Protecting Animals for Generations
Not long after returning from Pittsburgh, Ray and I spent a few days visiting sites in West Tennessee with our older daughter and her children. Ray and I have enjoyed zoos through the years, but this was our first visit to a safari park. Ray drove and our daughter rode in the passenger seat. I sat in my preferred spot in the back between the grandchildren. We all relished being up close and personal with God’s four-legged creatures at Tennessee Safari Park. We crept along the five-and-a-half-mile park road for more than two hours.
Here are some of our favorites in the order of their appearance.
After the drive, we visited the park’s safari walk with its petting zoo, . . .
aviary, . . .
small primates . . .
including an entertaining troop of squirrel monkeys, . . .
roaming peafowl, . . .
wallabies, . . .
a friendly giraffe,
and more.
Tennessee is home to 59 Tennessee Century Farms. Tennessee Safari Park is located on one of them. The park is family owned and accepts no donations or government funds. The park is located on Hillcrest, a farm owned by the Conley family since 1858.
Claude H. Conley I collected pheasants, peafowl, and various species of deer. He instilled a love for and an appreciation of animals in his son Claude M. Conley. Claude M. decided to help save animals from around the world by protecting them on the family farm. He began to collect a menagerie. In 2007 Claude M. and his sons, Claude H. Conley II and Jon Wesley Conley, opened the farm as a safari park. It is home to one of the largest collections of zoo animals in the country.
A prime focus of the park is rare and endangered species. The park supplies babies for major zoos and for projects that reintroduce animals into the wild. Many animals born at Tennessee Safari Park will spend their entire lives there.
During our visit, we met members of the third and fourth generation of Conleys. Some of the animal species at the park are in their 14th generation.
I don’t know how many generations of squirrel monkeys live at the Tennessee Safari Park, but we loved watching see this mama . . .
scamper far and wide while her baby held on tight . . .
with its tail wrapped around her belly.
When time came to leave the safari park, we tramped to the car with muddy shoes and hearts full of wonder. I am grateful for the Conley family who have been protecting animals for generations.
Praise the Lord from the earth,
Sea monsters, and all the ocean depths;
Fire and hail, snow and clouds;
Stormy wind, fulfilling His word;
Mountains and all hills;
Fruit trees and all cedars;
Animals and all cattle;
Crawling things and winged fowl;
Kings of the earth and all peoples;
Rulers and all judges of the earth;
Both young men and virgins;
Old men and children.
Psalm 148:7-12
