DeYoung Family Zoo

DeYoung Family Zoo
Date opened 1990
Location Wallace, Michigan
Coordinates 45°18′29″N 87°38′42″W / 45.30793°N 87.644913°WCoordinates: 45°18′29″N 87°38′42″W / 45.30793°N 87.644913°W
Number of animals 450
Number of species 125
Owner Bud DeYoung, Carrie Cramer
Website thedeyoungfamilyzoo.com

The DeYoung Family Zoo is a zoo that opened to the public in 1990. It is located in Wallace, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan about 15 miles (24 km) north of Menominee. The zoo is owned by Bud DeYoung and Carrie Cramer. The facility has many exotic felines, and provides visitor interactions, as well as baby animals to pet and bottle feed. The zoo has a license to breed the cats.

Animals

The zoo's most popular attractions are tigers, leopards and lions. There are also Russian Grizzly Bears, Mountain Lions, Wolves, Zorilla, Marbled Polecats, Kinkajou, Coyotes, Bennett Wallabies, Ringtailed Lemurs, White Bengal Tigers, a Wild Mustang, Coatis, Camels, Yak, White-fronted Capuchin, Binturong,Chimpanzee, Spotted Hyenas, Striped Hyenas, Boa Constrictors, Burmese Pythons, Anaconda, Many different kinds of Lizards, Mouflon Sheep (Petunia), Lanner Falcon, Crested Porcupines, Hippopotamus, Black Bears, Alligators (that Bud and Carrie swim with and catch on the weekends in the Summer), Spider Monkeys, Bobcats, Badgers, Emus, Red Kangaroo, New Guinea Singing Dogs, Olive Baboons, Black Backed Jackals, Lynx, Arctic Foxes, Ducks, Geese, Chickens, Rabbits, Palm Civets, Tortises, Pine Martens, Fennec Fox, Albino Raccoon, and Red Fox. Bud and Carrie also participate in rehabilitation of local species of animals including Whitetail deer, Raccoons, and anything else that needs help.

Siberian tigers

In 2008, the zoo successfully bred two endangered Siberian tigers, which produced a litter of four.[1]

Attractions

Attractions include a petting zoo full of domestic animals to meet and feed. Over 400 animals from all over the world. Visitors can watch the Zoo Animal Programs and enjoy Animal Feeding Times. The zoo offers hands on education, up close family fun, and animal education programs. The park strives to educate the public on animal issues, conservation needs, and proper animal husbandry.

My Life is a Zoo

My Life is a Zoo is a television show on National Geographic Wild cable station, filmed at the DeYoung Family Zoo.[2] Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times wrote that DeYoung and Cramer "should be commended for their exotic-animal rescues and abundant enthusiasm but perhaps not for their hygiene," citing an occasion in the series in which Cramer is seen kissing a hyena on the lips.[3]

References

  1. Natalie Zimmermann (2008-07-28). "Cute, cuddly and endangered". Upper Michigans Source.com. Retrieved 2009-03-23.
  2. My Life Is a Zoo- Nat Geo Wild
  3. Neil Genzlinger (2010) "All Creatures Great and Repulsive", The New York Times, April 21, 2010.

External links