Our Story

We (Steve and Linda Sass) founded Tiny Zoo in November 2020. Tiny Zoo and the experiences we offer are because we’re passionate about people experiencing nature and the wildlife around us, and not just wild animals, but animals in captivity as well (because sometimes the wild isn’t always a safe space). It’s not everyday you meet someone who owns a zoo. Well, this is actually our second zoo! We created On the Perch Bird Park in Tathra, which became home to one of the largest collections of birds in any Australian zoo. We had more than 130 different species (over 800 individuals) which included more than 20 threatened species such as Southern Cassowary, Bush Stone Curlew, Black-throated Finch and Swift Parrot. We made the decision to close the bird park in January 2020, while the black summer fires were burning all around us. It just became too much and on the 14 February 2020 we closed the entrance for the last time. But we weren’t done just yet! We feel very strongly about connecting people with animals and we knew we could continue to do this just in a different form, which ultimately became Tiny Zoo. With more than 80 years combined of captive animal experience and more than 35 years combined professional experience with threatened species research including surveys, monitoring and management in the field, we knew we could still use our skills and knowledge to lead a very dedicated team of staff to continue to provide these connections and get people excited and engaged about all things biodiversity.

We can’t wait to meet you on one of our wildlife experiences, whether it being one of our animal encounters or one of our birdwatching tours, be sure to say hi to us.