Space family cleans up roads to keep zoo animals fed, By Margaret Witt Wantage With the Sept. 30 deadline closing in on New Jersey’s municipalities to clean up their own road kill, Space Farms Zoo and Museum is coming to the rescue. Following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Parker Space has for about 20 years been picking up dead deer from nearby roads and recycling them into food for the carnivorous and omnivorous animals at the zoo. Along with being zookeeper and part owner of the business with his dad, Fred, Parker is also the deputy mayor and a volunteer fireman in Wantage Township. He currently has agreements with Hampton, Green, Stillwater, and Sparta and is still in negotiations with other towns. He is also reaching out to towns in Passaic and Morris counties. Parker is already picking up an average of 40 dead deer a month. The number doubles during winter, he said. This is actually good for the zoo, as the appetites of its inhabitants increases significantly in winter. The zoo also get scraps from local butcher shops that cut up deer killed by hunters, he said. The deer must be fresh enough to be fed to the animals. If the deer are not found in time, the Spaces bring them to the county dump, for which they have a salvage permit. Parker said he has the “added incentive to get the job done right and quickly, as the deer meat is only good to the animals if we get it within the first 12 hours.” Parker has also saved a few lives over the years by performing Cesarean sections on pregnant doe, helping them bring full-term fawns into the world. Parker said his dad who is now 77 and claims to be retired is just as often on the road picking up the deer with him. He also helps out at the zoo and museum. Fred also inspects all the killed deer brought in to make sure they died by car and not some disease that will make the zoo animals sick. Parker cuts up the deer into usable portions for the carnivores, then takes what’s left over and makes his own mix of venison, feed, and dog food to feed the omnivores, including wolves, bears, and coyotes. Lori Space Day, Parker’s sister, is the zoologist for Space Farms. She graduated from Nazareth College with a degree in biology and zoology and is a published author of articles in trade magazines and her book, “The Zookeepers Daughter.” “Because the venison is such a natural diet for the carnivores, the animals are healthier,” she said. “Even our vet, Ted Spinks of Animal Hospital of Sussex County, has said the food fed to the carnivores keeps their teeth the healthiest they could be.” Although they do vary the animals’ diet with chicken and stillborn calves brought in occasionally by local farmers, venison is the main source of food for the over 20 carnivores and many more omnivores at the zoo. These include lions, tigers, servals, bobcats, leopards, cougars, and even alligators. The carnivores are fed by Parker, and the “hoof stock” are fed by Doug Day, Lori’s husband. Lori takes care of all the animals, but her favorites are the babies, including the two little fawns rescued by her brother. There are now four generations of Spaces at the farm and museum. Great-grandson Hunter is a zookeeper-in-training, and does his share of the work. They are a “wonderful conglomeration of multiple talents,” said Lori, with her husband as “the go-to fix-it guy and caretaker of the grounds, and sister-in-law running the restaurant and business end of things.” What started almost 80 years ago as a small general store and repair shop has turned into a 400-acre safe haven, where animals of all kinds continue live out their comfortable, well-fed lives.