Kim L. Chiswell and S. Nigel Platt || Safe Haven & Educational Adventures
There are few times in life that take you a moment to fully grasp and enjoy. I had one of these experiences in early January when I visited Safe Haven & Educational Adventures in the Upstate of South Carolina.
Safe Haven is a permanent sanctuary for rescued exotic wildlife who have been abandoned, abused, lost their home due to the death of their owner, or surrendered by the previous owner. These animals now have a home with Kim L. Chiswell and S. Nigel Platt who own and operate Safe Haven. It is fully licensed by the U. S. Department of Agriculture as well as the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.
Kim and Nigel were kind enough to let me come visit their property where the animals are housed and cared for on a daily basis. Pulling into their driveway, the first thing I saw was Vlad, their wolf-hybrid. From that moment, I knew the adventure of meeting their animals would be a moment to remember!
For over an hour, Kim took me around their entire property to meet all of the animals. Currently, they have over two hundred creatures in their care, and I learned about each of their stories. There were crocodiles, snakes, spiders, iguanas, monkeys, macaws, ferrets, chinchillas, a coyote, a sheep, pigs, and a bobcat. It was incredible getting to know each one and how they landed in such a unique and special home.
“Some of these animals came in because people bought them from a pet store without any prior knowledge of how the animal behaves or how large they would get,” Kim mentions. “The owners will surrender them because they don’t know what else to do.”
Both Kim and Nigel’s ultimate goal is for people to “know what they’re getting” when purchasing or adopting an animal. If they don’t know the needs of the animal, they take them home and realize how much work it is to take care of them, and the animal may not behave like they thought it would.
One such story was Luke the alligator. He was maybe a foot and a half to two feet long, and I asked how old he was since he was so small.
“Actually, he’s an adult,” said Kim. “The original owners bought him thinking he was a lizard, so they had him living in a dessert cage and feeding him lettuce. Since he’s a carnivore and needs to be living in close proximity to water, it stunted his growth. He's still growing, but he'll never be the size of an average alligator which can be about twelve feet for males.”
In the bird enclosure, I met Macaws, parakeets, and cockatiels. Some said “hello!” to me while others weren’t too sure if they wanted me near them. “Quite a few of these guys came to us after their owners died. Macaws can live 80+ years, and the owners will usually pass away before these birds will,” Kim said. One parrot in particular showed off by performing tricks for me!
I asked about the education side of Safe Haven and how they use the animals to teach people. “We provide some great programs! We take some of our animals into schools and into the community so people can experience firsthand and close-up creatures they may have never seen before. We want people to understand the animal’s natural abilities and how they behave. On top of this, we teach them about ownership, environmental issues, endangered species, and a lot more.”
I asked Kim how she and Nigel got started with Safe Haven, “Well, we both have a great deal of experience in the animal realm. When we got together, we joked that he had the snakes and I had the birds, so why not get more and start something together,” she laughed. “It’s been an adventure ever since!”
This summer on June 16th, Safe Haven will be hosting an open house called “Adventure Day” in which they’ll open their home from 10am-5pm. The admission is free to come and look around, but they also sell wristbands for $5 each to anyone who would like to pet the animals. They also will sell tickets for games, food, raffles, and much more!
If you can’t wait until June, on May 19th they’re hosting an event for adults at The Burning Brick Tavern in Pickens that they call “Critters and Cocktails.” It’s a fun way to come out, have a good time, and support the animals. They also have three volunteer work days scheduled. These are for anybody who would like to get involved with Safe Haven’s mission. These work days are April 15th, May 5th, and June 2nd.
To learn more about Kim, Nigel, and the wonderful world of Safe Haven, visit them on their website by clicking here, and like them on Facebook by clicking here.
