HARPURSVILLE, NY – (WIVT/WBGH) An animal loving group of over 10,000 strong journeyed across the country, and for some, across the pond, for their annual trip to a local animal sanctuary.

In 2017, April the Giraffe at Animal Adventure Park went viral, as fans across the globe were watching her via live streams and webcams. Those who tuned in day in and day out to watch April slowly formed a community and call themselves the AAP Chatters.

Every year, the chatters pick a week, and reunite at the park to reconnect with the animals, and just as importantly, with each other. Some of the members travel from as fair as the U.K. or Canada. One of the admins in the Chatters community, Sandy B says that what started as a craze for April, has turned into so much more.

“Whereas this started out as the love for April and the love for the park, and it’s still continued to be that, now, I find it to be four days of friendships. My best friend lives five minutes from me and I would have never met her, had it not been for this park and April,” said B.

The Chatters have a Facebook group with around 11,000 members.

Sandy B says that this year, over 200 people made the trip to Broome County. She says that the group will already start planning for next year’s trip within a couple of weeks.