It all started with a baby raccoon that Pam and John Pape, of Cherry Grove, named Scooter. “She started everything,” said Pam, of the wild and exotic animal husbandry that’s been her and her husband John’s life’s work for the past 18 years.

John and Pam, who operate Pape’s Collision to support their passion, are the owners of Wild Woods Animal Park, which is located at 12 Wild Woods Lane in Cherry Grove.

While they’ve been keeping animals for 18 years, Pam said, the park itself has only been open to the public since 2006.

After Scooter, Pam said, the couple bought a cougar they named Josie and from there it was on to the bears, Abbey, Molly, and Daisey.

“And then it just kept going,” said Pam, adding “It’s our passion and what good is a passion if you don’t share it?”

Pam and John cite education as their goal for the animal park they’ve been growing over the years, which at this point includes the two tigers, three bears, wolves, a cougar, river otters, and a whole host of native and non-native wild animals. They host school groups, boy and girl scout groups, and tours for private parties, which have included visitors from as far away as the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, and England. Tours always include information sessions that double as meet-and-greets. While there is no hands-on interaction with the animals at the park, for either visitors or volunteers, Pam and John regularly handle the animals and offer lessons on each one’s unique characteristics.

Especially native animals, ones that people may encounter while out enjoying wild areas in the region. “It’s important that wildlife has a place in our world. It’s important to respect them, but how can you respect them if you don’t understand them first,” said Pam.

In Pennsylvania, part of securing a license to keep and exhibit animals as the Papes do is allowing no hands-on interaction with them for volunteers, let alone visitors. “I think that’s a good idea,” said Pam, who added that the federal and state licensing required to operate a place like theirs is “not easy to get.”

“People think you just go online and order an animal or go online and get the licenses,” said Pam. That’s not the case. Pam said that she and John, along with their staff, staff went through no less than eight extensive interviews with government agencies and had to have their facilities approved (much like the requirements Serenity stables had to go through earlier this year to ensure that their facility could safely and properly contain a wild mustang) before they could even be considered for the licensing.

In 2006, though, Pam said the park received its nonprofit status, which it originally sought in order to offer foster care and rehab to an injured eagle that had come to her and John’s attention. “We couldn’t take the eagle without the nonprofit,” said Pam. “So we started the process of getting it.” By the time Wild Woods was granted nonprofit status, said Pam, the eagle had already been homed elsewhere, and was eventually released back into the area it had come from after it healed. But the opportunity, she said, is there now.

And, said Pam, although most people through the park gates express some version of the sentiment that they’d “love to do something like this, there’s nothing romantic about it. Your whole heart and soul need to be in it.” Between cleaning, feeding, and caring for their animals as well as working in the autobody shop, Pam said that she and John don’t have time for anything else. “There’s no vacation,” said Pam. “Who would house sit? It’s constant maintaining the welfare of the animals. It’s not easy,” although she said with a smile that “Johnny does all the hard work.”

Many people have heard rumors that the animals at Pape’s have escaped over the years. “One year it was the cougar,” said Pam. “Another year it was all our wolves had escaped. Do you know how many gates I’d have to leave open for our wolves to get out? Five,” said Pam. “Five gates.”

But escape, said Pam, “is always a concern.” While she and John have installed enclosures meant to withstand most anything that could happen and do keep dart guns in the event than animal needs to be recovered, and while their top priority is the safety of both the animals and the community, said Pam, “short of a tornado, which is totally out of my control,” they have never and intend never to have an animal running at large. That’s another reason that even volunteers at the park have no hands-on interaction with the animals. Like the old adage “too many cooks in the kitchen”, less hands on the gate narrows the margin of error considerably. “I want to know if something’s being done, it’s being done right,” said Pam.

When it comes to those who get nervous about so many creatures one day escaping or being kept at Wild Woods, Pam said her and John’s first strategy is to try to reason with or educate them. But, she said, “some people just don’t understand this lifestyle. They’re unreasonable. They only believe in what they understand, or they’re afraid of what they don’t understand. And what they don’t understand, what they’re afraid of, they try to destroy.”

