Minford has acquired a new attraction this summer, with the opening of Rose Valley Animal Park, an exotic petting zoo featuring a plethora of animals and activities for the whole family to engage in.

Owners Jerry and Audrey Hull say this has been a dream for a long time and they are excited to be open.

“We officially opened July 22,” Audrey Hull said. “It’s been really great so far. We’re getting a lot of feedback from the community and we’re just trying to continue getting the word out there about our little park, so we can reach out to beyond our community as well.”

So far, the crowds have been coming in and leaving happy, according to Hull.

“People are very happy about this coming into their community,” Hull said. “They’re happy about the variety of animals we have, as well as the different attractions.”

The park features a plethora of animals, including camels, foul, goats, zebra, highland cows, kangaroos, emus, ostriches, pigs, horses, a lemur, a sloth, over 250 parakeets and more.

Welcoming these animals into the family has been a dream for the patriarch of the Hulls and they’re excited to be breathing life into it, making it a reality.

“My husband has always wanted to start a petting zoo,” Hull explained. “He has been a farmer all of his life and this has been a dream. We went to Tennessee last year and that is where the spark really took. He said he wanted to start it and I just moaned, ‘oh, no.’ So, we got our first camel and went from there. We’ve done a lot of research on petting zoos and how they operate and what people like.”

A lot of what they have now is shaped around their own family wishes and preferences, according to the matriarch of the family.

“A lot of the animals we have now are what our kids like and want to raise. We have a variation of kids, too, so that translates into the animals we have,” Hull said. “We hope to continue to grow and feature even more animals with time.”

There is more for kids to enjoy at Rose Valley Animal Park than just the animals.

“We have a play area and animals and gem mining in the front,” Hull explained. “There is something for every kid and person, even if you’re not a kid anymore.”

There have been a lot of joys in owning a zoo for the family. The greatest, according to Hull, is seeing the community’s reaction to their collection.

“The greatest joy is all the feedback we get from the community,” Hull said. “We love hearing from people who say they can’t wait to come back. We don’t want to hear from somebody that it was good, but they don’t want to come back. We want the community to call this home and wish to return and play with our animals. So, we are always changing and moving and growing all of the time. The biggest problem is where we are going to put the next animal or attraction, because we want a variety for the community to fall in love with, but we also want to make sure the animals are loved and nurtured and cared for.”

Hull said a lot will change in the coming years, “Yes, we are going to keep growing and expanding. That is all I will say. We have lofty dreams.”

Rose Valley Animal Park is open Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday noon to 6 p.m. The petting zoo is at 330 Marcum Road, Minford, Ohio.

Reach Joseph Pratt at (740) 353-3101, by email at [email protected], © 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved.