Looking for a day trip that will introduce you up close to the world of exotic and endangered animals, then a visit to Carson Springs Wildlife Sanctuary in Gainesville is an exhilarating option for North Floridians.

Less than an hour north of Ocala, Carson Springs is a former horse farm that has been transformed by owners Christine and Barry Janks into one of the nation’s premier wildlife sanctuaries, featuring everything from lions and tigers to hyenas and jaguars.

Rated the No. 1 outdoor attraction in Gainesville/Alachua County by Visit Gainesville, Carson Springs covers about 80 acres of large pens designed to provide as natural and pleasant an environment for the animals as possible, said Christine Janks, a former horse trainer who has had a lifelong fascination with cheetahs.

It was that fascination that led the Janks to retire from horse racing – Barry was a jockey agent and breeder of champion race horses – and form the Carson Springs Wildlife Foundation in 2003. Their first objective was to help save cheetahs.

Over time, however, Carson Springs has grown into so much more. Today, Carson Springs offers a host of ways to visit and interact with the animals – as close as 4 feet – that now include nearly 100 endangered species. As a result of the Janks’ work and devotion, Carson Springs is licensed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Department of Agriculture and accredited by the Zoological Association of America, the International Species Breeders Association.

Visitors can take guided tours of Carson Springs – all led by trained zoologists – and Janks said she is always amazed at the reaction she gets from those who visit.

“People go away from here saying they learned things they never knew,” she said. “That’s music to my ears. The biggest compliment we get is the animals look so happy.

“It’s really spectacular. Nobody goes away disappointed, I mean nobody.”

In addition to helping save endangered species, Carson Springs is also a major breeding facility for zoos around the nation. In fact, one of the park’s most famous animals is an Indian rhino named Henry, who is the leading sire of Indian rhinos in the United States, having fathered more than 30 offspring and dozens of grandbabies as well.

But it is the big cats that dominate the Carson Springs sanctuary. Janks said about 60 percent of the animals at Carson Springs are big cats, including cheetahs, lions, tigers, caracals, lynx, pumas, leopards and jungle cats.

‘We’re also big on spotted hyenas,” she added. “They’re so entertaining.”

Carson Springs is a nonprofit organization that receives no state or federal funding. It relies entirely on receipts from tours and private and corporate donations. Individuals are also encouraged to adopt an animal for as little as $10 per month, or businesses can sponsor an enclosure.

Janks said Carson Springs provides all of its animals ongoing veterinary care and feeds its animals only pre-approved diets by a licensed nutritionist, a diet that includes some 200 pounds of fresh meat every day.

“We don’t feed the animals anything that I wouldn’t eat myself,” she said. “And our animals’ work amounts to coming up to the fence and getting a treat, then dancing around for a tour.”

Carson Springs is only open for tours that are scheduled through its website, carsonspringswildlife.org. The park is located at 8528 E. County Road 25, Gainesville, FL 32609.

In addition to providing tours for individuals and families, Carson Springs also offers opportunities for school field trips, business retreats, team building events and group tours. For information about these special events, see the Carson Springs website at carsonspringswildlife.org. Again, all tours are led by experienced zoologists.

Janks invites Ocala area residents to visit Carson Springs and enjoy the interactive and personal experience of meeting the sanctuary’s large collection of exotic species.

“We hope to share our animals and the joy they bring us with the people of Ocala,” she said. “So many people in Ocala are animal lovers. I know they will love our park.”