We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Leslie Tozer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Leslie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
Texas Wildlife Park is a privately owned interactive zoo. Rick and Leslie have a passion for animals. They never intended to own a zoo and welcome people into their space to meet the animals but in 2023 they decided to turn their hobby into a business. Sharing the love is animals and experience of hands on encounters with exotic animals.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Rick has had a passion for animals since he was a child. From childhood he began owning animals and quickly got into more exotic animal ownership. He owned and worked with many reptiles, everything from large pythons to venomous species. He started working with exotic mammals and eventually owned lemurs, kinkajous, and eventually he got his first exotic cat – Simba the mountain lion. Simba was and still is the only resident at the zoo Rick considers a rescue. After that came the other mountain lions, tiger, the lion, and the rest of the zoo animals. Most of the animals have been owner surrenders while some were purchased because of Rick and Leslie’s specific passions and interests.
Leslie has been a nurse since 2010 but left her nursing career to help run what has now become their family business. She helped take the zoo from their hobby to the private interactive zoo it is today.
Their zoo is different from others zoos because of their hands on experiences. They allow visitors to go into the enclosures with the animals to meet them up close.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
We utilize social media for the bulk of our advertisement. Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. We have to use both creative strategies to reach viewership while also providing educational content.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Rick faces incredible challenges everyday in order to continue showing up for the animals. From constantly expanding enclosures by himself by hand to sudden animal surrenders and quickly making room for them. Rick has to be ready for constant change in ways nobody can predict.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.texaswildlifepark.com
- Instagram: Texaswildlifepark
- Facebook: Texas wildlife park
