An Anegada rock iguana, perhaps the most endangered of the iguanas at Iguanaland.
Ty Park’s passion is reptiles.
He is also passionate about educating the public about them and conserving them.
That’s why he opened Iguanaland three years ago on rural acreage in Punta Gorda, billed as the largest reptile zoo in the world.
There are more than 250 species of reptiles on exhibit, many of them endangered or critically endangered. He has about 2,0000 animals in total, nearly all from his private collection.
Park is a herpetologist, entrepreneur, self-made millionaire and, by his own definition, a workaholic. The collector is highly respected by zoos across the country, which loan/donate their reptiles to him and whom he supplies with animals for some of their reptile departments. He partners with them in breeding programs, research and conservation programs. He works with universities and scientists, and students come to the facility for research.
Many members of the public have negative perceptions about reptiles, Park said. They dislike, fear, even hate the creatures. The bias has persisted for centuries, even found in the Bible, he said (think Garden of Eden).
Ty Park, herpetologist and owner of Iguanaland, holds “Philly,” a Cuban iguana who resides at Iguanaland. MARY WOZNIAK/FLORIDA WEEKLY
“They’re basically the underbelly of society,” he said. “I want to change that.” One of the ways to help is to take his collection, which has brought him much joy throughout his life, and share it with the public, he said.
Guests can even interact with some of the animals. He also has ambassador animals that go on outreach trips to schools or are available for events held at the zoo, like birthday parties, “animal encounters” and others.
“Kids get to come and touch a 10-foot snake. Where can you go and do that?” he asked.
In the background, as if on cue, a woman and a young girl were touring nearby indoor habitats. A keeper took out a snake for the daughter to touch.
If people can feel them, hold them, they may still dislike reptiles afterwards, “but at least they’ll understand them a little better before they leave,” Park said. Then they may be willing to try to conserve them, he said.
Aly, an Aldabra tortoise about 40 years old, is a favorite of visitors at Iguanaland. IGUANALAND/COURTESY PHOTO
Roll call of residents
Park understands that in Southwest Florida, invasive species like green iguanas and Nile monitors can be nuisances and destroy property. Nile monitors can be a threat to wildlife. But humans are the reason they are here, he said. People brought them here as pets and then released them when they got too large. The reptiles can also come in with cargo, such as reptile eggs, in the soil of potted plants.
“I hate to say this, but the world got smaller” and there’s a lot of import-export, he said.
“It’s inevitable that exotic animals come here from other countries,” he said. “We have to understand that and manage that as best we can.”
In another corner of the indoor area, Joseph and Hannah McCue and their 2-year-old daughter, Aubree, were checking out “Philly,” a Cuban iguana hanging out nonchalantly in the arms of Anna Meyer, operations manager of Iguanaland. Philly had just come back from an outreach trip to Punta Gorda Middle School, said Meyer, who is also head of education outreach programming.
An Anegada rock iguana, perhaps the most endangered of the iguanas at Iguanaland, is held by Anna Meyer, operations manager. MARY WOZNIAK/FLORIDA WEEKLY
Hannah McCue said Iguanaland had also been present at her 9-year-old daughter’s elementary school science fair the previous night and that she had always wanted to visit Iguanaland.
“We think it’s awesome,” she said. “We’re taking pictures of everything.”
Conservation is key to his mission, Park said. Through the years he has already contributed $800,000 to conservation and research for reptiles, he said. This year, his Iguana Conservation Fund has committed to providing $500,000 for the same purpose.
The zoo has a wide diversity of creatures. About half are turtles and tortoises. About another 10% are snakes. There are about 46 iguanids (iguana species), 43 of them endangered or critically endangered, Park said.
Perhaps the most endangered of the iguanas is the Anegada Rock Iguana (Cyclura pinguis), which comes from Anegada Island, part of British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. There are only about 300 left in the wild, Park said. There are only 10 of the Anegada iguanas in the United States, and he has five of them, three of them females. They are working with the Fort Worth Zoo to breed them.
Donkey Kong, a rhinocerous iguana that was once the pet of Ty Park, Iguanaland owner, is ready for his closeup. MARY WOZNIAK/FLORIDA WEEKLY
There is also an Aldabra tortoise named Aly, about 40 years old. A member of the second-largest tortoise species in the world, the friendly goliath loves to be fed treats and enjoys being scratched under the chin by keepers.
Donkey Kong, a rhinoceros iguana on exhibit, was Park’s personal pet. They would watch movies together and eat popcorn, Park said. “He was like a dog.” Donkey Kong is now more than 30 years old.
A perentie named Irwin, the largest monitor lizard from Australia, is another highlight. The perenties are typically between 6 and 7 feet long.
And the Madagascar giant day gecko looks suspiciously like the star of commercials for a well-known insurance company.
Park, 71, is as fascinating as the residents of his zoo.
From anatomy to animals
Park is quiet and unassuming, but with an energy and enthusiasm for life and for reptiles that comes from a man who has followed his dream.
