By Randy Rice
Official Kids Mag
The Promised Land Zoo, Branson's Top Rated
Animal Attraction and only zoo, is family owned
and operated and dedicated to providing each and
every visitor a personalized zoo experience. Josh
Remenar, the zoo's managing director, known
as "Jungle Josh," told us about this one-of-a-kind
attraction and how he got his nickname.
"I'm Jungle Josh," he began. "As a teenager I
worked for the Promised Land Zoo in Eagle Rock.
Then I went into the army and off to college and
came back and started dating the only daughter
of the zoo's owners and we eventually got
married."
Josh's new father-in-law said he was going to
open a zoo in Branson and he wanted Josh and
his daughter, Josh's wife Laura, to run it. Since
Branson is a show town, his father-in-law decided
that Josh needed a show business name so 'Jungle
Josh' was born.
"At first thought it was a joke," Jungle Josh said.
"But when I got my uniform
the name was embroidered
on the shirt so I thought
'okay, I guess I'm Jungle Josh
now.'"
They started with just ten
acres. They were basically
a walk-through petting zoo
with animal shows for smaller
crowds. They then added 75 more
acres and became what they are today.
"When we expanded we switched over to
having tram tours from doing the smaller shows
to accommodate the people," Jungle Josh said.
"The tram leaves every hour on the hour. We
go all over the 85 acres inside and outside of the
enclosure where the animals live. People get to
feed and pet the animals. They come right up to
the window of the tram. The driver of the tram is
very knowledgeable and talks about the animals
and where they live."
For the real jungle explorers, they also do a
personal tour called the Ultimate Excursion. That
offers real one-on-one contact with the animals.
You also get to ride a Polaris Ranger off-road
vehicle and journey through the entire zoo.
Running the zoo is serious business. Josh's wife,
Laura, is the behind-the-scenes person making
sure they are doing everything right. She works
with the Animal, Plant and Health Inspection
Service and other government agencies to
make sure the animals are treated and cared for
properly. Jungle Josh is more hands-on. He wakes
up at 4:00 a.m. because that's when the sun
comes up and animals wake up. He oversees the
feeding and care for all of the animals and gets the
zoo opened.
"The USDA has what they call enrichment
guidelines for the care of animals," Jungle Josh
explained. "And I oversee that at the zoo. These
guidelines mostly involve primates and cats. For
primates, you have to change their toys out every
Jungle Josh
loves introducing kids to wild animals
28 • NoVember 2020 • officialKidsmag.com
