I'm happy to see a lot of informative takeaways from this thread. It'll certainly help me on my journey to become an owner one day. There are some things I can say in confidence, for example, socially, I'm not amazing so I'm not hedging my bets on finding someone who's willing to share without at least being a little suspicious about it.
It seems like being a zoo owner and indulging in the lifestyle is pretty heavy on the self reliance, and hearing a lot of folks talk about waiting years before they were finally able to achieve that dream makes me realize that this is very much a lifestyle that rewards patience. It takes a long time to build up that life and all it takes is trusting the wrong person to see it all tumbling down.
I have a lot to think about, and I have to weigh my situation before choosing a path towards becoming an owner.