York’s Wild Kingdom roars into 2024, its 44th summer. Prime property is up for sale, too.

YORK, Maine — Southern Maine’s seaside zoo is back this summer for its 44th year with baby goats, butterflies, amusement park rides and its young Bengal tiger.

York’s Wild Kingdom’s amusement park rides, like the popular carousel and the recently added Balloon Wheel, were back up and running as the park opened for the season on Memorial Day weekend. The camels and ponies were ready to give rides while Moxy the tiger, the park’s two lions and an array of other animals were on display.

York’s Wild Kingdom General Manager Samantha Sauls, who oversees the park operations, said the two fennec foxes have been a hit with guests.

Her favorites are the gibbons Almondine, Jethro and their 2-year-old offspring Cecilia.

“They’re so people-like,” Sauls said. "Their howling calls are heard across the park."

Sauls said the rebound from COVID-19 has been difficult, and York's Wild Kingdom remains about 100 employees short of filling its ranks. The park, bought by her grandfather in 1980, has also been on the real estate market for several years, with zoning considered the biggest hurdle for prospective buyers looking to develop.

Sauls said that hasn’t stopped her and her team from running the best zoo and amusement park they can each summer. She said they plan to continue expanding their offerings, like the parakeet feeding exhibit added in the last few years, and her hope to one day bring more reptiles.

“We just keep on trying to improve the zoo,” Sauls said. “We want it to still be an up-close and personal experience.”

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Sauls' grandfather Nat Golzbein purchased the park 44 years ago. It has been a park since 1950, previously called Funland Park, then York Beach Animal Forest and Amusement Park.

The trails in the park take guests through dozens of zoo exhibits. Macaws greet guests with a “hello” as they enter the zoo section and wind past pet-friendly goats, a kangaroo, a wallaby and a prairie dog den. In one exhibit stands a southern cassowary, the large, crowned flightless species of bird that Sauls described as a living “dinosaur.”

Moxy, the tiger, rested in the shade to hide from the sun last week in a small cordoned-off section of her enclosure. She was donated to the zoo after their white Bengal tiger, Rewa, died in 2020. The tiger's space is under renovation, so it will soon be able to roam in a large outdoor section of grass, as well as its indoor space.

To a layman’s eye, Moxy may look like a full-grown big cat, but Sauls said it has plenty to grow. Moxy is still full of energy and quite light, so Sauls said the park is adding a covering to make sure it can’t scale the fence.

“We can’t leave it uncovered,” Sauls said. “She’s too playful.”

When Moxy is not hiding from the sun, Sauls said the tiger is active, sometimes running along the fence as people walk by. Moxy also enjoys playing with large logs, rolling them around.

“She’s young,” Sauls said. “Unlike the lions, who are always sleeping.”

Guests also pass the popular 5,500-square-foot butterfly enclosure that features butterflies from around North and South America. They eventually wind back to the start, where they walk past the parking area to rides, games and carnival food.

The park boasts having the “Seacoast’s Best Fried Dough” on its website. It also offers an 18-hole mini golf course and is only a short walk from Short Sands Beach, where its back entrance opens up to Railroad Avenue.

Sauls said the zoo is a unique attraction for southern Maine. She said locals don’t have to travel to a major metro area to see a big cat like Moxy from another part of the globe.

The park has heard from animal rights activists in past years, including picketers who appeared at the gate in 2009. Sauls argued the zoo remains an important institution, however, for the public and for the animals.

“The fact that we can have them here and teach and have them breed and keep the population of that animal going, I think, is a good thing,” Sauls said.

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York’s Wild Kingdom struggles to hire employees

Sauls, a former teacher, has been working at the zoo for nine years, having moved from Miami to help her mother, a part owner, run the park. She started in the gift shop and rose to general manager.

Sauls said the park has struggled with employment since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. That year, York’s Wild Kingdom closed temporarily, then reopened with its rides shut down for the season.

Since then, she said the park has not been able to attract enough staff to run all of its attractions. Some rides remain closed down, she said, while some animals that once ran free have been fenced off.

“We need to have zookeepers here all the time if the animals are loose,” Sauls said. “We just don’t have enough staff.”

Sauls said the park still draws repeat customers who have come for generations and look forward to a good summer each year. Some of the staff she works alongside have been there for decades.

She said Jim Splaine, a longtime former New Hampshire state representative, senator and a former Portsmouth assistant mayor, will run the carousel for his 40th year. She said staff like Splaine are part of what makes the park special.

“He feels like that’s his ride, and it's become his,” Sauls said. “He’s just so kind and so sweet with a lot of our customers.”

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What is the future for York's Wild Kingdom?

The park today is owned by Sauls’ family and part-owner Joe Barberi. The owners have looked to sell the 82-acre property for several years. In 2005, developer Oskar Plotkin announced a plan to buy the property for condos and a retail shopping plaza. The project, however, fell through due to the 2008 financial crisis.

Sauls said the owners are still interested in selling but that zoning may be part of why developers have not recently made an offer. Town Planner Dylan Smith said wetlands place a portion of the property in a floodplain that adds constraints.

The property’s zoning could be made more appealing to developers under new zoning being crafted to go before voters at a coming referendum. The town is working to rezone the land between Route 1 and Short Sands Beach, which currently comprises six different zones. York’s Wild Kingdom takes up a significant portion.

The zone, called the Greenway District, is expected to allow for more density, according to Smith, while establishing rules for appearance. He said the proposed ordinance will be designed to encourage construction like the downtown section of Railroad Avenue that features shops like Johnny’s Candy Corner.

“More or less, kind of the whole idea and concept was to take York Beach village downtown and move that towards Route 1,” Smith said. “Really define what that means, allow that to move toward Route 1.”

While the owners continue to look for the right buyer, Sauls said they plan to keep running the Wild Kingdom as a park. She echoed what one owner, Barberi, said in 2019 when asked about the park being on the market for $14.2 million.

“We are certainly opening this year,” Barberi said, at the time. “I plan to open next year, and the year after that.”

Sauls said she hopes the public can be patient with the park as it continues to rebuild from the pandemic’s effects, as well as the high costs of running an amusement park. She finds many parkgoers return for the nostalgia, as much of the park’s charm remains the same.

“It does look a little different,” Sauls said, “But we’re hoping they still have a good time.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: York's Wild Kingdom roars into 2024 while property is up for sale