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Speaker 2: Welcome back to Animaltopia on Petlife Radio. Did you know
that in some states, including Alabama, North and San South Carolina,
West Virginia, Nevada, Ohio, and Wisconsin, you're allowed to own
an exotic pet with no questions asked. You know, when
most of us decide we want to see lions, tigers, leopards, reptiles,
and other exotic animals, we decide to head out to
our local zoo, and those are great places to see
and learn about animals, But often, especially when it comes
to the bigger animals, we are kept at quite a
distance from them for their safety and ours. Our first
segment today is all about a place dedicated to giving
exotic animals who were once people's pets a second chance
at a happier life. The Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary
is an amazing place filled with amazing animals and amazing
animal people. The founders of this Exotic Wild Animal Sanctuary
are Joel and Chamaine Almquist. The sanctuary, located in Faland, California,
is about an hour east of Los Angeles, and some
of you may recall the name Forever Wild Exotic Animal
Sanctuary as they appeared on the ABC hit show Extreme
Home Makeover. Sanctuary continues to thrive and be a big
part of the animal community in California. You can often
find Semaine and her team at local events discussing the
important animal issues and concerns with the eager audiences. Still,
the best way to really experience and understand the message
that Joel and Schamaine hope to deliver and inspire others
to act upon is to visit their incredible sanctuary that
is home to a wide variety of previously captive bred animals.
The sanctuary is home to four North American bobcats, one
Siberian lynx, seven serviles, two cougars, two black leopards, nine
Siberian Bengal tigers, one amazing white tiger, and one very
large African lion, just to name a few big cats.
I recently made a trip with the film crew up
to Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary, and it was a
visit that I will cherish and plan on repeating soon.
I spent a lot of time with founder Chamaine on Quist.
This animal sanctuary is very fa friendly. As parents themselves,
Joel and Chamaine wanted to create an environment that was interactive, inspirational,
and educational for people of all ages. They want to
reach the adults and educate the children. The sanctuary works
with schools and organizations to bring awareness to the plight
of these exotic animals that were once people's pets. It's
remarkable to think that people would have a Siberian tiger
or an African lion as a pet, yet that is
exactly how these animals came to reside at the Forever
Wild Sanctuary. Their owners or the government agencies who confiscated
them turned these animals over to the sanctuary to provide
a safe and caring home for these animals who might
otherwise have been euthanized. Chamaine explained to me that in
some states, you could purchase a tiger cub or a
lion cub for less than what you would spend on
certain dog breeds. In this day and age, that would
seem to not only be irresponsible, but incredibly dangerous. As
they toured the fact was Shamine, it was clear to
see that the animals knew and loved her and her staff.
We've all been to a zoo and seen some large animals,
but unlike a zoo, you're able to get about ten
to fifteen feet from these magnificent animals. I know I
felt very small as we got within a few feet
of these tigers. I felt even smaller when one of
the tigers, Sakia, who had been used as a photoprop
at a roadside photo booth in Texas, got scared by
our camera crews. She ran from one end of her
enclosure to the other end and stood up and roared
at us. For my part, I stood there marveling, knowing,
like any tiger's prey, that there would be no escape
from a tiger that size and that fast if I
weren't protected by the reinforced enclosure keeping the tiger and
myself safe. And to know that she had been a
photoprop for someone just made me ill. She was friendly
and beautiful, but had been neglected and abused by her
photoshop owners. The scarring on the inside and outside has
not diminished her passion to live, though, and thankfully Joel
and Chamaine brought her to the sanctuary in two thousand
and two and have done remarkably good work with her.
We proceeded to meet the other tigers, who were simply amazing.
They're all so beautiful and mesmerizing. I could, and we did,
sit there for hours just looking at them, watching them
as they went about their day. They were very playful.
