I've been working with wild animals for over 40 years.  When I was a child my mother kept many animals in her care.  She kept dogs, cats, parrots, monkeys, squirrels, horses, donkeys, snakes, lizards, turtles, alligators and crocodiles to name a few.  I came home from school one day and my mom had a Sun bear in our house.  That was quite a surprise and fortunately he didn't stay long (he was eating everything in sight).  I learned a lot about animal behavior watching my mother work with her animals.  After years of observation I gravitated towards the snakes, turtles and birds of prey.  The main reason is because my mother never yelled at them.  There was constant yelling at the dogs because of their barking, fighting, biting, pooping on the floor and running out the door. Constant yelling at the parrots because of their squawking, biting, chewing up everything and throwing their seeds all over the floor; and constant yelling at the monkeys for practically destroying everything in the house and biting my sisters, by the way I thought the monkeys attacking my sisters was extremely entertaining. But my mom never yelled at the snakes, the turtles or the hawks. 

        Until I took over this zoo I never personally owned a mammal in my life. I only kept; you guessed it, snakes, turtles and birds of prey.  I took over operations of this zoo in 1996 from a couple who were good friends of my mother who were looking to retire. The zoo was in need of a lot of repairs and fortunately I had background in carpentry, electrical work, and plumbing. With the help of many good friends that I can’t thank enough we got a lot of work done over the years and the zoo is starting to look really great. 

        My philosophy of working with wild animals it is developing a good relationship with that animal.  Developing a good strong relationship or bond helps the animal feel secure and happy which gives them a better quality of life in captivity.  A good relationship is built on trust, communication and consistency for better understanding between the human and the animal. Communication is given through touch, body language, eye contact and verbally.  Knowing the social behaviors, body and verbal languages of animals helps the keeper understand what that animal is thinking which makes it easier to care for that animal.  Wild animals are very predictable if you know their language.  Because animals tell you what they're going to do before they do it you just have to know what they're saying. But you have to be observant and be a good listener in order to know what they're telling you at all times.  I really enjoy working with snakes and birds of prey, in particular the King cobra and the Golden Eagle.  The king cobras we have here at the zoo are just about 12 feet long and are wonderful animals and a joy to work with.  Out of all the snakes I have worked with king cobras are by far the most intelligent.  I've been a falconer since 1966 and my two favorite birds for falconry are the red tailed hawk and the Golden Eagle.  I really enjoy the red tail hawk because of their versatility.  But the Golden Eagle, in my opinion, is the all time best falconry bird in the world.  For the last 10 years I've been flying Golden Eagles and they are amazing predators.  They're flight skills and intelligence is beyond compare.