Jack’s Jungle is a Chesapeake-based mobile zoo that comes to you

Wearing a 12-foot albino Burmese python named Fluffy around his neck is just another day at work for Jack Baugus.

Or, maybe he’s checking on Bubbles, his 3-foot-long alligator, or chatting it up with Scoot, an 18-year-old blue and gold Macaw.

“I have to keep reminding myself that my normal everyday routine is completely out of the world to a lot of people,” Baugus said.

The Chesapeake resident, affectionately known as Jungle Jack, is like a walking encyclopedia when it comes to animals. And it was that passion that drove Baugus to start his small business, Jack’s Jungle, three years ago.

The mobile zoo brings a variety of animals to parties, schools, corporate events and festivals to educate, create connections and foster a respect for nature, the environment and animal conservation.

Jack’s Jungle has roughly 200 animals, including four giant African millipedes; tarantulas; iguanas; a sailfin dragon; a scorpion; an African pixie frog; Nikki, a yellow anaconda; and Steve Irwin, the blue-tongued skink.

Shows typically last one hour and consist of six animals — Baugus selects three and the customer selects the other three. Shows can be customized for longer time slots and additional animals. He delves into the origin of each animal, its eating habits, predators, ecological roles and more. If the animal can be touched or held, guests are invited to do so.

Baugus has no restrictions on how far Jack’s Jungle will travel, but there is a fee based on driving distance. From Washington, D.C., for a corporate event for Microsoft, to events in Kitty Hawk and Raleigh, North Carolina, and throughout Hampton Roads, Baugus said the farthest he’s traveled to date is three and a half hours.

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Finding his animal career

Originally, Baugus said his plans were to be a veterinarian but halfway through college, he realized he didn’t like medicine.

“I really just liked animals and animal education,” he said.

Even as a young boy, Baugus said he was out in the yard catching frogs, snakes and salamanders.

“When I was 10, I started my very first business breeding rats and mice,” he said.

Hired at the education department at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk in 2019, Baugus was on a team that ran birthday parties, guided tours, slumber parties and special events.

Then, the pandemic hit.

A year into his dream job of handling animals all day and educating the community, Baugus said he and other co-workers in his department were blindsided when they were laid off via Zoom. The zoo closed to the public for more than three months and then followed pandemic-related precautions that limited certain activities.

Working a part-time job at a pet store at the time, Baugus said he picked up more hours there and was quickly promoted to manager.

“But I had fallen in love with working at the zoo and when they laid me off, I was like, I can’t accept not doing this anymore,” he said.

With a dozen exotic pets already in his possession, including snakes, a lizard and a tortoise, Baugus set his business plan in motion and opened Jack’s Jungle in August 2020. He kicked it up a notch by adding a menagerie of animals, or “educational ambassadors” as Baugus likes to call them.

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Passion leads to expansion

And by early fall, Baugus plans to load his barnyard animals into a livestock trailer for a mobile petting zoo. They include Peanut, Butter and Jelly, the triplet dwarf goats; Bjorn the Viking, a Kunekune piglet; Red the Bull, a mini cow; and Doodle, a miniature donkey.

His bird flock includes turkeys, ducks, geese and chickens and should reach 50 by the year’s end.

Of all the creatures, Baugus said his four Sulcata tortoises named Thomas, Harriet, Duke and Charles are his favorite.

“They have big personalities and they’re easy to care for,” Baugus said.

With a bookkeeper on staff, a veterinarian on call and several helpers at the ready, Baugus’ team is quickly growing, but more are needed.

“Last month, we turned away 15 shows because I was just so booked,” he said.

He also has a 13-foot temperature controlled trailer complete with 25 enclosures to set up for three hours at festivals. Guests walk through to see everything from parrots to bunnies to snakes to alligators, he said.

“I get to teach people about animals and hang out with animals all day,” Baugus said. “Plus, seeing kids conquer their fears and that spark in their eyes is really cool.”

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‘Is this really my job?’

Kristi Mooney’s two sons, John, 10, and Matthew, 8, both wanted Jungle Jack at their birthday parties last year.

“They’re both really into animals,” Mooney said. “It’s great because it’s very interactive and educational.”

KeShera “Kiki” McIntyre, director of My Joy Learning Center & Childcare in Norfolk, has had Jack’s Jungle out several times.

“It allows the kids to have an opportunity they wouldn’t normally have,” she said. “And he adds so much excitement to what he’s teaching.”

Despite setbacks, it’s clear Jungle Jack found his way.

“I wake up and I’m like, ‘Is this really my job?’” he said.

For more information, visit jbjungle.com.

Sandra J. Pennecke, 757-652-5836, sandra.pennecke@insidebiz.com