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IT all began with $4000 and a childhood aspiration.
Never in her wildest dreams did Sally Padey think Mogo Zoo would become the world-class facility it is today when she opened the gates for the first time as a taxidermy museum and small zoo on December 26, 1989.
Ms Padey said everyone laughed when she first said she wanted to start a zoo but her determination paid off.
“I wanted to open a zoo for exotic and endangered animals,” she said.
“Everyone was doing natives at the time.
“I thought if we are going to have animals behind wire and people were going to pay to see them, then those animals had to benefit from being there.”
Exotic animals were introduced to the zoo on December 16, 1990.
“We started with servals, pumas and crab-eating cat monkeys,” Ms Padey said.
“From there we grew.”
Mogo Zoo now boasts more than 250 different animals on display.
“A lot of people didn’t think we would make it at the beginning,” she said.
“We didn’t have any money; we just had lots of determination.
“(Former husband) Bill and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without each other.
“I didn’t see it as anything other than having blinkers on and going forward.
“I wished and worked very hard and it’s still here.”
And while her budget is never quite as big as her thoughts, Ms Padey has even bigger plans.
She is currently planning a year-long celebration for Mogo Zoo’s 25th birthday and wants the whole community to be involved, with events planned for each month for the whole of 2015.
In February, every child to visit the zoo will receive a free ice-cream and during June, July and August visitors will have the chance to enter a draw to win a holiday for two to Africa.
Other ideas Ms Padey has for the celebration is to hold an open-air cinema night and a "rumble in the jungle" music festival.
There have been huge highs and lows over the past 25 years, but all were worth it.
“I have never thought of giving up,” she said.
“I still feel the same eagerness that I did 25 years ago.”
One of the hardest decisions was ordering a lion to be shot after it got out of its enclosure.
“That day changed my life forever,” Ms Padey said.
“I raised that animal and had it for nine years.
“But I had to make a life and death decision between human and animal.”
She said getting up close and personal with the animals still felt like a dream.
There is a feeling of intimacy at Mogo Zoo that you wouldn’t find anywhere else.
And Ms Padey admits she still has to pinch herself when looking out from her veranda and over the gorilla enclosure.
“Sitting outside at midnight listening to the siamang and the roar of the lions is something else,” she said.
“Money can’t buy that.”