CAPETOWN SAFARI: WHERE THE DEER AND THE ANTELOPE PLAY WITH 698 OTHER ANIMALS

When your yard spans 152 acres and there are approximately 700 exotic pets roaming around, one might expect to forget where the deer, the wildebeest and the antelope last played.

Not Todd and Vickie Lantz. In fact, if the operators of the Capetown Safari, a drive-through animal park, can't tell you where some of the exotic animals are at a particular hour, perhaps Todd's muffler will.

"When we close down each day, we take the pickup truck out to make sure all the animals have been fed," said Vickie Lantz. "We don't have to go looking for them because most of them recognize Todd's muffler on that old beat-up pickup truck. They all come running because they know it's six-o-clock, which is feeding time."

The sights and sounds that comprise Capetown Safari, located at the 5-H Ranch on County Road 618, have been a part of Vickie's world since she was a young girl.

"My father, Dave Hale, started out with some horses and then added a zebra, some antelope and pretty soon he had his 5-H ranch," she said. Hale ran the 5-H ranch from 1976 to 1985. The ranch was closed until Vickie and her husband decided to reopen it in 1992. "We've been running it seven days a week from April until October ever since," she said. "We put in some long hours, but we like what we're doing, so it doesn't seem so bad."

Vickie met her husband, who is from South Dakota, when he attended an auction at Fruitland. "He started working for my dad and then we got married," she said. "The reason we opened it back up is Todd was working petting zoos and animal ranches out of town and he was away too long. This way we can keep our work right where we live."

Among the more exotic animals are an Arabian Oryx, which is on the endangered species list, a wildebeest, ibex goats, pot belly pigs, watusi cattle, a yak and dromedary camels. There are even some African pygmy hedgehogs.

"We get a lot of our animals from auctions and then we raise a lot of them as babies right here," she said. "We sell our surplus at auctions at the end of the year and put most of the rest of the animals in the barn for the winter."

Capetown Safari even allows animals from circuses to graze while awaiting the next show. "The elephants you see by the front gate are just staying here until they're ready for the next circus act in St. Louis," she said.

Lantz said there is probably more work to be done during the off-season than when the Capetown Safari is in full swing. "I guess we do a lot more work because it seems like we're constantly out there feeding the animals and giving them water," she said. "When we're done giving one group water, it seems we're starting to feed another group and the cycle just goes on and on."

Vickie has been known to become attached to some of the animals that have stayed at the ranch. "I guess one of the animals I've grown fond of is a chimpanzee named J.D.," she said. "He's being loaned out to a breeding farm in Festus," she said. "If there is a baby from J.D.'s stay there, we would split the money with the breeding farm if the baby is sold at an auction. Or we might want to keep it and pay them their share."

The summer is the most popular time for Capetown Safari. "That's usually when we get the most groups and have the steadiest stream of people," she said.

The park is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is located approximately five miles off of Kingshighway and Mt. Auburn Road.

Adults are admitted for $6. Children ages 4-12 are admitted for $4. Children three years or younger are admitted free. For additional information call 243-8778.