TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Safari Wild Failed To Get Proper Permits, Water Agency Says

News Channel photo by PAUL LAMISON

Water managers say this island and 8-foot-deep, 60-foot wide moat were built without permits.

ADVERTISEMENT

By BAIRD HELGESON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 25, 2008

TAMPA - Water managers say Lowry Park Zoo CEO Lex Salisbury and his business partner ignored environmental regulations in developing a planned exotic-animal park in a protected area of Polk County.

Safari Wild didn't get the proper permits before constructing buildings, putting up fences and dredging land on the property, the Southwest Florida Water Management District has determined.

The work included a 1-acre island and moat that once contained 15 patas monkeys, which escaped in April and made news nationwide.

Safari Wild is in the 870-square-mile Green Swamp, source of the Hillsborough, Withlacoochee and Peace rivers, making it critical to the Tampa Bay area's drinking water supply.

The water management district is the third government agency to question work at Safari Wild, a 258-acre site north of Lakeland where paying visitors would take African-style safari tours to see exotic species.

Salisbury's involvement with the for-profit park has raised conflict-of-interest questions. He is on leave from the zoo while the city of Tampa completes an audit, expected to be completed in mid-December.

The water management district identified 13 structures built or land changes made without approval, said Robyn Felix, spokeswoman with the agency. Each violation can result in fines of several hundred to several thousand dollars per acre.

Salisbury and his partner, St. Petersburg veterinarian Stephen Wehrmann, continued to do work even after being notified of the violations, Felix said Monday.

The water management district will propose a fine in a couple of weeks.

Salisbury and Wehrmann did not return messages seeking comment.

Safari Wild's owners have begun seeking environmental permits for future construction, Felix said. Earlier this month, they met with the water management district staff on expanding roadways and mitigating some of the problems.

The owners don't plan significant new development, Felix said.

The owners told the district they believed the agricultural land didn't require an environmental permit, Felix said.

They were incorrect, she said.

The permits are designed to protect wetlands, ensure stormwater runoff quality and reduce flooding caused by new development.

Here are highlights from the list of violations at Safari Wild:

— A combined hay barn and office building that equaled 16,122 square feet.

— A 15,814-square-foot visitor welcome center.

— A rhinoceros pen and barn.

— The island with moat where the monkeys lived. Most of the primates have been recaptured.

Two structures built without authorization — a horse barn and a primate structure — are owned by Lowry Park Zoo, which planned to send animals there as a break from their display in confined areas of the zoo.

Still, Felix said, the water management district will hold Safari Wild — not the zoo — responsible for those violations.

Dave Moore, executive director of the water management district, sits on the zoo's board of directors. Moore has no role in assessing the violations or fines, which must be approved by the agency's full board, Felix said.

In the past, Moore said he was concerned the zoo board never approved the zoo's close relationship with Safari Wild.

The other agencies that have raised questions about the work at Safari Wild are the Polk County planning office, which issued a stop-work order over concerns that buildings there are more substantial than the basic animal barns permitted, and the Florida Department of Community Affairs, which filed a notice of violation because the Green Swamp has been designated for special environmental protection.

Reporter Baird Helgeson can be reached at (813) 259-7668.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT