2003 Giraffe Adventure at Wildlife Safari

Our friend Steve Barnhart retired as an Oregon State Trooper and then for several years held the position of Director at Wildlife Safari in Winston Oregon. The large, drive through game park in Winston, Oregon was always looking for ways to supplement earnings and improve their facilities while enhancing  visitor experiences and educating the public about the animals at the park. Steve brought with him lots of new ideas that meshed with those goals. One of those ideas  was to offer a Giraffe feeding “adventure” for visitors. Since that’s the kind of idea that has potential but needs a little fine tuning, on May 3rd, 2003 Susan & I and Steve & his wife Marilyn became the first test subjects for the Giraffe Adventure proposed to be offered beginning in the 2003 tourist season. In addition, Steve announced that it was to be the Barnhart’s present to Susan for her 53rd birthday.

Mike, Marilyn, Steve, and Susan preparing to feed the giraffes
at Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon. (On retrospect, I think the pickup
cage may have been meant to protect the animals from us.)

Wildlife Safari had a pickup with protective side screens that we’d use to journey out to the area where the Giraffes roamed free. The staff there had been giving the animals some fruit and vegetable treats from the back of the pickup for a couple weeks prior to our visit to get them used to the vehicle (and people in the back with tasty food items). We loaded up the pickup bed with loaves of bread, buckets of banana bits, apple chunks, & carrots and headed out for our adventure. The  Giraffe keeper gave us instructions of what to do and more importantly, what not to do when the animals approached us. It was hard to think of a beautiful animal such as a Giraffe as being dangerous, but when we actually got close and realized how big they are...well we listened very closely to her instructions and behaved ourselves. (I know that may be hard for some of you to believe, but really, we could contain ourselves for short periods of time when we were younger.)

As several Giraffes approached us and started accepting goodies, they became a little more trusting and allowed us to get a little bit more friendly. That long black tongue is amazing and quite adept at plucking those pieces of fruit and vegetables from your fingers. Taking pictures was a little disconcerting because the animal always got the treat before my brain could signal my finger to press the camera’s shutter button. Susan even got to plant a kiss on one Giraffe's nose...the Giraffe seemed unimpressed.


The resident white rhino and other park inhabitants were very curious in what was happening at the pickup. Again, it was quite exhilarating to find ourselves so close to so many stunning and exotic (and really big) animals. I have to say that being close enough to a rhino to hear his stomach rumble is pretty humbling and it’s also comforting to hear that humans are not the only creatures on the planet that pass gas...just saying...

On that day in May, we all had a very special experience and for Susan the kind of birthday present a farm girl from Wisconsin would never have imagined as she was growing up.

It was good to know that Giraffe Adventures at the park became quite popular after our trial run and has given many people the thrill of their lives. Wildlife Safari is still doing very well and constantly improving our understanding of many endangered animal species through the work done by the dedicated staff and research personnel there.

...I was also very happy and grateful that Steve did not ask us to be the among the first people to hand feed the Wildlife Safari lions up close and personal.