FORT CHISWELL, Va. – The Fort Chiswell Animal Park has been a staple in the Wythe community for over 20 years.
“It’s different than a lot of zoos,” said Heidi Crosky, the park’s manager. “We want you to be able to interact with as many animals as possible.”
Currently, a bill in the Virginia Senate poses a potential threat to their operations, as well as to zoos across the commonwealth.
“The big thing is it is going to make it illegal for us to bottle raise an animal by choice,” said Crosky “It’s totally outlawing hybrids. [It] also [is] making it illegal to keep animals together that could breed.”
Crosky, who has managed the park for more than a decade, said the bill would drastically alter their animal care.
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The legislation would prevent animals from being prematurely separated from their mothers, meaning bottle feeding would only be allowed if medically necessary.
“If you can have a few in the herd that are bottle raised and that are calmer, it helps the whole herd,” Crosky said. “So it could actually improve their quality of life having a few that are bottle raised that are calmer.”
Crosky highlighted the impact of the bill on animals like Cody the bison, who was bottle-fed as a baby.
If the bill becomes law, such practices would be prohibited, she said.
The proposed legislation’s ban on hybrids would also force a redesign of the park’s fields to separate herds and also raises concerns about their zedonk, a zebra-donkey hybrid.
“A lot of the animals co-exist here,” Croskey said. “When Pataki passes away, are we going to be able to replace him? Are we going to be able to bring in one from out of state? We just don’t know why they want to outlaw this when this is a pretty natural thing.”
The bill has been referred to the Virginia Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources.
10 News reached out to committee chair Virginia Senator Dave Marsden for comment but has not received a response.
A spokesperson for the Department of Wildlife Resources said they have no comment on the bill.
