Today we’d like to introduce you to Brendan Finerty.
Hi Brendan, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
Growing up, my mom’s favorite story was the first time I met my stepdad. I was 5. I stuck out my hand and I said, “My name is Brendan, and I’m going to own a zoo.” That’s how far back this goes. 31 years and even earlier lol.
All through school, I was the kid that never swayed. It was my dream, and I never once considered anything else (other than in 7th grade when I had a 6-month period where I planned to own a zoo and be a pro wrestler in the WWF). In hs I applied to colleges with zoology programs. Didn’t get accepted many places lol, but tried. After hs took some time off, kept the dream alive. Told anyone who would listen. Got a lot of weird looks and laughs went to Community College to try and get a degree in biology, try to get my foot in the door at some zoos. Kept telling everyone that one day I would bring a zoo to our hometown.
Jackson is the largest city in the state of Michigan (over 50k people) without a zoo within 45 minutes. It’s also not the wealthiest city in the state. Alot of the kids here come from families who aren’t able to afford a car to drive to Toledo, Grand Rapids, or Detroit much less spend the $100+ at a major zoo. So, bringing one here to all the people I had told growing up, I wanted to played a huge part in giving back to the city.
I met my wife in 2010 at a mutual friend’s party. I was working 20 hours a week at menards, had a 2003 dodge neon that the driver’s door didn’t open, started with a screwdriver, and was putting myself through college. I didn’t have much to offer and when my best pick-up line was “What’s your favorite animal? Let me take you to dinner, and one day I’ll buy it for you”. Most women would have walked away. Not Ashley. She laughed and told her friends I was cute (I found this out later). 2 months later we got together. I told my dad a week in that one day I’d marry her.
2012 I was on unemployment, had gotten laid off when the used car dealership I was working for went under. Still talking about opening a zoo. We went to a free library program with animals. They had a monkey, kangaroo, big snake, etc. We watched them for an hour. I looked at Ashley and said, “I can do this. This is how we start”. After the show, I went and introduced myself to the owner, gave my pitch about this was what I wanted to do. He hired me on the spot to work weekends (I was still in college). Worked every weekend that fall. Spring rolled around, and I got offered a full-time gig. Problem was this was LITERALLY full-time. The zoo he owned traveled. 7 days a week from the end of April to the end of October. I would be gone from home for 6 months. Days were long. 8 am to 9 pm or whenever it got dark. It takes its toll on a relationship. It was hard work. Not hanging out with animals like people thought. But Ashley stuck by me.
Finally, in July of 2014, I’d had enough. I sad my goodbyes, called Ashley, and told her over the phone “I’m coming home (this was a Saturday night. I was 4 hours away), and on Monday, were opening the zoo”.
I had no business experience, I had $500 in the bank. I had no fallback plan. I was 26 and just driven. A normal person would have left. Ashley simply said “Okay”
Monday, I went out the local pet store. Bought a few small animals, a big snake, a bird. Stuff I knew I could handle and take care of (I had spent the last 18 months with all exotics).
I started texting my buddies with kids. Offering to do their kids’ parties, their classrooms, Ashley’s nursing home. For $50 a pop. I got a job at Best Buy to help pay day-to-day bills. I pitched myself to everyone who’d listen
I saved a bit of money, made a few phone calls to people I had met in the animal industry, and about 8 months after I had started, I went to Ashley and said, “tomm were driving to Atlanta and were buying a kangaroo.”
Boomer was our first baby before we had kids. He was in our wedding, Ashley’s maternity photos, he was a celebrity locally. And he was incredible. Sadly in 2018, at only 4 years old, he contracted toxoplasmosis, which is deadly to kangaroo, and he passed away. We have plans in the future to name our kangaroo area after him and call it “Boomers Landing,” an area that will be used to house and educate on macropods and the perils they see in the wild.
Coming back from his death was hard. Ashley and I had welcomed our first son Brayden the October prior, and the business was growing steadily. We had our exotics which had grown into pony rides, and not shortly after added petting zoo animals.
In 2019 we had a huge year. The business had nearly tripled, our daughter was born, and we were prepared to take a huge step forward. Then on that March Day in 2020, the world stopped.
I remembered having a full schedule. 17 programs in one week. More money coming in than any of us had ever had. A full slate lined up for summer. Then like domino’s, the emails poured in. With covid, everyone was canceling. As a small business, we were watching everything we had built fall apart. We made the difficult choice to rehome most of our animals. The thought of them starving. Or us being homeless was all too real of a possibility. We did what was best for us and for them.
For the next 9 months, we pushed to survive. I worked odd jobs, rented out the farm animals to do brush-clearing jobs, tried to keep my sanity with two kids under 3. On Dec 15, 2020, the legs gave out. Due to an electrical fire, our barns burned to the ground. All of our equipment was destroyed. And due to an issue with our insurance, we weren’t covered. We had lost everything.
Down the road from us, my dream property had sat vacant for 5 years. It was a former riding stable/Buffalo farm on 56 acres. I drove by it every day. Played on Google Earth. Mapped out how id build my zoo. Dreamed. Honestly, it was a pipe dream. With the price tag and just coming out of covid, it would never happen
Then one day, the owner called me. They’d seen the fire and offered to give us a place to pasture the animals. I asked if they’d be willing to meet with us. I had a crazy plan. I was gonna see if they’d take a chance on a land contract. They agreed if we had money down. I went to my incredible wife, and she agreed. We pooled every penny we had, sold off anything that wasn’t tied down, came up with it.
6 months later, we opened the Wild World Biodiversity Center. For 5 wonderful months, we lived my dream. That November 24. I came home from my birthday lunch with my kids. There had been a break-in. 30k in animals stolen. Animals I had raised from a baby. Gone. With no leads. It was an attempt to end us.
But I looked at my kids. I knew I couldn’t give up on this after everything. Couldn’t let down the community that celebrated us and brought us in with open arms. So, for the third time in 2 years, we rebuilt.
2 years later, were not back where we were or where we want to be. But we’ve pushed through it all, and our business is thriving and growing. We now visit 5 different states with our animals, were having a lot of excitement behind the scenes, and we’ve grown as a family. Our animals have changed thousands of lives. We visit 100s of schools and nursing homes. 300 different venues a year. The sky is the limit at this point
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Had I known this was the next question I would have spaced it better.
It has not
The fire, the break-in, covid, the difficultly of the dream itself. Any of these could have done us in.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We own a wildlife and exotic sanctuary and do educational programs on conservation for schools and nursing homes.
It’s a very select field, and while many may dabble in it, I do it full-time and am one of the larger companies in the state
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Our story is compelling to people. My passion in what I do shows and it shows in every aspect of what we do and what we offer. We care for and help hundreds of animals every year
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