This weekend, visitors can appreciate elephants up close and personal.
With National Elephant Appreciation Day on Tuesday, the Two Tails Ranch will host its annual Elephant Appreciation Day Fundraiser on Saturday and Sunday for a fourth consecutive year. The ranch, located at 18655 NE 81st St. in Williston, will host horse and camel rides, face painting and talks about elephants.
"Elephant Appreciation Day was actually founded by someone who lived here in Florida, who had a great love for elephants and thought that there should be a day dedicated to elephants," said Patricia Zerbini, owner of Two Tails Ranch. "It has actually grown so wide that all of the zoos and elephant facilities celebrate it throughout the country."
This is the first year that the event will include talks about different animals, including reptiles and big cats, Zerbini said. This is also the first year the event will be held for two days instead of just one, hosting visitors from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.
"It’s really nice to see so many people enjoying all of the animals that we have here. The support that we get from it is phenomenal," Zerbini said.
Zerbini said all of the funds will go to the elephant-care program at the ranch. She said they hope to exceed last year’s amount, which almost reached $10,000.
"It’s a good weekend for the event because there’s no football games here, so I think that people who are looking for things to do would go; I would go," said Ellie Cobb, a UF mechanical engineering junior.
"I feel like a lot of people don’t know that the ranch exists so close to Gainesville, but I think that it’s a really good idea to have the event," the 20-year-old said.
