Steve and Dawn Nicotra soon will have another reason to bring their 19-month-old daughter, Ella, back to Living Treasures Animal Park.

Starting in June, visitors will be able to take a horse-drawn wagon ride around the 30-acre nature park that will include a trip through a Lawrence County version of an African plain.

Ostriches, zebras and antelope are among the unusual animals visitors will see up close, owner Adam R. Guiher said.

Construction of the safari trail and expansion of an existing barn are two elements in a $300,000 park expansion under way this spring. The project is being partially financed with a $100,000 Small Business First state loan.

The loan to Living Treasures was among $9.5 million in state funding for agricultural and tourism projects announced last month by Gov. Ed Rendell.

Mr. Guiher said he hopes that the new attractions will mean another half-dozen jobs at the park and a rise in attendance to 100,000 this year.

In 2007, Living Treasures attracted about 80,000 visitors to its location in Slippery Rock Township, just south of Route 422 and about six miles east of New Castle.

Mr. Guiher, 22, literally grew up at the park, which was started in 1992 by his father, Tom. By age 7, he was helping out at concession stands, and he continued to work at the park through his 2004 graduation from Butler Area Senior High School.

After graduation, he opted for construction work and investment in real estate. Within a year, however, he was ready to get back to Living Treasures.

Tom Guiher, who operates a second animal park near Donegal, Westmoreland County, found he wasn't able to devote enough time to his Lawrence County operation, Adam Guiher said. He agreed to sell the facility to his son, who has just started his fourth season overseeing the park.

The two parks continue to do joint advertising and have the same Web site, www.ltanimalpark.com.

"There is a lifetime of work here," Adam Guiher said during a walk around the park. "I don't see ever being able to walk away from it again."

Park exhibits feature more than 300 animals, birds and reptiles.

Although they come from around the world, many are native to climates similar to Pennsylvania's. Those that require milder year-round temperatures spend the cold months in a heated barn on a farm near Acme, Fayette County.

Visitors can pet and feed many of the animals, including llamas, alpacas, goats, emus, and deer. Food for animals more likely to nip at fingers can be dropped down long tubes that lead into the enclosures.

Monkeys and other primates get treats via a system of buckets, chains and pulleys. As soon as a visitor placed food into one of the buckets, a young baboon pulled the container toward his cage and retrieved the pellets.

Unusual creatures include a pair of Barbary lions. Extinct in their native habitat -- the Atlas Mountains in North Africa -- since the last one was spotted and shot in 1922, the lions number between 60 and 100 in zoos and parks around the world.

All the larger animals have been named, Mr. Guiher said, with many names selected by park visitors. A young girl, who may have been a country-western music fan, named the now 2-year-old lions June and Cash.

Other exotics include jet-black bearded pigs, a pair of tigers and tiny monkeys called marmosets. Each weighs less than a pound and bears an uncanny resemblance to 19th century U.S. President Martin Van Buren.

"It's all just terrific for the kids," said Tiffany Criss, of White Thorn, Calif. She was visiting Living Treasures with her children, Halo, 4, and Gabriel, 2. She was at the park with her mother, Kathy Turner, who lives in Chicora.

Llamas, donkeys and goats crowded around Halo to lick up the grain pellets on her palm.

What animals did Halo like best? The tigers, she whispered.

"The animals seem very well cared for," said Dawn Nicotra as she and her husband, Steve, got Ella ready for what would be her third or fourth visit to Animal Treasures. They live in Mars.

Each animal has much more than the minimum space required under federal Department of Agriculture rules. Each enclosure includes a shelter.

"I like that you can get up close and touch so many of the animals," Mr. Nicotra said. "We were surprised by the numbers and variety."