It hasn’t been an easy journey for Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary.
The long-standing roadside attraction is famed in Atlanta, and not always for the right reasons. Many know of “BLT,” the trio of bear, lion and tiger cub rescued in 2001 that made the sanctuary famous. Sadly, all three have since passed.
But Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary, founded in Locust Grove in 1990, spent most of its time in the headlines for controversy and court cases. Jama Hedgecoth and her husband, Charles Hedgecoth, started the sanctuary with a faith-based background that “happened” into animal care. When the state forced them to create a board of directors, conflict ensued.
The change caused a feud between the founders and the new leaders. Board members said they were harassed and even threatened, while the founding family said the sanctuary was being mismanaged.
Things came to a head in 2023, when a bird flu outbreak devastated the sanctuary. Dozens of birds were euthanized, and the attraction stayed closed for months. Afterward, the government got involved and took the leadership to court on animal cruelty charges.
But where is Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary now, after the headlines and heated rivalries?
A New Era for the Ark
Enter the sanctuary’s new Executive Director, Lisette George.
She took on the mantle in November 2025, with over 35 years of experience in wildlife conservation and operations leadership. George is frank about the state of Noah’s Ark: how she found it and how she plans to change it.
In 2020, George took a day trip to the attraction during the pandemic. She was shocked.
“When [my family] visited, my first impression was this place had to close,” George said.
Lisette George compared the conditions to a “roadside zoo.” She had the bona fides to do it. For almost 16 years, George worked as a zookeeper at the Bronx Zoo, one of the country’s largest zoos. She worked in field ecology, conservation and hands-on reptile care before transitioning to zoo design and architecture with her husband’s business. “My passion is conservation, animals, ecology and natural history,” George said.
So, when friend and board member Jay Allen invited her to the Ark in 2020, George said yes. But she saw poor conditions and few resources. When Allen called again in 2022, this time offering a job as an animal supervisor, George said no.
But he kept pushing. So she went back. “I came with different eyes,” George said. She tried to see the space as a visitor, not a veteran zookeeper.
“I saw a lot of potential here,” George said.
But the Atlanta resident wasn’t ready for a commute, so she turned down the job. A month later, Noah’s Ark came back, this time with a different offer: to rewrite all of the standards of practice and manuals for each species in the 121-acre sanctuary.
It came in the wake of the bird flu outbreak. The birds that were vectors had to be euthanized, and the USDA essentially took over the property to scour records and inspect animal conditions. It found a lot of deficits.
“Members of the public, when they come here, it’s very easy to be lulled into a sense of ‘look at this idyllic place,’” George said. But the reality is different: animals lacked shelter, care plans and veterinary care.
The sanctuary had no standards and was spread too thin. Meat would be left to rot in the heat, and horses had no real shelter. The tortoises were kept in a tiny enclosure in front of the visitor’s center, and even the thin fencing needed a second layer to match USDA standards. Longtime volunteer and current board member Jo Costanza said in the past, things were “a little bit unsophisticated.” Among volunteers, the idea was to “learn as we go.”
No more ‘winging it’
So George came on as a consultant and spent 18 months updating escape protocols, nutrition management and setting new standards. “That was when I put my zoo goggles back on,” George said.
Of course, Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary is not a zoo — it does not breed animals for conservation efforts — nor is it accredited by the National Sanctuary Association. Still, it must abide by accepted standards.
“I will say, this organization was very lucky that my resources are top-notch,” George said.
She contacted a nutritionist to evaluate diets, who happened to be the inventor of zoo nutrition. She worked with specialists who had 30 years of experience with tigers. She teamed up with zoos across the country to determine whether animals could be rehomed.
“There was a lot of winging it prior,” George said. “Now there is no more winging it.”
But there were still too many animals for the small staff. George called it “hoarding” from previous leadership, reminiscent of the nearly 200 chihuahuas rescued in 2020 or the employee suspended for taking in 30 wolfdogs against board orders.
“It’s an easy line to cross, and to think that by having them they’re better off,” George said. “However, when you’re unable to provide the care that the animals need, that’s when it becomes a problem. Because you keep the blinders on.”
The bird collection was a particular challenge. George collaborated with other zoos to find the birds of greatest conservation importance and sent them off for captive breeding. To the executive director, it was about realizing “capacity for care.” Hundreds of animals were removed from the property.
From George’s perspective, the issues were often well-intentioned but lacked resources or knowledge. “Nobody ever wanted to provide substandard care,” Costanza said, during her 20 years at the sanctuary.
“We never did, there never was substandard care. It was just a level of sophistication that could have and should have been there,” Costanza said.
It was a tough transition, but somewhere along the way, George fell for Noah’ s Ark: the people, the animals, the potential. She kept volunteering. When they offered her the role of Executive Director, George spent months deciding.
“What pushed me over the edge is that I did see tremendous potential here,” George said. “Although things were not perfect and were broken, I felt I could bring value not only to the organization, but also to the care of the residents.”
So she quietly joined, with a mission to raise animal care standards. It was welcomed by volunteers like Costanza; she said the crew is in a learning phase.
“This organization was not going to survive if it didn’t make the necessary changes it needed to keep up with the times,” Costanza said.
George has dealt with some backlash. She has the luxury of being removed from the older issues, but three months into her tenure, one of the tigers passed away. She said the ark had to deal with backlash from the “hate group,” a web account called “Save Noah’s Ark” known to rail against sanctuary leadership.
So George and the board kicked off a “proactive” campaign to show the changes at the ark. “You can still criticize, but do you really have a leg to stand on?” she asked. Worth nothing, all legal action against the ark has been dismissed by the courts in favor of the sanctuary.
A bumpy road forward
Many of the changes, like new nutrition practices or standards of care, are harder for a patron to notice. But there are some bigger shifts, like the brand-new tortoise enclosure called “Tortoise Bluff.” The half-acre habitat was designed to give the creatures room to graze and burrow, with a dedicated area for the females to get away from male tortoises. It’s the type of change George wants to continue at Noah’s Ark, if funding allows.
The organization has also welcomed several new “residents,” though the process has had a few bumps. The sanctuary added a black bear named Claire nine months ago, and brought two new black bears in April – but one arrived sick and died shortly after arriving. The University of Georgia is conducting a necropsy.
At the start of the year, the sanctuary also lost a 50-year-old gibbon-siamang, “Shawn-Shawn.” She was the first hybrid ever reported. After a noticeable decline in health, potential heart failure, cancer and kidney change, the sanctuary chose to humanely euthanize her.
But the ark continues to bring in new residents. It welcomed two tundra wolves, Pete and Boaz and a kinkajou named JuJu, all in the past year. George said it’s a win for the animals and “a win for the sanctuary.”
While the major changes she hopes for require significant investment, the executive director is laser-focused on demonstrating the ark’s “growth and professionalism like none other.”
“The animals deserve this,” Costanza said. “They deserve to have their voice heard, their story deserves to be told.”
She plans to keep up collaboration with other sanctuaries, meet USDA guidelines for things like fenced enclosures, and make it a priority to let people know the ark is always ready to serve as a sanctuary.
“With all the struggles, I’m still excited for the future, for the potential here,” George said. The executive director sees a world of clinics, nutrition centers and even more events. She sees it clearly.
“I’m super excited for all that to come to fruition,” George said. “I’m so excited for the future, because I do really feel that we are on a cusp.”