He traces his passion back to his childhood in South Korea when his father gave him a turtle at age 6. “I fell in love with it,” Park said. “I was obsessed with it. I would come home from school and watch it swim.”
He considers himself a compassionate person who would always go out of his way to help animals, particularly to rescue them. In South Korea, where there are live fish markets, he would buy a bucket of live fish and go and release them back into the river, Park said.
His father was a noted university professor in South Korea who was recruited by the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign in the 1960s. He moved to the U.S. and taught organic chemistry. Park, at age 13, his mother and younger brother arrived soon after. Park didn’t know a word of English and was the only Asian boy at school. He endured much racism and hate, Park said. “I think it toughened me up to a point.” When he was called a name, he figured “it was their loss, not mine.”
He also began to collect reptiles and fish. “My room had a bed and a desk and floor-to-ceiling reptiles and fish,” he said. “Growing up, I always wanted to be a zoo director.”
But he went to the university for premed instead, according to his father’s wishes. After his father passed away, he changed his course of study to zoology.
Park also had a work ethic that wouldn’t quit. As a child, he delivered newspapers. As a student, he manned a chicken fryer, washed dishes and started a cleaning business — and took crews to clean schools during summers.
“I’ve always been an entrepreneur,” he said.
In college, he worked 30 hours a week at a pizzeria. The owner, an immigrant from Yugoslavia, took Park under his wing and encouraged him.
“He was like an uncle,” Park said.
After graduating, he wanted to open a pet store, realizing that the path to becoming a zoo director would be a long haul. “I was too impatient,” he said. His mother insisted that he get his MBA instead.
After earning the MBA, the pizzeria owner gave him $8,000 so he could secure a bank loan to open his first pet store. “Go follow your dream,” he told Park, saying that Park could pay him back when he could.
Park opened one pet store with a variety of pets, but it specialized in reptiles. Then he opened a second and a third. Then, he bought a campus bar. He also bought the pizzeria from his friend and delved into real estate.
And always, he collected reptiles. So many that he couldn’t keep them all at home and eventually had to rent a warehouse.
Sealing the deal
“I was a successful businessman but a workaholic,” Park said. He never drank or did drugs. “But work became my addiction,” he said. As a result, “I was a neglectful husband and father,” Park said.
His wife gave him an ultimatum: Family or business. So finally, he asked his accountant if he had enough to retire. The answer was yes. Park retired at age 39 but kept his hand in real estate.
He realized that the best place to keep his reptiles was in Florida and sought to buy land there. He offered his wife, who wanted nothing to do with reptiles, a deal: Let him buy this land, and she’ll never see another reptile in the house again. She agreed immediately.
They have been married for 41 years and had a son and a daughter. The couple now live in Los Angeles, where their son is a trauma surgeon, and their daughter is an actress. They have several grandchildren.
When he is in L.A., Park is a husband, father and grandfather. When he is in Florida, he is the zookeeper he always dreamed of being.
He started in Punta Gorda in 2007 as a private zoo, mostly breeding rare reptiles and selling them on the collectors’ market, putting the profits toward conservation.
In 2018, he decided to open his private zoo to the public. He set a budget of $3 million. Then COVID hit, and materials skyrocketed overnight. It ended up costing $9 million by the time he opened on Feb. 22, 2022. Despite charging admission and hosting special events (birthdays, etc.), he still supports it with his own funding. He hopes to break even by the end of the year.
Iguanaland is categorized as an agritourism business. Park has seven employees, including several keepers.
“They are amazing,” he said. “We are like family.”
Meyer took this reporter on a tour. She pointed out a flat back spider tortoise, critically endangered in Madagascar, and the Burmese star tortoise, thought to be extinct but now found on only two sites on state land in Myanmar.
“Tortoises are easy to poach,” Meyer said. “They don’t fight back. They’re slow.”
We visited the Anegada rock iguanas and Donkey Kong, the rhinoceros iguana that allowed his sides to be scratched as a form of “petting” (the skin is smooth and dry, not scaly); Irwin the perentie, here from the Dallas Zoo, and Aly, the tortoise. Aly lumbered over and allowed her shell to be scratched.
Park said his father told him to live his life in thirds. For the first third, “Be humble; learn as much as you can,” Park said. “Be a student of life.”
For the second third, “Work as hard as you can and earn as much as you can,” he said.
For the last third, “Give it all away,” Park said. “Do something good. Leave more than you take. Do something positive for society.”
Iguanaland is his way of doing just that.
“This is my legacy,” he said. ¦
In the KNOW
Iguanaland
· Where: 33900 Bermont Road, Punta Gorda
· Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily
· Admission: $25 adult; $15 children (2-12); $20 active military, veterans, health care workers, emergency services personnel, seniors age 65+; students and teachers with ID.
· Info: 941-844-5350 or iguanaland.com
· Iguanaland features more than 250 species of reptiles on exhibit. Its primary missions are:
• To educate our youth and the general public about the diversity and importance of reptiles and amphibians to nature and humanity.
• Provide a place for scientific research and teaching of professionals and students.
• To raise funds for reptile and amphibian causes such as conservation, education and research.
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