For the first time, the Carson Springs Wildlife Conservation Foundation will host a spring safari.
Visitors are usually required to schedule a tour, but guests can roam the grounds without a tour guide Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., said Christine Janks, a co-founder and the president of the foundation.
Carson Springs, located at 8528 E. County Road 225, is home to 70 animals and 25 species, including a giraffe, lion and cheetah, according to the event’s Facebook page.
Profits from the event — which will also include food trucks and raffles — will go toward food, toys, enclosure improvements and veterinary costs, Janks, 65, said.
Though it does not receive state or federal funding, the park is able to exist with support from private donors, she said.
“People that attend our event and the open house or take tours are critical to us being able to care for these animals,” Janks said.
Animal parks are necessary for the conservation of wild animals as well, she said, because visitors may donate to the foundation after a close encounter with nature.
“There has to be some sort of connection,” she said.
Sandi Faurie, 48, said she has been to the park and will drive from her home in Jacksonville, Florida, to visit the safari.
“My favorite part is how Christine and (her husband) Barry have made the enclosures as close to being in (the animals’) natural habitat,” she said.
