Friday, October 11, 2024
Dawn and Jim Hofferber, owners of Animal Haven, decided to downsize their operation.
They are in the process of relocating some of their exotic animals to other facilities.
Soon to be gone are the lions, tigers, bobcats, bears, crocodiles and other unique creatures. They have already shipped out a couple tigers and three bears. More are scheduled for new homes later this month.
What will remain on the 40-acre spread is the hoofstock (donkeys, miniature cows and horses, llamas, potbellied pigs, goats, sheep, etc), along with various birds such as peacocks and golden pheasants and a few slow-roaming tortoises.
They have been in business since 1997 and part of this decision to downsize is multifaceted.
“Both of our children have business and they are running those businesses [RH Liquidators in Waupaca and the 10La Corner Bar & Grill in Iola]. They do not want to take it over. So there is nothing left to do but to close it,” said Dawn Hofferber.
They live right next door and they did not want to sell the zoo outright. Instead they chose to remove the exotic zoo animals and focus on raising the other critters. “We’ve worked here all our lives. What are we supposed to do, go play checkers? We work. So he’s going to keep that [the other animals] and he’s going to buy and sell goats and donkeys,” said Hofferber.
They have not decided if they will keep the operation open on a limited basis where people can come and visit the remaining animals on their land. It is up in the air.
“We’re getting old and we can’t get any help anymore. I don’t want to work seven days a week anymore,” said Hofferber who also mentioned many people in the community have pleaded with them to stay open. For many people, visiting Animal Haven was a family tradition.
Her husband Jim battled throat and stomach cancer. He’s lost a lot of weight yet despite these setbacks, he is out in his work boots every day at 5 a.m., driving his UTV and doing chores. He does all the lawn mowing and pen cleaning. With the large carnivores gone is workload will be much easier.
Waupaca County will have to figure out a new plan for dealing with roadkill whitetail deer. For many years Animal Haven collected all of the roadkill deer in Waupaca County into order to feed their meat eaters. Each of the big cats required 40 pounds of meat every other day. Jim Hofferber spends huge amounts of time and labor butchering the carcasses to feed the beasts. He ranges from butchering 50 to 80 deer per month. Also, farmers donate lame cows as it saves on them money on veterinary bills.
There are miles of fencing. It’s a mix of hogwire, chain-link, railroad ties, utility poles, mesh panels and gates of all shapes and sizes. “I’ve always said someday I was going to count all the panels. It would be scary to count all the panels. They’ve done nothing but gone up and up. We built and bought what we could afford. And now we’re going to start taking some down,” said Hofferber.
With this downsizing they also they will be relieved of some of the more onerous work such as people flogging off unwanted animals on them and also regulation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the state of Wisconsin.
Dawn Hofferber recalled a story where a woman unknown to them sent a driver to drop off three bears. This was out-of-the-blue and unannounced. Dawn said they could not accept such animals without proper paperwork and refused to take them. The man said if she wasn’t going to take them, he was just going to drive down the road and let them go. Aghast at the idea of loose bears roaming around their neighboring area, she took them in and reported the situation to the state. For such an act of impromptu and coerced charity, Animal Haven received a fine.
Once they opened an indoor petting zoo but the rules were so ridiculous and burdensome they closed it down. A child, for example, could not pick up a rabbit and hold it. Instead, an employee had to hold the bunny or it had to be in a box.
Animal Haven is hosting a Hunter’s Moon party from 8:30 p.m. to midnight Saturday, Oct. 19. People can hear the howls, hoots and growls of the animal world at night. There will be a bonfire and people are encouraged to bring a flashlight. Admission is $12 and children 2 and under are free.
Animal Haven plans to have all the exotic animals gone by Oct. 31 which also has been their traditional time to close for the winter.