We watched as they played with various toys and large
balls that kept them engaged and stimulated. Then there was Zoro,
a black leopard who came to the sanctuary by way
of a Las Vegas entertainer. Zoro follows you, and if
you're watering his cage or the surrounding area, he tries
to get wet and splash around. And there's Blue, a
Siberian tiger from a traveling circus who decided that he
no longer wanted to perform. Rather than be euthanized, the
sanctuary took him in and gave him an environment he
really seems to enjoy. There's Czar, who certainly delighted myself
and most of the film crew with his talents. He
chuffs or purrs when he likes you, and if he doesn't,
a big roar will certainly alert you to that. Shamaine
was sharing with us heart wrenching story of Tsar's paw
reconstruction because of the botch, declaining that her previous owners
had done. In fact, many of the big cats at
the sanctuary have had to go through Paul reconstruction. Fortunately,
the Paul Project, who we'll talk about in a future episode,
has been there for a number of these cats. As
Schamain told us, the story of Tzar and a few
of the other big cats. Zar took a liking to
our director of photography and our guru of most things
film related. I couldn't quite figure it out, Butizar kept
looking back over her shoulder at this person who should
remain nameless, but I'm sure Derek won't mind. While Derek
and the crews were focused on filming, I watched as
Zar maneuvered herself in her enclosure, raised her and I
swear I heard her laughing as she proceeded to baptize
Derek into the tiger realm. Being the good host and
friend that I am, I yelled out to him quick
cover the camera, which he did as we all laughed
with him. Derek was a good sport and continued to
film the rest of the day Tiger sent in all.
We certainly stopped much carefully after that, as we watched
Shamayine get splashed by playful tigers as she would talk
next to their cages. We watched them revel and joy
with the huge ice chunks that they were given to
play with and to keep them cool. They were truly
a fun bunch and our hearts melted. His Gypsy, the
African Lion kissed Shamaine softly on the cheek while Shamaine
was doing an interview with us right outside of her cage.
It was one of those moments that shows us that
the animals know that the people caring for them do
truly care for them, and they appreciate it. And if
all that big cat interaction and closeness wasn't enough, I
then got to do something that I know ever thought
I would do. I got to feed a few of
the tigers. This is a fun and safe experience that
Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary makes available to everyone, not
just yahoos like me. For just a few dollars, children
and adults can feed one of their big cats with
the assistance of a feeding tool and the supervision of
one of their trained staff. As I said, safety is
very important there, both for you and the animals. Still,
to be this close to some of the Animal Kingdom's
biggest predators is an experience. They can't be described, though
I'll certainly try. I was standing a few feet away
from tigers who had paused bigger than my head and
quickness that you wouldn't expect. I prepared to feed some
pieces of steak to the tigers. Chamaine explained the process
to me, which was very simple. The state goes on
the feeding tool and then you offer the tool to
the tigers safely and calmly, and the tiger pursued to
swallow the big piece of steak. It was energizing, certainly,
not something that you get to do every day, but
something you'll certainly never forget. At some points, as we
filmed at Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary, we were just
a few feet away from these animals and they would
look right into our eyes, and it was something special.
This experience and the entire facility are so different than
anything I've ever experienced at a zoo or other place
with animals that are this large. To be able to
get that close yet be that safe is remarkable, and
I applaud them for what they've been able to accomplish.
After the time with the big cats, we regrouped at
the picnic benches that they have there. The picnic benches
allow families and groups to bring a meal and eat
while surrounded by the animals. From there, we went to
visit with the exotic birds, the sugar glider, the kinkajew
and finished with a trip into their reptile room. The
reptile room is Joel's domain. He is often consulted when
dangerous reptiles are discovered or confiscated. In twenty ten, a
tortoise was dropped off by visitors who saw the tortoise
nearly get run over by several bosses. Yet that wasn't
the most unique part of the story. See it appeared
that there had been a bomb strapped to the tortoise. However,
Joel was able to save the tortoise and it is
currently safe at the sanctuary. One of the more eye
opening stories that Chemayne shared with me was how they
came to have a green mamba, one of the world's
deadliest snakes, at their sanctuary. One random day, a teenage
boy showed up at the sanctuary with a snake in
some pillowcases. When they asked the boy what it was
and how he had come to have it, he said,
I ordered it over the internet, but my mother won't
let me keep it. I was hoping you would find
a home for it. When Joel and Schemaine found out
it was a very dangerous and dead green mamba, they
were shocked. Yet this only serves as one of the
many examples of how it is too easy for people
to buy exotic animals that weren't meant to be pets.
You know, this snake could have killed very easily. Fortunately,
the Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary was able to provide
it a safe home. The Reptile Room at the Forever
Wild Sanctuary is a reptile lover's mecca. They've got multiple
species as rattlesnakes, vipers, cobras, pythons, lizards, came in, alligators, illa, monsters,
and more. Each of these rescued reptiles was facing certain
euthanization without the care and support from Forever Wild Exotic
Animal Sanctuary. The sanctuary, like most other sanctuaries these days,
continues to find a way to provide despite the economic
downturn we are in. Still, the daily costs for food, medicine,
care facilities, and more continues to escalate as well. It's
a struggle that the visitors to the sanctuary itself in
failing Care California can see as well worth it. For
those unable to visit the Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary
in person, you can see a lot of the great
animal information, photos, videos, and more on their official website,
which is Forever Wild Exotics dot org. As always, you
can find more information about Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary
by also visiting our website animal toopiens dot com. When
we come back, we will talk about cooking for dogs,
the elephant and the tortoise, and I'll share a flashback
from grade school. We'll be right back after these messages.
