2026, animals, education, Family, Nature, Travel

It Was Wild!

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About 90 miles outside of Columbus is The Wilds, a wildlife conservation center developed on reclaimed land that had been mined for coal for four decades.  Starting in the late 70s, the Ohio Zoological Commission began developing a plan for using that land for a special wildlife conservation area.  They began in 1984 with 9,154 acres and the first animals, the Przewalski Horse, an endangered wild species, were introduced.  Two years later, The Wilds opened to the public.  Today there are close to 500 animals, representing 19 species, that roam the acres of The Wilds.

YA and I learned about The Wilds through the same tv show that introduced us to the Columbus Zoo (Secrets of the Zoo) and we knew that if we visited Columbus, we had to include it in our plans.

The only way to see the animals is on a safari tour; we took the medium-tour so there were 14 of us in the back of a Ford pick-up (there were seats).  The tour was a bit over 3 hours and it was amazing.  We were fairly up close and personal with Persian Onagers, Pere David Deer, Grevy’s Zebras, the famous Przewalski Horses (called P Horses) and two kinds of Oryx – Fringe Eared and Scimitar-Horned. 

One of the youngest Bactrian Camels had been hand-raised after his mother rejected him.  Named Latte, he was more than willing to come right up to the truck to get scritches under his chin.  The Sichuan Takin was not as big or golden as the takin we have at the MN Zoo but The Wilds does have the largest breeding takin herd in North America. 

Latte

We fed giraffes from the truck – two of the herd really like this and one in particular, Tuffy, lets folks give him little pets on his necks.  (I bought a tee-shirt w/ Tuffy on it.)   At that same stop, the two female ostriches approached and one of them clearly didn’t like the look of me.  Before I realized how far into the truck she could reach, she gave me a nip on the hand.  For the rest of the stop, she repeatedly tried to get me.  Nobody else on the truck, just me.

Sadie

In a shaded copse we found five banteng, a species of wild cow.  They have 1 male and 4 females.  Apparently they are working on a program to determine if they can breed the current herd – the male banteng is quite elderly and if the females are still fertile, they will bring in a new male to help with reproduction.  When I asked what would happen to Elvis, the male, our tour guide said that he would relocate to a pasture where a few other elderly animals reside – a cushy banteng retirement home, as it were.  For some reason I thought this was really funny.

Elvis

The highlight of the tour was when we were taken down to the winter barn area – some of the animals over-winter there since the Ohio climate isn’t that great for African animals.  There, in one of the rhino barns was Bernard.  He is living a cushy rhino retirement and one of the things he enjoys is getting pets and scritches.  Our group was happy to oblige.  Bernard is a Southern White Rhino so he is sporting some serious horn.  We didn’t pet that part!  This was a thrilling experience.  I know I’ve said in the past that I’ve never had a Bucket List, but I’m thinking about doing one now so that I can write “petting a rhino” on it and then checking it off.

Bernard

What a fabulous day – after the safari ride, we had veggie burgers at the little café and then did some damage at the gift shop.  I am seriously recommending this to anybody who gets anywhere near Columbus.  Just an amazing way to spend a day.  The Wilds has a few ways that you can stay on the property overnight (yurts, little lodge and a new set of rooms attached to the giraffe barn.  YA and I talked about maybe going back one day and doing that. 

Ever had the chance to pet a wild animal?  Would you stay overnight in a giraffe barn?

28 thoughts on “It Was Wild!”

  1. OT. I’m completely gobsmacked right now. Yesterday’s Wordle is in the Washington Post Mini Crossword today. Do do do do…..

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  3. This does sound like a really incredible experience, VS!

    Probably the wildest animal I’ve petted was the goat, when we were living on our friends’ farm and part of our job was milking the goats…

    Sure – I’d stay in rooms attached to a giraffe barn… not sure about out in the barn itself, tho’…

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  4. Maggie gets pretty wild… no? Okay.

    Well, I had a tortoise shell calico once – a very long time ago. She was the last cat I had. After Mariah, I swore I’d never have another one, and I still don’t. She attacked my feet and ankles by hiding behind walls and doors. She would come into my lap and get petted, and purr, then BITE me as hard as she could. I have scars from that cat. As she got older, she got freakier, and by the end of her 15 years, she hid all the time.

    I had a baby raccoon once. It never made it to adulthood. It nursed on my t-shirt, and I fed it from an eye dropper. It stayed in a box on top of the Franklin wood stove for warmth. My roommate let the fire go out while I was at work, and the baby perished.

    My humble opinion is that if you can pet it, it’s really not wild.

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    1. OT: Maggie is on antibiotics now. She let me sleep the entire night, and I’m grateful for that. Hopefully her tummy upset will resolve itself now. I sure wish she wouldn’t try to eat everything on the sidewalk every single time we go for a walk.

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  6. I’ve taken animals to the rehab clinic from time to time, and it’s kind of tempting sometimes to pet them – little vulnerable things like sick chipmunks and injured bunnies – but I remind myself that unlike pets, wild animals don’t find the touch of humans comforting. It only frightens them. Unless they were raised with humans from a very early age.

    When my sister and I were kids, we visited relatives who had a tame baby raccoon. Someone took a picture of us with the raccoon, who decided to climb up my sister’s back and perch on her head. That picture is still in a box somewhere in the closet, I’m pretty sure.

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  8. OT: Here in SE Minn. I smell smoke when I go outside – where the air quality is only “unhealth”, supposedly, instead of the “hazardous” I see in the Cities. Yikes, I hope it rains where the wildfires are, or something.

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    1. The air in my area has dropped down into “unhealthy for sensitive groups” at this point. Although rumor has it there is dangerously hot air emanating from the White House this evening.

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  9. I have petted a baby grey whale off the Pacific coast of Baja. What a thrill! The mama grey whale hung out in close proximity to our small boat and her offspring as it repeatedly surfaced close enough to our boat that we could reach out and pet it.

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        1. But, Baja California has TWO of the United States of Mexico on that peninsula. There are Baja California Sur and Baja California Frontera. Kind of like how Dakota isn’t just one place.

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        4. Actually, I did specify that it was off the Pacific coast, you know the left coast. We attempted whale watching in the Sea of Cortez – the right coast – as well, but didn’t see any whales there.

          If you really are interested in where I petted the whale, David, I can tell you it was on the forehead, close to its right eye. That’s quite possibly not the correct physical description of the anatomy of a whale, but I hope you get the idea.

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  10. Petting Charlotte can be like petting a wild animal. You never know if she’s going to wrap her paws around your arm and take a bite. As I sit on the couch writing this, she came up to me and nipped my arm, mad that I’m not playing with her.

    Besides Charlotte, I’m sure I’ve petted “wild” animals in zoos. When we were little, we rescued a baby rabbit. My mom tried feeding it with an eye dropper and let us gently touch it. The poor thing didn’t survive.

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