On average, Pam guessed, it costs about $30,000 to maintain the park, including the animals’ health and wellness, for one year. The autobody shop helps a lot, said Pam, but there are other ways the park supports itself. Hosting events like birthday parties, weddings, showers, and christenings is part of what keeps the park going as well. There is a commercial kitchen and reception room on the premises, and plenty of picturesque spots on the property to get married and take pictures. Wild Woods, said Pam, can cover everything from a wedding ceremony to the reception afterward, even offering food prepared if a group wants. Additionally, she and John host private tours for families and groups. “I like a three day notice,” said Pam, so that she can prepare to have people available for education and maybe even schedule a feeding or two into a group’s visit.

Also, Pape said, she’s fortunate to be able to take advantage of a food program that diverts soon-to-be outdated meat, vegetables, and fruits to places like Wild Woods, where it won’t go to a landfill but rather to ease the cost of caring for the animals. Many people who know the park is there offer their unused meat, and she also accepts deer that have been hit if she’s notified immediately. Many hunters, she said, will donate last year’s game leftovers as well when they get a new deer or other animal this year. “People don’t like to waste,” she said of the donations, adding that she and John will take chicken, beef, and pork loins that people would otherwise be throwing out, but that they do not accept hamburger or processed food because of the salt and nitrates in it. “The animals wouldn’t even eat it anyway,” said Pam.

Part of the cost of keeping the animals well is, of course, the cost of veterinary care. Dr. Patrick Farrell and Dr. Brooke Imus, of Russell Veterinary Hospital, and DVMs Tod and Lori Swanson are the people the Papes depend on to keep their animals well and happy.

Dr. Farrell, talking about his experience working with the animals at Wild Woods, said that “it’s a nice park. They do a nice job and they’ve worked hard to build some nice enclosures and habitats for their animals.” Farrell, who said that his work at Wild Woods includes everything from the mundane vaccinations and deworming jobs to giving him his first experience intubating a lion. “The first time I had to intubate a lion,” he said, “I’m standing there reaching into a lion’s mouth and thinking ‘whoa, how did I get here?'” Farrell, who said he never expected in his 30 years as a veterinarian, to get called for a lion intubation. But, said Farrell, “When you work in a rural community you never know what’s going to walk in the door. They’re a part of the community. They need care too.” And the part they play, said Farrell, makes for an “interesting resource for our community.” Farrell said that while he’s not a wild animal expert, he’s been fortunate to have colleagues with whom he can consult and share information, including the chief anesthesiologist at the San Diego Safari Park and the chief veterinarian at the Walt Disney Animal Kingdom.

In the future, Pam said she and John hope to host local events in addition to the tours and private events currently available at Wild Woods. Things like dinner and a “family oriented, animal themed movie,” as well as campfire programs, she said, are in the works.

While she and John prohibit hands-on animal contact for volunteers and visitors, both take a heavily hands-on approach with each of their animals. “We’re no experts,” said Pam. “We never claimed to be and we never will claim to be. If you’re not learning something every day you’re doing this wrong.” But when it comes to being scared around their animals, said Pam, “if you get scared you shouldn’t be doing this. Our tigers,” she said, “could hurt us just playing. But they know if you’re scared. They know if you’re mourning. A lot of the handlers advise not being around your big cats when you’re in mourning because they can see it but they might interpret it as something else.” In the end, said Pam, it’s all about keeping safe. “You have to keep yourself safe if you want to be any good to them,” she said, gesturing toward Sophia, who could have been a very, very large housecat, gazing at her owner from the door of her enclosure and contentedly licking her lips after a tasty hand-fed snack.

Of a mere three large chicken breasts.

Wild Woods can be reached by calling (814) 968-9144 or through Facebook. Their website can be found at wildwoodsanimalpark.com.