EARLY, Texas (AP) — There’s two things about a cat when you’re trying to sleep.
The Abilene Reporter-News (http://bit.ly/2nXWlHA ) reports either it’s feeling cold and wants to snuggle-up for your body warmth, or it doesn’t care what the clock reads — it’s time to play!
How does that work with a tiger? Will it crawl into bed when it gets cold?
“No, it’d get up there to ‘rassle’ and play,” said Rusty Waddle. “Like I say, that was years ago. I wouldn’t do that again; if I had one it’s going to be in a cage.”
He might be getting one, soon enough. But Waddle, whose family owns the W&W Zoo about 6 miles north on U.S. 183, reiterated that he’s not interested in having anymore pets. At least, not any that might grow to be bigger than he is.
In early March, Waddle petitioned the Brown County Commissioners Court for permission to add a tiger to his family’s zoo.
“We’re wanting to get a baby tiger in here, and some baboons. And then, we’re wanting to get some servals, bobcats, things like that,” he said. “We’re not wanting a lot of tigers or anything, just a baby one.”
Waddle said they’d had lions, tigers and bears at one time. But then the law changed, they couldn’t have them anymore.
“Everything’s working out, we’re going to go through one more license stage and then we’re going to have them,” he said. “I have the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) license and everything. The main thing is just keeping the animals and the people safe.”
Waddle has had an interest in exotic animals for 30 years.
“When I was a kid, I went to helping an older gentleman in Brownwood. He was into birds and exotic stuff, and he got me into it,” he said. “We’ve raised baby tigers in our house, we’ve had baby lions, bears, monkeys.”
Their zoo currently features a variety of deer, goats, pigs, a camel, some American lynxes and a large contingent of monkeys.
“The monkeys are my favorite thing. I’ve just always been a monkey person,” he said. “I’ve got a baby spider monkey, a baby capuchin, baby lemurs. We’ve got quite a few babies now.”
There are at least 30 individual monkey stalls, each with its own protected shelter option for dealing with West Texas weather.
“All the monkeys have got central heating and air. If they don’t like it, they’ll go head inside,” said Waddle. “We’re fixing to build another monkey building out there because I’m wanting to buy more monkeys.”
The zoo is a relatively new development for the family. Waddle said his son Billy started organizing their family ranch as a zoo last year.
“The animals were actually just my pets, I’ve always been into exotic animals and he wanted to open the zoo, so the zoo deal is his,” Waddle said.
They’ve still got a bit more work ahead of them before their zoo is up and running.
Waddle added that big opening will be April 7 and they expect to be open afterward from 10 a.m. to about 4 or 5 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday. You can also find the zoo on Facebook.
When they finally do get their baby tiger, Waddle said they will tailor the animal’s habitat to meet its needs. After all, every youngster — even a tiger — wants to play.
“Oh yeah, you’d give them bowling balls and plenty of room,” he said. “Then a tiger loves to swim, so you make sure they’ve always got somewhere to swim.”
The family has a home on the grounds and Waddle said that’s not likely to change.
“To me, it’s normal. I’ve done it all my life,” he said. “It’s like somebody asked my daughter the other day, how is it with them animals? She said, I don’t know how it would have been without them.'”
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Information from: Abilene Reporter-News, http://www.reporternews.com
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