Todo empezó hace 21 años, cuando los empleados de la prisión Stock Island Detention Center (Florida EEUU) vieron cómo una familia de patos estuvo a punto de ser atropellada en una carretera que rodeaba al centro penitenciario. Por aquel entonces decidieron ampliar unos metros la valla y construirles un pequeño estanque… Estos patos fueron los primeros residentes de este zoo gestionado por los mismos presos. Pronto se corrió la voz y comenzaron a llegar animales abandonados de todo el estado de Florida y poco después, ¡de todo el país!
Hace 10 años, una de las guardas, la antigua bióloga marina Jeanne Selander, decidió tomar las riendas del zoológico y pidió la colaboración a un grupo de presos de su confianza, todos con cierta experiencia en el trato de animales. Por aquel entonces solo había 25 animales. Hoy hay más de 150, la mayoría animales exóticos, y puede entrar en la cárcel a visitarlos las personas que lo deseen. ¡Qué bonita manera de aprovechar el tiempo los años que deben estar ahí! ¿Verdad?
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- Inmate Orlando Gonzalez shows "Boots" the alligator to a visitors during at open house day at the Monroe County Sheriff's Office Animal Farm on Stock Island, FL.
"Boots" came to the farm after ingesting the silicone lining in her aquarium. Her owners didn't want to pay for the veterinary care to get her back to health so they signed her over to Dr. Doug Mader, who then donated her to the farm.
Photo by Kim Raff
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- Inmate Michael Smith brushes "Ghost" an elderly blind horse at the Monroe County Sheriff's Office Animal Farm. "Ghost" was abandoned by his owner in a remote area of Miami-Dadd county and left to die. He came to the farm just skin and bones.
Working with "Ghost" teaches patience to the inmates. They have to be gentle and build trust in order to care for him because he frightens easily.
Photo by Kim Raff
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- Inmates Orlando Gonzalez and Michael Smith move animals from their pens out to the courtyard to graze at the Monroe County Sheriff's Office Animal Farm that is located on the grounds of the detention center.
Photo by Kim Raff
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- Curator Jeanne Selander - “Farmer Jeanne" - holds "Mo" the sloth, and visits with a crowd of visitors for an open house at the jail farm.
"Everyone thinks he is hugging me, but really he just thinks I'm a tree," says Selander.
Photo by Kim Raff
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- Inmate Orlando Gonzalez shows "Boots" the alligator to visitors during an open house at the Monroe County Sheriff's Office Farm on Stock Island, FL.
"Boots" came to the farm after ingesting the silicone lining in her aquarium. Her owners didn't want to pay for the veterinary care to get her back to health so they signed her over to Dr. Doug Mader, who then donated her to the farm.
Photo by Kim Raff
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- Curator Jeanne Selander - “Farmer Jeanne" - holds "Mo" the sloth, the most well known animal at the farm. Selander regularly takes him to community events and stands with him at the entrance during open house days where he meets all the visitors to the farm.
“I always laugh, they didn't invite me, they invited Mo, I'm just his roadie,” said Selander says of his appearances up and down the Keys.
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- Inmates Orlando Gonzalez and Michael Smith clean out animal pens at the Monroe County Sheriff's Office Animal Farm that is located on the grounds of the detention center. Photo by Kim Raff
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- Smith cradles "Thumper", a flemish giant rabbit, as “Fat Albert” a giant tortoise who roams the farm waddles over looking for attention. Smith gives a few pats to “Fat Albert's” head and then holds out “Thumper” as visitors pet the his soft fur.
Hundreds of people stream through the farm for each of the open houses to visit with the animals. The farm is completely funded by donations and community support. No tax dollars go to fund the project.
