I apologize in advance that I don't have much information to offer about this facility in this initial post; I only saw that there wasn't an existing thread for it and I'm sure some of the members here would have information they'd be able to contribute. I first heard about this facility in September of 2018, when their planned acquisition of giraffe Tajiri from Animal Adventure Park was announced (this transfer was ultimately cancelled the next month). As per this document, the facility is built on 49 acres of land in Broadway, North Carolina. It's a branch of the Wildlife Conservation Center in Virginia, which states in its FAQ: "Our organization houses and raises endangered African animals, specifically African Antelope species, to help prevent their extinction by providing offspring to be used for reintroduction into their native habitats". Keystone conservation programs at the Virginia facility are with Addax, Scimitar-horned oryx, and bongo. Land area of the Carolina Wildlife Conservation Park: Aerial imagery of site development as of February 19th, 2021: (Warning: multiple images under spoiler tag) Spoiler: Site development detailed imagery I reached out for more information so hopefully I receive a response
I've been keeping an eye on this place, and I'm excited that this will hopefully be open to the public, unlike Virginia!
I hope they're able to open, and I wish them all the luck in the world. Since they'll be in North Carolina, maybe they can help in Red Wolf conservation as well. Aside from all that, any updates @csartie ?
I don't, I'm sorry! I tried reaching out to the WCC and the North Carolina facility's page both via email and on Facebook but never received a response. I couldn't find anything in a brief search just now either. The actual location of the facility is registered with the USDA on a dealer license under Keith Holm in his name; the facility name Carolina Wildlife Conservation Center was also inspected for an exhibitors license, but at Iron Station, NC. Possibly meaning there was a location change..? For the Broadway location the last inspection took place in February 2020 -- no mammals at that time. Three further inspections were attempted in April, June, and July 2021 but the owner was out of state in all cases. The dealer license for this location was cancelled in August. A pre-licensing inspection took place at the Iron Station location in March 2020, with only a single groundhog listed for mammals. Nothing more about it since that report, it was never licensed thus far despite meeting the requirements to exhibit animals, the application is still open.
Thank you for sharing!! That's so odd because genuinely there used to be a post on their website about the facility (long since deleted, though)? They 100% had heavy involvement with it ( https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article217797280.html ), and Animal Adventure Park implied outright ownership in their initial statement regarding Tajiri ( Animal Adventure Park ). Regarding my last post, I got the Carolina Wildlife Conservation Park mixed up with the Carolina Wildlife Conservation Center (an entirely different facility), so disregard everything I said about that. No potential location change, just me being incompetent The registrant of the Broadway location was asked last year when the facility would open and he responded "Just taking it slow. Who knows". So... Who knows!
