Riverside Rest.

Peace River Refuge and Ranch January 15, 2012

Photos courtesy of Frank Scharibone, Bill Frederick, Luke and Deniece Bonofiglio. Story courtesy of Bill Frederick.

FBACC members have been visiting the Peace River Refuge and Ranch in Zolfo Springs for a dozen years or more. Our first visit took place not too longer after Curt and Lisa Stoner established the animal refuge in the middle of Florida agriculture country.

A big Bengal tiger named Zulu put the Stoners on the path to providing forever homes for homeless exotic animals. I don’t recall how they came to own him, but they kept him in their suburban home until it became clear that that was not going to be a long-term solution to Zulu’s needs.

So they sold what they had and invested the money in a patch of land in Zolfo Springs.

Most of their early animals were cats. Over the years, their hacienda grew to include everything from monkeys of various breeds to bats from South America to wolves and bears. As they say on their website, “The sanctuary is dedicated to the lifetime care of abused, neglected, confiscated or unwanted wild animals to prevent them from being destroyed.”

FBACC has been involved in raising funds for Peace River for a number of years. Some of us would like to pick up the pace of this a bit – do you have any ideas for fundraising projects to help Peace River?

Anyway, enough history…

On Sunday (Jan. 15) 17 members on 14 bikes headed south for a tour of Peace River. This was especially meaningful as we had not done our usual ride and tour to Zolfo Springs last year, so it had been a while.

Lisa Stoner conducted the tour, which lasted about two hours. It seems as though every area of the sanctuary has its own story – how that particular animal came in Peace River’s care, how long they have lived there, even an occasional bittersweet story about how one beloved animal or another had passed on. The story of Zulu’s passing was especially sad, as that tiger was the animal that really inspired the establishment of Peace River.

The high point (or low point) of the tour was probably when Blizzard, the 540-pound white tiger, suddenly “attacked” us by crashing out of his hiding place in the brush and rushing the spot where we stood, stopping at the wire mesh just about three or four feet from where we were. That got our hearts beating.

After the tour, we enjoyed lunch at the nearby Pioneer Restaurant, a place that offers some of the best fried chicken you’ll ever likely to have. Then, we straggled back the 90 or so miles back to Clearwater.

I’m sure we’ll do this ride again next year, so be sure to watch for it.