Another "Mr. Parks"!!!
When I was a boy, I lived in Beavercreek (Dayton), Ohio while my father was stationed at USAF HQ at Wright-Patterson AFB. We lived in a new subdivision and the local "farmer" was "Mr. Parks".
You can imagine what it was like for me growing up as a child with the ability to go down and visit "Mr. Parks" and his collection of exotic animals, mainly from Africa. With USAF planes flying overhead, having military pilots and personnel all around, living in open spaces and wooded areas with a vast deposit of minerals, fossils, and dinosaur bones, and of course, being near "Mr. Parks" and his farm, you can easily understand now where I get my perspectives.
Why mention Ron Nease on this blog for innovators? Specifically, it takes innovation and vision to accomplish what Ron Nease did in business to also provide us with Briarwood Ranch Safari Park. We give thanks to all the Ron Neases out there and of course, "Mr. Parks". Without these innovators, we would forget the inner child among us gave us the ability to explore, learn, and ask "WHY?”
Southern safari Exotic species - and ordinary pig - roam free at Briarwood Ranch
By ANDREW EDER, edera@knews.com
December 17, 2006
Ron Nease's first foray into exotic animals came through a swap 10 years ago - the former owner of Morristown Chevrolet traded a used Nissan Sentra for five Rocky Mountain elk.
"I've always been a wildlife lover," Nease said. "He needed a car and he had the elk, so we worked out a trade."
Some 300 animals later, Nease has opened his more than 100-acre ranch in Cocke County for business. Visitors can drive through or take guided tours of the Briarwood Ranch Safari Park, where the animals - including zebras, buffaloes, ostriches and emus - roam free. The park is on Briar Thicket Road, which runs off state Highway 160 near Bybee, about an hour drive from Knoxville.
On a crisp December afternoon, Nease, 60, mounts his John Deere tractor and hauls Assistant Manager Jeff Odom and a News Sentinel reporter and photographer on a wagon for a tour.
We begin by traveling through a wooded path, with no animals in sight for a few minutes. That changes when we reach a clearing, and a solitary elk saunters up to the wagon. Odom tosses out some feed.
The corn mixture brings the animals out of the woodwork. Within moments, we're surrounded by dozens of deer, sheep and elk. Two zebras wander into view, followed by an ostrich.
The ostrich bounds up to the wagon and pecks at feed from a cup that Odom is holding. Several deer horn in on the territory near our wagon where the zebras are feeding, prompting a sharp rebuke in the form of powerful kicks from the zebras' hind legs. One kick lands squarely in a deer's midsection, and the deer walks away chastised.
The menagerie continues to grow, with three llamas joining the feeding. A nilgai antelope - a native of India noted for its blue coloring - stands in the background.
Two horned scimitar oryxes also can be seen in the distance. An endangered species, the oryx is native to Africa and belongs to the antelope family.
In contrast to the exotic species on display, a garden-variety pig trots up to join the party.
"The buffaloes hate him," Odom says. "He gets up under them and bites them. They can't catch him."
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Nease, who lives in Knoxville, bought the original patch of Briarwood land in 1988 and has since added to the plot. He had the land set up as a hunting preserve for a while before working to convert it to its current use. He has about $2 million invested in the ranch.
Nease said he's had a lifelong fascination with wildlife, going on several hunting trips in the American West - less for the thrill of the kill, and more for the joy of being around animals.
"My wife said several times, I should have been a game warden or ranger," he said. "That's been my No. 1 thing, my love of wildlife."
After the trade for the elk, Nease began stocking up on fallow deer, a native of Europe. Then came axis deer, native to India, and sika deer, native to East Asia.
Nease acquired many of his animals from a Tellico Plains farmer. He bought some from exotic animal auctions and some from the Smoky Mountain Petting Zoo. Displaying the animals requires a permit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
His favorite is the elk, followed by the zebras, though "there's not any of them I don't love," Nease said.
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Our tour moves ahead from the clearing and encounters two emus farther down the road. The flightless birds look gangly, but they can run faster than 30 miles per hour. Native to Australia, the birds peck at feed from Odom's cup.
"I think those guys are just cool, man," Odom says. "So prehistoric looking. Not the brainiest things, though."
We continue the tour and encounter a herd of buffaloes, interspersed with some sheep. Hunted nearly to extinction in the 1800s, buffaloes - also called bison - are the largest land mammals in North America, reaching weights as heavy as a ton.
The animals are hanging out by a solar feeder, which dispenses feed six times a day.
A few hundred yards down the road stands a single, scrawny-looking buffalo.
"There's another dominant bull that keeps him run off," Nease says.
Our wagon reaches the top of a crest. Ahead is a postcard-worthy view of the Smoky Mountains, and to our left is the sun-splashed Cocke County countryside.
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Nease's venture is not without precedent. There are several other wildlife safaris across the country, including parks in Virginia and North Carolina.
The Lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville, N.C., has been open for 13 years. Wendy Wilson, whose parents opened the park in 1993, said they receive calls "all the time" from people interested in opening a similar park. Nease visited the ranch while researching his own park.
Wilson said her parents opened the park as a way to educate children. She said the ranch has built a strong customer base through word-of-mouth advertising and repeat customers.
"When you have something good to offer and treat customers like they want to be treated, they'll tell somebody else," Wilson said.
But she said the ranch has taken flak from some people who criticize the practice of putting animals on display.
"There's people who feel like the animals shouldn't be behind a fence," Wilson said. "I want my children and my grandchildren to be able to see animals - not just from a distance, but up close and personal, and that's what we're trying to do."
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Nease stops his tractor in front of a cemetery, which he says dates back to the 1700s. Several veterans of the Civil War are buried there beneath a more than 300-year-old oak tree.
Nease says a solid white squirrel lives in the cemetery - "one in a million," he says. Loitering in the background is an axis deer, distinguishable by its white spots and the dark stripe across its back.
The solemn scene is broken up when a pig named Joe wanders in, snorting. The group breaks up in laughter.
We climb back on the wagon and continue down the trail. A colony of deer follows behind us, unaware that we've distributed the last of our feed.
"Feel like the Pied Piper?" Odom asks.
Nease dismounts his tractor to pet a female nilgai. A male nilgai wanders over for protection but gets spooked by a nearby elk.
"When another big animal comes around, they get afraid," Nease says.
Back on the trail, we encounter the oryxes again, getting a closer view this time. Hunted for its horns, the oryx is now listed as extinct in the wild. The oryx has been credited with spawning the legend of the unicorn.
"That's a mystical animal there," Odom says.
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Nease, a former teacher who worked in the auto business for 18 years, has plans to expand his operations. There's a petting zoo and gift shop across from the safari entrance. Nease is developing campsites on a 16-acre plot and putting horseback trails in the park.
Briarwood opened for business in November, and Nease said some patrons have already visited the park three times. Guests can drive through in their own vehicles or take guided tours.
Linda Lewanski, director of tourism for Cocke County, said the Briarwood concept fits in well with the county's promotion of its "eco-tourism" opportunities.
"We're looking forward, of course, to the experience," she said. "There's not anything like this in the area."
The Lazy 5 Ranch's Wilson said their park is a labor of love and any profits are generally pumped right back into the ranch for improvements.
"It's something we believe in, and I hope that means we can continue to do what we do and continue to do it well," Wilson said.
Nease thinks Briarwood could draw as many as 500 customers a day next spring and summer. But he echoed Wilson's sentiments, saying he's not concerned about profits - just people.
"My goal is not really monetary," Nease said. "I just want to reach out and touch the lives of as many people as I can."
