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Friday, April 2, 2021

San Antonio’s Southside may be getting its own exotic animal safari park

Posted By Nina Rangel on Fri, Apr 2, 2021 at 1:04 PM

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Exotic animal breeder Brian Gilroy wants to build a $500 million safari park on SA’s South Side. - INSTAGRAM / WILDLIFEPARTNERS

Instagram / wildlifepartners
Exotic animal breeder Brian Gilroy wants to build a $500 million safari park on SA’s South Side.

Does SA really need its own Joe Exotic? Exotic animal breeder Brian Gilroy, CEO and co-founder of WildLife Partners, seems to think so.

Gilroy wants to build a $500 million safari park on San Antonio’s South Side, south of Loop 410 and west of University Way, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

Gilroy told the daily he envisions a tram that sprawls six miles, trucking park visitors to areas where they might view primates, Sichuan takin, or goat-antelope, and other exotic wildlife.

“I’m not a fan of having big cats. It’s just not my thing," Gilroy told the Express-News about likely Tiger King comparisons. "But big cats sell tickets.”

San Antonio-based WildLife Partners breeds and sells about 50 species of exotic animals, including dama gazelles, Grévy’s zebra and scimitar oryx, the daily reports.

Gilroy told the paper wants to acquire property by the end of this year, then work on a business plan before going to the city for approvals. He intends to look to Wall Street to finance the land purchase and park construction.

“I am not an operator — I’m a dreamer,” he told the Express-News. “So I’m really good at putting these things together and getting other people to go execute. I am not qualified to operate a safari park of that magnitude. My only option is to hire the people to bring them in to do it.”

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Tags: Brian Gilroy, CEO, WildLife Partners, exotic animal breeder, safari park, San Antonio, South Side, Image, Image

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