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Speaker 6: I Love My I Love My Pets.
Speaker 1: It's the Nis singles by Mark Winter available on iTunes Hi.
Speaker 5: This is Tim Link, host of Animal Rights on pet
Life Radio. Join me as we feature interviews with best
selling pet related authors, award winning writers and journalists and bloggers,
and we'll tell stories about the animals and interesting topics
about the animals in our lives. Each of the interviews
will give you a firsthand knowledge about why the authors
and writers chose a particular story, what the feature animals
meant to them, and what has become of those animals
that we've talked about. And of course I'll also share
stories from my own books, blogs, articles and experiences. So
be sure to join me and the writers and authors
on Animal.
Speaker 3: Rights every week on demand only on petlife Radio dot com.
Speaker 7: Let's Talk Past It, Let's pet Radio, Headlight.
Speaker 4: Radio Petlight Radio dot com.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Animal Toopia on Petlight Radio.
Speaker 6: Stuff.
Speaker 2: We're going to talk about the world's first human braide
kitchen created exclusively for dogs. When I was up at
Super Zoo in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, which
is one of the largest pet retailer shows in the world.
I noticed a trend that has really taken root and
is growing rapidly, better food for our animals. In fact,
it's astounding the amount of time, research, and attention that
is being paid to what we feed our animals. Yet
once you hear what is in some pet foods, or
you read the labeling of peanut and almond shells as
vegetable fiber, you understand why the focus on ingredients has
become more intense. It's also clear that consumers are doing
their research on what goes into the foods that they
are feeding their animal friends. With Americans spending more than
seventeen billion dollars on pet food annually, you can bet
consumers and pet food companies or wising up about what
our beloved animal friends should be eating. It was this
search for knowledge and better food for his dogs that
drove Sean Buckley to start creating his own food for
his dogs, Simon and Nala. He, along with some fellow
business partners and dog lovers, created the world's first human
grade kitchen and a wonderful business supporting a growing trend
for better food for animals. They called it just food
for Dogs. It's not a restaurant, but you will often
find dog owners and dogs at the establishment watching as
the dog meals are being prepared. They built this place
from scratch in Newport Beach, California, on beautiful Pacific Coast Highway.
It's an eyecatcher for sure, but spend ten minutes in
the Just Food for Dogs location in your eyes and
mind will truly be opened. I spent some time with
Sean and his team at Just Food for Dogs recently.
The first thing that grabs you is the large kitchen
area where they prepare the food for the dogs. It's
not hidden away or some adapted, smaller scale kitchen. It's
a large cooking area that many restaurants will love to have.
They have everything that a regular restaurant has, from a
walk in refrigerator to industrial ovens and equipment. And one
of the coolest things about what they do is that
they will have their vet work with your vet to
create a custom blend that is much healthier and also
customize to your dog's nutritional concerns, allergies, and specific needs.
They also have custom nutritional supplements that can also be
customized and worked into your dog's food. The ingredients are fresh,
the preparation is meticulous, and the love for dogs is
easy to see. They take great care in preparing the
food and gently cooking it, and that's critical because too
high of temperatures cause over cooking of the food and
then the nutrients will be lost. This is one of
the big problems when deciding on pet foods. If you
don't know the preparation approach, the ingredients may not be
as healthy simply because the good ingredients were lost in
the making of the food. They also add their nutritional
supplements to the food to increase its nutritional balance and impact.
Just Food for Dogs is open daily and prepares meals
in large as well as custom batches. Once the food
is prepared, it is vacuum sealed and frozen immediately after
it's been chilled. That method allows them to maintain the
nutritional integrity of the food while also giving the food
a shelf life of twelve months. A lot of people
are throwing around human grade in human quality these days. Well.
