Hearing may halt Safari Wild in its tracks

The fate of a controversial wild animal park in Polk County owned by a former Lowry Park Zoo executive could be decided next month.

A hearing for Safari Wild, a 260-acre park built in the Green Swamp, will be held April 27-30 in Bartow, according to the state Department of Community Affairs.

One of Safari Wild's owners, former Lowry Park Zoo Chief Executive Officer Lex Salisbury, has told county and state officials the park is a working game farm and ranch. Salisbury has said Safari Wild is an agri-tourist project that should be allowed in the Green Swamp, which has other working farms.

Salisbury's partner in the venture, St. Petersburg veterinarian Stephen Wehrmann, could not be reached for comment Monday.

Polk growth managers approved the park in October but state officials appealed the decision, saying the project violates several state laws regarding commercial development on environmentally sensitive land.

The Green Swamp feeds four major rivers and supplies drinking water to much of Central Florida.

Structures have already been built on the property, but Safari Wild is in limbo until a decision is reached at the hearing. That means no new structures can be constructed and the park can't accept paying visitors, state community affairs spokesman James Miller said.

The state took issue with Salisbury failing to obtain building permits for some structures and Safari Wild's proximity to wetland areas.

The state also determined that a proposed restaurant on the property was a commercial use; that a visitors center - a Welcome Barn - was intended for public use and doesn't fit the definition of agri-tourism; and that Safari Wild fails to conserve and protect environmental and economic resources.

Plans for the park originally included the welcome center, hotel cottages and about 1,000 animals from Africa and Asia that pre-booked guests could see with trained safari guides.

Safari Wild made national headlines in 2008 when 15 patas monkeys escaped from an island built on the property. The monkeys swam across a moat, hopped over a fence and scurried into the Green Swamp.

The escaped monkeys prompted an inquiry into Salisbury's role as zoo director and owner of a for-profit venture. A city of Tampa audit revealed supplies and animals from Lowry Park Zoo were transferred to Safari Wild while Salisbury was CEO of the taxpayer-supported zoo. Salisbury resigned from the $339,000-a-year job in December 2008.

On Friday, Lowry Park Zoo's board of trustees named Craig A. Pugh the new CEO. Pugh had served as the zoo's interim director following Salisbury's resignation. Mayor Pam Iorio and other city officials were pleased with Pugh's appointment, saying he helped rebuild the public's trust in the zoo following the Safari Wild fiasco.

Pugh said that all supplies and animals have been returned and that there is "absolute closure" in Salisbury's dealings with the zoo.