So my idea was to start a petting zoo! Wanganui doesn't currently have one and I always find this strange since the people here love animals and I know quite a few people who have crazy little collections. Perhaps they just don't want to share them. I personally dislike children so a petting zoo is perhaps an bad idea for me too since the majority of the custom would be people with children. I think I could perhaps tolerate them though if they were there to appreciate my animals.
So what would I have?
Sheep of course. Llamas/Alpacas (even though they scare me), goats, pigs, rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese, guinea pigs, cows, donkeys, lizards etc etc etc
I even planned out admission fees and money making ventures. I thought entry should be cheap, $5 for an adult $2 for a child. That way on the brochure it would look really enticing with lots of bang for your buck. The catch of course would be to offer loads of pay for extras that the kids would pester their parents to pay for. Pony rides for $2. Little bags of pellets for feeding the animals $1. Pig races, where the kids and parents can both be involved $2 for a ticket, choose which pig you think will win and if you're correct you win a bag of lollies to share.
Another idea I had was lamb feeding of course. I think this would have to be free though and just a first in first serve basis, 4 feeds a day and what ever lambs I can scrounge from neighbouring farmers. I could offer to raise them as a free service and then return them to them afterwards. Win win for both parties as the farmers get a hassle free orphan at no expense and I would get a good supply of adorable babies to draw in the punters without having a surplus of adult sheep that aren't required.
There would have to be a few adult sheep kept around though. I reckon I could harness train a few and put them in front of a little carriage. $5 a ride for two kids or one kid and one adult. It would have to be a minimum of 2 sheep pulling the cart but 4 all harnessed up would look impressive.
The milk from the lambs could be sourced from the cows. After all most dairy breeds produce far too much for just one calf so in theory I could have lambs and a calf all being supplied by one cow. Milking could be another demonstration for the public or perhaps even another pay to have a go at thing.
There would be set times for holding rabbit and guinea pigs in a controlled area. A comfy chair to set the kid in with a towel on it's knee and then add the animals. Safe for the rodents and no mess for the humans. In theory!
I would love a reptile room too with large tanks containing whatever types of lizards or snakes that are permitted in this country and special handling times for these too. Also feeding times at some point during the day as an extra little event for the customers.
I would also love for it to have a large herb and vegetable garden for people to wander around and show their kids how things grow. There would be lots of little signs to say what things are and how long they take to grow.
There would of course have to be a cafe and shop. I thought it would be cool to sell produce from the animals and garden. Fresh grown fruit and veg could be used in the cafe or sold fresh. Eggs from the chickens and ducks could be sold. Wollen clothing items made from the sheep or alpaca fleece. Honey from local bees. Herbs from the garden could be sold dried, fresh or even in beauty products. Perhaps even milk from the cows.
I would love to have a lake for the ducks and geese. Preferably with fish in so that people can feed those too. Paddle boats could be hired. In my mind there would be a grass verge on one side for people to picnic on leading down to a pier where they could look into the water and feed the fish or climb onto the boats. The rest of the lake would have a forest edge with a walking track through it and at some point a tree tower that can be climbed to get a good view over the park.
So what do you think? Am I nuts or am I onto something? All I gotta do now is find a million odd dollars to set the place up and I'll be away!
