Dragon Ranch, Non-profit Sanctuary for exotic animals. Founder Mike Kennedy Zoologist, Aviator on Discovery / Airplane Repo Shakespeare, Spot and Whinny.
Working with the rescue and rehabilitation of animals is a part of Mike’s fiber. In the show Airplane Repo there is a line, Mike Kennedy, ‘Keeper of all things lethal” When you see him with big cats, crocodiles or venomous snakes he seems at ease. He has a special gift for reading animals and the animals accept him, and respect his fearless approach. When I first met Mike in college he had a Lion
named Tanya and before that he was catching snakes in the California desert much to his mother’s dismay. Mike’s mom, Darlene said that while they were living in Alaska a circus came to town and Mike saw his first reptile and it was love at first sight. Mike’s dad, Ted (bush pilot in Alaska) was an animal lover too and was always bringing home a wild animal that needed mending like a porcupine or a deer. Mike dreamed of becoming a veterinarian and later attended UCF where he received a degree in Zoology. When we were first married in 1992 I first came to live with Mike and 2 large Pythons, Floyd and Shamus that were raised from tiny snakes to massive giants weighing 200 lbs and 14 ft long. Mike had these animals for over 20 years as well as a rescued squirrel and an iguana we named Cochise. I bring this up because it takes intense dedication to keep animals fed, watered, warm and healthy in captivity. Mike is very dedicated to his animals to this day and we often eat dinner late because he is spending long hours on the property cleaning cages or just giving the animals attention. Early in our marriage we ended up with a cougar, a leopard and a Canadian lynx. The kids had a big time with these kittens! Even my early Colonialtown Realty customers remember cats running around the board room and bouncing into paperwork. It was a unique time as they all loved to ride in the car and were so playful yet not large enough to be dangerous. The purpose of this page is to give you sweet stories about these animals and to memorialize some that have since past. To in some way raise awareness that these animals should be protected, even if they are dangerous or scare you. Mike is by no means an anti hunter. He grew up in Alaska on moose meat and caribou. He is against poaching, habitat encroachment, and urban sprawl. Mike recently attended an AZA Croc School, a weeklong workshop hosted by the ST. Augustine Zoo with a focus on crocodilian husbandry and conservation. We learned so much by exchanging ideas with other biologists. Dragon Ranch has two rescued American crocodiles that were entrusted to Mike by the state of Florida. We do not receive any funds for the housing and feeding of these animals and that was part of what prompted Mike to look into forming a 501c3 nonprofit. An 800lb croc can really eat some chow! During the AZA week we met amazing, dedicated zoo keepers from all over the world and saw firsthand the great work that St. Augustine Zoo does to proliferate rare species. This is when we were first exposed to the site https://www.96elephants.org/ which was created by the New York Zoo to raise awareness that approximately 96 elephants are slaughtered daily in Africa. The Rhino and elephant have been hunted nearly to extinction for their ivory and horn and soon we will not have free range animals in Africa at this rate of destruction. It took two years for Mike to get Dragon Ranch through the lengthy approval process but we are now recognized by the Federal Government as a 501c3 nonprofit organization formed for the purpose of raising money to expand our animal rescue efforts. We have been haunted by the rescues that we sadly passed on because of lack of funds for food, medicine and cage space. With future expansion it will make Tiger and bear rescues possible. Our second goal is to raise awareness of issues that impact animal both here and abroad. Everyone can make a difference and we need to look no further than the animals in our own country whether wild or domestic. We need to be aware of the bad practices of irresponsible pet owners and the release of non indigenous animals that compete with our native species, the developers that kill untold numbers of gopher tortoise and the habitat encroachment that kills numerous rattle snakes, fox, bear, bobcat and birds of prey every year
Mike and I are planning a trip to Africa in the near future to get more involved in the rhino and elephant wars and I don’t want our busy life to put this trip off. A close friend recently said, “The Africa you knew five years ago is not the Africa you will find today, nor the Africa you will witness two years from now. Go now, Africa is changing fast.”
In closing I hope that you will enjoy this site and that it will inspire you to do good work for those without a voice. Sincerely,
Valerie Kennedy
Mike and I just got back from South Africa June 2016 from our first attempt to see how we can help with the Rhino and Elephant poaching problem. Mike is taking his aviation skills and putting them to work flying recon over the Joint protection zone in and around Kruger Park. We will be fund raising for the South African Wild Life College bringing much needed supplies for the field rangers, and money to purchase fuel and parts to keep the Airplanes flying patrol. We will be returning at the end of this year. We are so honored to be a part of this mission.
