told, that's true. My daughter said,
only old people go there. Is it you on Facebook? So yeah, sadly enough, I am. Okay. So Safari
Lake Geneva.com or, um, just look on Facebook. Safari Lake Geneva. Once you put Safari and it
pops right up. So if people want to make a reservation, how do they do it? Go to Safari Lake
Geneva.com. That's the only way to do it and click on buy tickets. And it's just that simple. So
choose the date when you think you'll be, well, when you know you'll be coming and choose,
do you give your best estimate for what time you think you're going to arrive? And again,
if you're a little earlier, a little late, that's not going to be a problem. We do give you a one
hour window to aim for. And feel free to purchase some animal feed in advance. But you can always
buy more when you get there, especially if you decide to loop through again and you've run out of
feed. And it's probably worth mentioning that, uh, with valid photo ID, our, uh, military personnel
passed in present, as well as, as, uh, first responders are entitled to one free bowl of animal
feed for every person in their party. Oh, wow. That's a five dollar value. Look at you supporting
American vets. Look at you. It's the least we could do. Yeah. So when you make the reservation,
uh, you get an approximate time you're going to be there, but you say it could be a little off
on that. So other times, what are the, the day seven days a week? That's right. And what are the
times? Obviously, it's not nighttime. So that's right. Uh, we open at nine. And we close at six,
but the last admission is at five p.m. Okay. Then do you have private parties there? Let me
private groups want to come in and just take over the place for a day or do you don't do that? Well,
we do still, uh, does it have a wedding there? Is what I'm trying to say? Well, I did. But, uh,
that's the only wedding we've ever had there. Don't tell me you put a bow tie on the
giraffe's neck. Don't tell me you do that. I wrote it on a camel. Okay. I did you really?
Look at you. Yeah. Both ties on any of the animals. We have had multiple proposals happen there,
though. Really? Yeah. Got down in one knee in front of the, uh, giraffes usually. Wow. Look
at that. Do you have any babies born there? Yes. In fact, we've had one born just two days ago.
Alpaca. So every year, we have multiple babies born. Wow. And you'd be mentioned licensing. So
you're really strictly, it's like radio stations. I mean, we have the FCC keeping an eye on us 24
seven. Make sure we don't do anything cockeyed. So you have people actually monitoring what you do
there or how does that work? Uh, that is right. We are subject to surprise inspections from the
US Department. Really? That's right. It's like us. We get surprise inspections whenever they feel
like it at the front door. I've been through two of them here with the FCC knocked on our front door,
showed his badge and he said, we're coming in. Wow. Luckily, we have nothing to hide.
We don't. But anyway, they come in. He knows only two, two, uh, regulated the government
regulates only two industries in America, the US government radio stations and TV stations and
nuclear power plants. Amazing. They're the only people that have to be licensed in this country by
the government radio TV stations and nuclear power plants. Okay. Now, you have to be, you have to
have licensing for the state of Wisconsin. I assume to tell what a business. Uh, that is true.
That's right. You have a lot of university students want to come through veterinary students who
want to learn a little bit. They would do like internships there. Yes, we absolutely do. And uh,
this year, I would guess we'll have close to 10. And some of our first interns are now actually
practicing vets themselves are working at zoos throughout the US. Look at you, building tomorrow's
veterinarians. Oh, that's great. Well, this has been terrific. Let's a quick review here. This is
Safari Lake Geneva. Jay Christie started. Why didn't what year did you start this 2016 when
you left the Racine Zoo? That's right. So you started this in 2016. Uh, it's just about 10 minutes
from downtown. You can look up where the, uh, where the address is and get there. It's really
easy to get to. And you can go to the website, make your reservations right there for your family.
It's a great way to spend the summer day, a spring day, a fall day. When do you close for the season?
What the October 31st? All right. Halloween. See you go from Mayday to Halloween.
Very easy to remember. Go to the website Safari Lake Geneva dot com Safari Lake Geneva dot com.
If you missed any part of this, this broadcast will be podcast around 10 o'clock this morning. It
stays up forever. So if you say, gee, I only heard the tail end of it. I can be with jungle Jay
have to say, go to our podcast wherever you get your podcast, Apple Spotify WRJN dot com civic media.
Wherever you get your podcast, you can get this podcast around 10 o'clock this morning.
Jungle Jay, thank you. Thank you, Don. I'm glad you wore the hat. I don't leave home without it.
You look rugged. You look like a rugged. You look like a guy who in the Atari. You look like that
movie, the guy in the John Wayne movie. Thanks for joining us, Jay. Anytime you welcome back anytime
you want to come back here. I'll catch you tomorrow morning. I'm Don Rosen. Thanks for joining us here at WRJN
all town radio. We're friends.