Love of Animals Leads to Business Venture For Enterprising Youth

Love of Animals Leads to Business Venture For Enterprising Youth AG WORLD 25-4-24 After starting his career operating a petting zoo at the tender age of 12, Jonathan Jespersen of Pickardville, Alberta, has kept up a full schedule of "shows" for the past five years. His biggest commitment is a 2 1/2-month exhibit he puts on at the world famous West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta, the world's largest shopping mall. "The Funny Farm Petting Zoo" makes a profit and gives him the money he needs to support his beloved menagerie of animals. Jonathan originally began putting together his collection of unique and interesting pets just for the love of them. Then, an acquaintance asked if he'd be willing to put on a petting zoo at a local event. The mobile collection of animals has been a hot commodity at local fairs and community promotions ever since. Jespersen entertains and educates children and adults alike with his travelling menagerie of up to 100 animals. The collection has changed and become more diverse since he first began with exotic chickens, goats, a lamb, a baby calf, kittens, ducks, hedgehogs, angora rabbits, pot-bellied pigs, a turkey and a guinea fowl. Some of the animals in his current collection include Miniature donkeys and horses, llamas, Fainting Goats, Katahdin Sheep, Barbados Black Bellied Sheep, Jacob's Four Horned Sheep, Miniature Zebu cattle, emu, Dexter cattle, French Lop rabbits, yak, buffalo, and alpacas. The public display is just a small sample of what Jonathan has at home, so he can rotate the animals he takes with him, placing less demand on the animals and making the experience a little different each time for visitors. Jespersen has also become a small-scale breeder, raising and selling offspring. The assortment of zoo stock is contained by a portable 20 by 20 foot white picket fence with a double gate to discourage any escapes. He also purchased three additional pens made from steel tubing and wire mesh, which he sets up along one side of the wooden fence. These steel pens have no public access and serve as observation pens for some of the larger livestock. He places information cards on the fence in front of many of the more unique animals so people can read and learn more about them. Jespersen bought a used 72-passenger bus to transport animals in. He pulls an 8 by 28-ft. tandem flatdeck trailer with an 8 by 20-ft. barn built onto it. On the front of the trailer, he stores fence panels that set up to form a 40 by 40-ft. enclosure around the barn. The barn contains 15 pens for displaying exotic birds and animals less suitable for public handling. Jespersen often has up to three petting zoos running at the same time in different locations. In addition, he has developed a "parade version" of a petting zoo by installing a fence on the perimeters of a horse-pulled wagon owned by his family. Their team of draft horses pulls the wagon filled with zoo animals and workers, making a unique parade entry. "The petting zoo is fun for me, even though it's hard work too, and it's nice to make a little money doing something I like," he says. As a 2001 high school graduate, Jespersen has no plans to quit his thriving business, and says, at the moment, he will see where life leads him. Contact: FARM SHOW Follow-up, Jonathan Jespersen, The Funny Farm Petting Zoo, R.R. 1, Pickardville, Alberta, Canada T0G 1W0 (ph 780 349-2776); E-mail: pet_zoo@hotmail.com).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.