Located just off FM 1988, Wildlife Wonderland in Livingston has been a home to creatures not normally seen in Polk County. It is run by Miranda Sanders and Nick Bishop, who live on the property and devote their lives to those on site. However, the rescue has also been at the center of controversy over the past few weeks.
Sanders has always loved animals. When she was young, her mother didn’t want her around creatures with fur because of Sanders’ allergies. So, she settled on just 10 dogs and 13 cats. She also had reptiles and a lemur. She found out lemurs should not be alone, so a companion lemur was acquired.
Though she was told differently, lemurs can be extremely difficult as pets. They can rip apart a dwelling quickly and have special behavioral and dietary needs. Sanders began putting out social media postings to let others know the complications that come with owning them. That soon made her the default pound for exotic animals.
“People started surrendering animals left and right – even from different states – lemurs and kinkajous and things,” Sanders said. “Before even being a rescue, we took in two kinkajous and two lemurs in one year.
“Because the breeders do not inform you of what you’re truly up against. (New owners) realize, ‘This animal is aggressive,’ or ‘It’s tearing up my house,’ and they don’t want to take the responsibility anymore.”
Realizing the problem was more common than first believed, Sanders began to help where she could.
She eventually moved to Polk County in Livingston. Nick Bishop joined in three years ago to take on a heavy workload. He has constructed habitats for anything from Meishan pigs to camels to crocodiles. It is an impressive spread, all to help the animals live their best life.
In Florida, Sanders had a smaller setup, bringing animals to schools, rehabs and camps for educational presentations. Occasionally, they would have tours or host those with court-ordered community service. They feel helping animals can open many more doors than picking up trash on the road.
“We like working with people who need a second chance as well,” Sanders said. “We don’t just stop at animals.”
Sanders did admit a person has to be a little crazy about animals to take on what she and Bishop have endured. There are no vacations, no days off. The rescue requires care 365 days a year. It has been just the two of them, as they have not been in Livingston long enough to build a volunteer group.
June of last year is when Sanders and Bishop took Wildlife Wonderland to Polk County. They have worked to exhaustion to plan and construct new enclosures fit for lemurs, kangaroos, Cape Barren geese, boa constrictors and emus, to name a few. Many of the structures brought from Florida were worn and soon in worse shape following the move.
Wildlife Wonderland began to receive negative publicity when a boa constrictor was found by a UPS driver. Rumors on the Internet then spread, that the two claim to be untrue.
“She has been in the hands of (held by) like over 2,000 people over the years,” Sanders said of the incident. “We had everybody in their transport tubs when we got here. We didn’t have everything set up when we came, because the movers were supposed to get here the day after we did, and they didn’t. They came here like three days later. We put everybody out to soak, and her tub wasn’t secured properly. So, she got out and the UPS driver found the snake, and apparently was a follower (of Wildlife Wonderland’s social media). But, there’s been no King Cobras in cardboard boxes (something said to be fabricated on social media) at all. I would hope we would be in jail if that were a thing.”
About three weeks after arriving in Polk County, Sanders and Bishop said an ordinance was passed by the Polk County Commissioners Court.
“We made contact with them though before we moved here,” Bishop said. “We called Fish and Wildlife, we called animal control, and we called the sheriff’s department.”
“We called the city, county and state,” Sanders added.
“The reason that we called was to verify that us bringing our animals here was OK,” Bishop said. “It was 100% OK, there was nothing limiting us. They pretty much said, ‘Yeah, you’re good. There’s no ordinance or no laws prohibiting keeping the animals.’ Pretty much, you’re safe, you’re good to go. I called the game warden and spoke to him on the phone, and I gave him the whole laundry list of all the animals we have, including the venomous snakes and everything. He told us on the phone that we were OK to bring all the animals.”
Polk County Judge Sydney Murphy said law enforcement had the ordinance and her court only approved it.
“We just sign off,” Murphy said. “So, the request comes from the department or the elected official. The sheriff came, and had this wildlife ordinance. We didn’t necessarily know why or how it came about. He said that they were concerned. He did say we have some facilities now that are bringing in these dangerous animals.
“We’re just accepting it into the record of the court. The only thing we did with the animal ordinance, is to make sure what we’re doing falls within the parameters of the law. We do ask them to quote the statutes. (The) only thing we check is to make sure that the statutes they are quoting are correct, but otherwise the court really is just accepting something into the record from the elected official that is in charge of that.”
Bishop said the first time an ordinance was passed, it was hand-delivered to them on their property.
“We looked at this ordinance and said, ‘OK, this doesn’t apply to us.’ They thought it applied to us. So then, a week later, they came back with a new revised ordinance that did apply to us.”
The first ordinance was for state permits, which Sanders said did not apply to Wildlife Wonderland, because the animals they owned were not regulated. Therefore, there were no permits to obtain.
“Then, they went and did research and figured out that USDA is a federal permit you need to have if you are exhibiting. But, they ended up attaching that to the (second) ordinance,” Bishop said.
This time, the ordinance passed regulated Wildlife Wonderland from ownership and keeping the animals they have cared for over the years. Sanders and Bishop were planning to eventually obtain the USDA permit, because they wanted to show the animals to the community or have visitors in the future. However, they were also planning on a two-year buildout, having time to construct what is necessary to meet those requirements.
“Polk County needs something like this where they can bring their friends and families and be a part of something,” Bishop said. “There’s not enough here to do in this county at all, especially for the kids.”
It is estimated that there are around 16 different types of animals living on the grounds, with 70 total. That is, until their attorney advised that they be moved. Now, Sanders and Bishop are fighting a few different legal battles, and an arrest has been made. The Enterprise will continue that portion of the story in the next installment.