I sampled a few of the recipes after they had
been prepared, and though I won't be wrestling with my dogs,
Sugar and Zoe for the food, it was certainly much
better than I expected, and certainly human quality also, Sugar
and Zoe seem to really anticipate the food that I
brought home from Just Food for Dogs, so with them
it was certainly a big hit. After spending time with
Sean and his team, you see that there is more
than just an idea. It's a passion. With more than
a thousand customers already, they are rapidly growing and grabbing
attention from dog owners and veterinarians searching for a better
food source for their dogs. Their passion is infectious and
their knowledge is reassuring. Still, this is more than a
dog kitchen. It's also become a dog retreater hangout. They
regularly have yappy hours, and one of the more interesting
things they do is they have cooking classes. They hold
monthly cooking classes for dog owners where they teach the
owners how to properly cook meals for their dogs. They
even go one step further by having some of their
recipes of their products online and free for anyone to use.
Sean and his Just for Food Dogs team really have
gone beyond the normal efforts and are making a difference
when it comes to better food for dogs. You can
visit our website at animal Toopiens dot com for more
information and links to Just Food for Dogs. Next up
are a few stories forwarded to us by listeners who
must have been moved by our recent Real Dolphin Tales
episode and don't forget You can share your Animal Topia
stories on our toll free Animal Topia Share your Story
hotline at eight five five two six four six two
five eight or eight five five Animal Toopians. Our first
story is about an elephant. There's an elephant in Thailand
who's received a new prosthetic leg. The fifty year old
elephant named Motala had lost her front left leg in
nineteen ninety nine after she accidentally stepped on a land
mine left over from the ongoing conflicts along the Thai
Mayan mar border. She had been given an artificial leg
in two thousand and six and learned to walk on it,
and then a more permanent one in two thousand and nine.
But since the prosthetic has to be changed according to
the weight of the elephant, Motala has been given other legs. Accordingly,
she recently received her third one and is doing quite
well with it. Truly an inspirational story, and again kudos
to all those putting the effort in to take care
of an animal that otherwise might have been put down.
Our second story is a similar one. We we have
a tortoise who gets another chance to beat the hair.
There's a twelve year old African tortoise that recently had
its left front leg amputated due to an injury. Well,
now that tortoise is moving along just fine thanks to
a swiveling wheel attached to his shell by doctors at
Washington State University's Veterinary Hospital. The twenty three pound tortoise,
named Gamera after the giant flying turtle of the old
Japanese monster Movies, is gaining weight and generally thriving with
his new appendage. Veterinarians attach the wheel to the tortoise's
shell using an epoxy adhesive, and the animal has taken
to the new device immediately. The castor style wheel should
last for years before it has to be replaced. These
are just two more incredible animaltopiin stories of people helping
animals overcome tragedies that may have been justification to euthanize
them in days gone by. Instead, people are inspired by
these animals, will to live and have been moved to
action and invention. Kudos to all those involved in helping
the elephant and the tortoise. And yes, we did receive
the calls and the emails about the moose in New
Hampshire that required the assistance of nine firefighters to help
guide the moose out of the frozen pool. The video
is all over YouTube and is certainly entertaining, though I
wonder if they shouldn't maybe change the saying to stubborn
as a moose. Okay, bad jokes aside. So it's October
and that means it's time for the blessing of the animals.
I enjoy these gatherings as you get to see a
wide variety of animals and animal lovers coming together to
have their animals blessed. I've also noticed that these gatherings
have become larger and they are more of them happening
each year. So I started to do some research on
the subject, and I was surprised to learn that there
are now animal ministries in every state. Some of them
are involved with animal food drives, adoption events and more.
It seems that the churches have realized that animals are
an important part of our physical, mental, and spiritual w
well being. Having gone to Catholic school, most of my life.
I remember back in grade school having to pick a
patron saint to honor, and though I was young and
had no real perspective on any importance or influence it
would have in my life, I chose Saint Francis of Assisi.
You know, there are many wonderful stories about Saint Francis
of Assisi and his ability to connect with animals and humans.
And while there are numerous animal related stories, poems, and
prayers that give credit to Saint Francis of a CC,
I will stick with a simple quote by him. Not
to hurt the creature's brethren is our first duty to them.
But to stop there is not enough. We have a
higher mission to be of service to them wherever they
require it. I know we have all seen that in
the actions and words of those who are making a
difference every day for the animals and humans and Animal Topia.
Do you have a great animal story you'd like to
share with us, Please contact us on our toll free
share your Animal Toopian story hotline at eight by five
two six four six two five eight, Or do what
I do and just remember eight y five animal topiens
for Animal Topia, Pet Life Radio and all those who
make this show possible. I'm your host, Robert Samrose, saying
I'm proud to be an animal topian and I look
forward to sharing more stories from animal Topia with all
of you very soon. Take care everyone.
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