And then there was this one day last week. Upon arrival I checked messages on my answering machine and number one was from the Richardson Animal Services office. Would we take two very young bobcat cubs? They arrived a short while after I returned the call. One hour later an officer of the Ft.Worth Humane Society called to say the porcupine we had discussed earlier in the week was in the truck and they were on the way. Then a despondent mother called to say she had rescued a newborn goat while visiting the Hill Country over the weekend. Her children had fallen so much in love with the animal that it was becoming a problem.

In the middle of all this Tammy, office manager extraordinaire, and I were invited by FOX4 News to go to a Dallas School to make a statement about an alligator threat. Before we were to leave an officer with the Dallas Animal Control called to say they had a small pot-bellied pig and asked if we would take the animal. We asked that because the Dallas High School was near the Dallas Animal Shelter that perhaps an officer could bring the pig to the school.

We arrived at the site, played in the swamp, declared it safe for football players then an Animal Control vehicle came bouncing across the schoolyard. Out came one kennel carrier containing aforementioned pig, and then came another carrier containing four, newborn, Poland China pigs. There was no laughter when I joked that the pigs were to be used as 'gator bait. We had a farm going!

By late afternoon all the animals were assembled, diets were determined, overnight care was established (Tammy took 'em all home!) and it was almost quitting time. In the door strolled a lady who had just called to say she had rescued a newly hatched bird from the sidewalk near her home and she was on her way. She approached the desk carrying a small cereal bowl. The newly hatched sparrow was in the bowl, in a half-inch of water! Nothing left to say, "We'll take care of the bird." It's a wild, wild, wild world out there.