Little known treasure

Who knew there was a wildlife farm in Topeka, Indiana? And when I say wildlife farm, imagine a zoo with less traffic, nothing paved and animals ranging from reindeer to camels.

It's a little place that I'm not sure if I'd recognize from the road, as you can't see any animals except horses and ponies from there, and many of the animals are tucked into the trees or pretty far back in what I can only describe as a pasture.

It is run by an Amish family that seems very sweet (the husband gave Bailey a pony ride and the wife took us on a cart ride. Both were eager to tell us about their little zoo/farm).

When we first walked in, we paid $4 a person just to see the attractions (when you consider admission to the Indianapolis zoo is $14.50 nowadays, plus $9.50 for children 2-12, this is a real steal, even more so since this place includes 2-year-olds in the "free" category). Granted, you have to pay $1 for a bag of food to feed the animals. YES, you can feed the animals! SWEET! And you have to pay $3 for a pony ride, and $4 for a camel ride, but it all comes out still cheaper than a visit to the Indy Zoo (admittedly, it might not be cheaper if you had numerous children and none in the free category like I did).

Anyway, we actually got to touch the animals. Not just look at them! I was shocked when we first walked in to find that they had 3 baby tigers in a cage up front, with a handwritten sign that said "you can pet the tigers, but please don't put your fingers in their mouths." Deal! We got to pet baby tigers!!! Can you hear my amazement? (they are more fuzzy than soft, if you can distinguish the difference).

Yep, totally worth the admission price right there. Can you see how adorable they are?!?!

Then, behind those were baby fawns. Think we could pet them? YEP! There were three in a little cage with a sign on it that said "you can pet the fawns, but please be very gentle." Again, DEAL! Bailey loved them, and probably could have stayed for hours sitting beside them petting them. I'm not going to lie: I could have too.

They were so unbelievably adorable that I wanted to pick one up and sneak it out of there for a pet. Okay, not really, but it was unreal. They were soft and gentle and absolutely lovable. See what I mean?

The one in the upper left, which looks kind of asleep in this picture, kept nuzzling Bailey's leg and would lick it every once in awhile. Not a sloppy, slimy lick, just a little bitty tongue against her leg. She LOVED it and squealed with delight!

We moved on to the pony rides, and both of the ponies hooked up for the rides had baby ponies, so those were following the "big" ponies around. Bailey loved that because it looked like the pony was following her as she rode.

We saw a monkey, which I wasn't too fond of. You could feed them by way of a pipe that led from outside the fence down into where the monkeys were kept (this was the method for most of the animals there). Just drop the food in the pipe and they grab it at the bottom and eat it. This particular monkey was a little vicious and kept snarling at us and throwing the food back. Somewhat amusing, but I wouldn't want to get too close to this guy.

There was also a pony that pulled a small cart with deer and goats in the little area that the pony went around (included with admission). This is where the little bag of food was fun. The deer and goats actually follow the cart around as you throw the food off the back. It's the coolest thing! One of the goats is a little short on patience and kept putting two legs up on the cart and walking with its hind legs on the ground just trying to grab hold of the bag of food.

Did I mention camel rides? Bailey did that, and Papaw joined her. She loved it! The camel actually poses here for a picture (pretty good quality, considering I took it with my phone). I could have smacked myself for not checking to see that my camera battery was charged, unfortunately something I forget pretty regularly! So, my pictures of this trip are pretty limited since my camera battery died pretty much right away.

Let's see. They also had potbelly pigs, chickens, quail, peacocks, something that looked like an ostrich, but wasn't technically, water buffalo, a couple large tigers, a leapord, a lion, alligators, foxes (red ones and white arctic ones), and I'm sure there were more animals I'm forgetting.

Here's one of the camels in the back pasture. Many people were feeding them by hand through the fence, which is probably why this one is so sure we have something and therefore trying to eat Bailey's hair. However, we tried it, and it seemed a little too likely that they could grab an entire hand while eating the food. Not that they would, but it was a little too risky for my liking. Imagine, if you can, feeding a horse with bigger, stronger lips that kind of just go all over the place searching for food.


The picture below was also a favorite of Bailey's, and I'm sure she would have loved to take the little guy home. She kept trying to pick it up, which made it squeal and run away, but it always came back. It was just running around wherever it pleased.


Needless to say, we had a great time, and I find myself debating whether to share this well-kept secret zoo/farm. It had the small-town, trusting feel that I would hate to see ruined. But I was so amazed that it seems wrong to keep it all to myself. So, here's a map to it should any of you wish to visit. Just keep it on DL, k?



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