Today we’d like to introduce you to John Basile.
John, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was an animal nut as a kid. I talked my parents into letting me have as many animals as possible, in addition to the animals I was hiding :). I always dragged home sick and injured animals to nurse them back to health- putting baby birds back into their nests. I moved to California when I was 18 years old, spending much time in the high Sierras near Yosemite. I came back for one summer, planning to return to California but I got a job as a diesel mechanic for United Parcel Service in Chicago and worked there for 34 years. I bought a small farm in rural Will County, not wanting to live in the city after living in the mountains. I began acquiring basic farm animals as pets, but was always fascinated with wolves after reading the Jack London stories such as Call of the Wild and White Fang in 3rd grade. I acquired a wolf hybrid (wolfdog mix). With the help of wolf dog organizations, I learned how to obtain my federal license to possess pure wolves. After obtaining my first few pure wolves, I was asked to do an educational presentation about wolves for a 3rd grade class at a school in Midlothian, IL. I brought with me a baby wolf and a baby fox. One teacher told another teacher and I went to another school. Word of mouth snowballed, and soon I was doing more educational presentations bringing wolves and other animals. That soon became my wildlife program. I was asked to go to libraries, park districts, schools, scout programs, etc. The small fees that I charged for the programs helped me to feed the animals and helped the ranch to expand. For 18 years I was strictly on the road presenting at various events.
After 18 years, I set the ranch up for field trips for students to come in the mornings and then evenings were reserved for scouts and other organizations. To help the ranch expand, we became a 501c3 non-profit organization, along the way, acquiring various types of apex predators. We were not open to the public at that time, ensuring private groups had the facility to themselves when they were here. As the facility became more well-known, many people wanted to come to see the animals and the show, but many could not get the minimum requirement of 25 visitors per group.
I then had the idea to do once a month Family Day/Open House for families to be able to visit who not part of a scheduled group. We eventually added a food court and gift shop to help earn funds to care of our residents. After years and years of listening to the wolves serenade us with their howling all night long, we decided to set up camping so that scouts and other various organizations could come and enjoy listening to the wolves howl at various times in the night. This became a very popular way for scouts to earn their merit badges.
In addition, scouts now come to do projects to earn their Eagle Scout ranking. Today the ranch has greatly expanded since the beginning. After 31 years we are seeing 3rd generation scouts come to see the show that their parents saw when they were kids.
With the tremendous help we receive from our awesome group of volunteers, we are proud to say we have an impeccable record with USDA who we are regulated by.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Having started from scratch with no mentors to help me figure this out, there were many struggles along the way. In order to maintain the ranch during the day, I chose to work the midnight shift at UPS. This left me free during the day to do my wildlife presentations at schools and other events.
For many years I survived on as little as 3 hours of sleep. Sometimes options were dinner or a shower, but often not both. Things became more difficult after I started a family. Somehow, I kept pushing on.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Big Run Wolf Ranch – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Big Run Wolf Ranch is a federally licensed non-profit educational facility specializing in North American wildlife. We have been licensed for approximately 32 years and doing educational lectures for approximately 30 years.
Many of the animals here at Big Run have been rescued wherein the only other alternative was euthanasia. Although we have rescued many animals, Big Run’s primary objective is conservation through education. Currently, we are unable to comfortably house any additional wildlife. With the continued generous support of the public, our facility will expand as funds allow.
John Basile, President, has held a USDA federal license and has been working with large North American predators for over 30 years.
After years of not giving up and continued dedication, the ranch is successful and has become an integral part of the Chicagoland area, being highly regarded by wildlife conservation groups and hundreds of thousands of children over the years.
What sets us apart from others is the close up experience and the tremendous amounts of information given about each animal. Often the following day when classes discuss their trip here, kids will write about what they thought was most interesting about each animal. Teachers comment that there was so much information given, that the children respond with an array of different facts. At many facilities, the animals are well cared for, but there is a lack of information and no one there to answer questions or provide facts about each animal.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
At the present time, we are happy with our facility as it is. We are flexible if future opportunities arise.
Pricing:
- $6 per person for Family Day/Open House events
- $13 per person per night for camping
Contact Info:
- Address: 14857 Farrell Road,
Lockport, IL 60441 - Website: www.bigrunwolfranch.org
- Phone: 815-588-0044
- Email: bigrunwolf@aol.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Big-Run-Wolf-Ranch/124566096975
- Twitter: @BigRunWolfRanch
Image Credit:
Big Run Wolf Ranch
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