Don J. Meyer was born August 18, 1930 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In the ninth grade Meyer was
pulled out of school to work in his step-father's blacksmith shop and in 1943 he started to
work with animals. He shoed horses with his step-father at the Wisconsin State Fair and also
worked for horse owners and polo groups in Milwaukee. Meyer married in his early twenties
and later divorced. He married Joan in 1965.
Milwaukee County Zoo Director Don Speidel hired Meyer to work with an elephant named Annie
in 1960. Meyer worked at the Milwaukee County Zoo for a couple of years and then moved on to
the Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There he worked as an elephant handler from
1962 to 1963 and then as a curator from 1963 to 1965. Meyer was an elephant consultant for
many zoos across the country from the early 1960s until the early 2000s. He has worked with
animals since 1943 and founded a non-traditional farm that houses exotic animals in 1975
named Jo-Don Farms, Inc.
Meyer moved back to Wisconsin in 1965 to establish "The Ranch" Zoo in Menomonee Falls. As
director of The Ranch, he focused on creating a zoo for disabled individuals. Meyer worked
at The Ranch until 1974 when it was closed down. Meyer's work at The Ranch grew into his
business Jo-Don Farms. Founded in 1975, Jo-Don Farms located in Franksville, Wisconsin,
provides professional animal services including educational and recreational animal
programs, displays, and rides.
Over the years, Meyer has been an active member in the animal business and is known
throughout the United States for his work with elephants. From 1963 to 2003 he was an
elephant consultant for many zoos across the country. He has consulted with over 20
institutions and has worked with over 100 elephants. Meyer is a founding member of the
Wisconsin Zoo Associates (WZA), an organization for zoos and other animal businesses related
to the zoo business in Wisconsin. He is also a past member of the American Zoological
Association.
In 1978, Meyer and others established what was known as Elephant Management. Meyer was the
first president of the organization and it was located in Franksville, Wisconsin at Jo-Don
Farms, Inc., but was national in scope. This was an organization that wanted to establish a
breeding program called "musical elephants" that would work to improve the breeding success
rates of African elephants in captivity. Musical elephants was a concept of moving
breeding-age African elephants into favorable breeding arrangements. This was to be
accomplished through long-term breeding loans with zoos and animal facilities across the
nation. Due to lack of support and money, Elephant Management was disbanded in the early
1990s.
