TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Former Zoo Leader's 'Safari Wild' Is Now 'Safari Adventures'

ADVERTISEMENT

By BAIRD HELGESON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 3, 2009

Perhaps the controversy surrounding Safari Wild was too wild for its name. Or maybe the owners wanted a name more befitting the experience they wish for visitors.

Either way, the yet-to-open exotic-animal park north of Lakeland is now known as Safari Adventures, according to Polk County records.

The owners aren't saying what prompted the change. Former Lowry Park Zoo President Lex Salisbury and his partner, St. Petersburg veterinarian Stephen Wehrmann, did not return messages seeking comment.

It's been a rough year for Safari Wild.

The owners made headlines around the nation last year when 15 recently-acquired patas monkeys swam off an island where they were being held and bolted into the Green Swamp. The last surviving monkeys were rounded up in December.

The escape prompted an inquiry into Salisbury's role as zoo director and owner of a fledgling animal park, a for-profit venture. Salisbury was forced to resign from the taxpayer-supported zoo after it was discovered he used zoo animals and equipment to help build Safari Wild.

A business-naming expert said the name change is too subtle to disconnect it from the bad press.

Sometimes a new name can seem like a huge change from the inside, said William Lozito, president of Strategic Name Development in Minneapolis. "But from the outside, people think, 'What's the difference?'"

It's not uncommon for companies to change their names to shed the scars of bad press.

ValuJet Airlines took the name of its merger partner, AirTran, in part to escape the bad publicity that ensued when a ValuJet crashed in the Florida Everglades in 1996.

Safari Wild's name change was successful if the owners sought to better describe the experience, Lozito said. In this case, the word "adventure" is more descriptive than "wild."

Wehrmann and Salisbury bought about 260-acres in the Green Swamp and plan to offer African-style safari tours in which visitors will pay to see zebras, cheetahs and other exotic species. The project is stalled by permitting issues.

Polk County building and permitting officials aren't sure why the name changed. The Safari Wild Website no longer works.

The animal park remains under the corporate name of Safari Wild.

The move comes just as Charles and Joan Paprocki, charter boat owners in Panama City Beach, incorporated under the name Safari Adventures.

They plan to use their old wooden boat to run eco-tours from a waterfront restaurant called Boon Docks. The boat is called "The Safari."

Joan Paprocki said she isn't bothered by an exotic-animal park using the name she claimed in January.

"I've never heard of them," she said.

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

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT