As pandemic lingers, Lyon Ranch finds new ways to share its exotic animals

Robert and Robin Lyon returned home from an errand recently and found a small pig in the hallway of their house. For some, the presence of an errant pig might have been alarming. But for the owners of a ranch that rescues exotic animals, it was just another animal antic.

“She figured out how to open the sliding glass door,” Robin Lyon said of the kunekune pig named Dolly Porkton. Kunekunes are from New Zealand.

Lyon Ranch has been rescuing unwanted, neglected and abused animals for more than two decades. During normal times — pre-coronavirus — they took some of the animals to places such as senior facilities and schools for animal-assisted therapy.

“They’re anxious to have us come back with the animals,” Robin said.

The ranch also hosts tours and picnics, but those have been put to the side for now, Robert said.

“The pandemic has dramatically reduced the income that we’ve had,” Robert said. “We haven’t had a large group here in several months.”

The couple’s adult daughter, Lynette, has been working on Zoom. She’s surprised corporate workers on teleconferences at times.

“Thankfully I don’t have just animal friends,” Lynette said. She asked a couple of friends if they wanted her to “crash” their meeting with some animals.

Among those making video conference appearances have been a bush baby, skunk, parrot, fennec fox and, of course, Dolly Porkton. Lynette said she did it as a favor and for fun. She misses the social activity of her typical work day, which involves showing off and educating people about exotic animals. She hopes to make animals crashing meetings part of Lyon Ranch’s new programming.

This month, Lynette began conducting an Animal Kingdom Camp at Pets Lifeline of Sonoma Valley. Lynette, an exotic animal trainer, and Danielle Smith, Pets Lifeline’s humane educator, developed the four-week program (for more information, go to petslifeline.org).

It’s an around-the-world introduction to the animal kingdom, designed for children in grades three to six. One week covers animals of the savanna, and the kids are introduced to a serval or fennec fox. The next week parrots and a bush baby may represent the rain forest. A skunk may be part of the discussion of native animals.

The last week is a National Geographic photo tour of the world. Kids will get disposable cameras to photograph the menagerie of animals. They will learn appropriate ways to interact with animals and where and how to look for them in the wild.

Lynette hopes to expand the camp to high school students and get them involved in fundraising or research for animals.

In addition to the animal therapy programs, large corporations such as Google, Pinterest and Tivo hire Lyon Ranch to bring their exotic animals such as camels, zebras and ZZ Top the zedonk (the offspring of a donkey and a zebra) to corporate meetings and events. Lyon Ranch also conducts outreach programs on behalf of Safari West, another wildlife education and wildlife ranch in Sonoma County.

For now, COVID-19 is keeping the Lyons at the ranch more often than they’d like, Lynette said. January and February, when they don’t have therapy programs, are typically “quiet months” where they focus on maintenance at the ranch. That’s what they are spending their time on now.

“It’s a big ranch; there’s always something to do,” Lynette said. Lynette, Robert and Robin pretty much take care of everything there, including the animals, on their own.

They also are training Dolly Porkton, who learned to push open the sliding glass door.

“That nose can push anything,” Robin said. “We’d like her to not open the door.”

Dolly, who is about 8 inches tall at her back end and weighs about 40 pounds, comes when she’s called and is “smart as can be,” Robin said. She is social, a trait of the kunekune, and knows how to shake hands. The kunekune pig was once only found in New Zealand, where it was kept by the Maori people.

Camels and parrots are among the more popular of the roughly 70 Lyon Ranch animals the family takes out for show. People enjoy watching the camel “cush” (lie down). “They can really read our emotions,” Robin said. She also likes training the parrots; their bright colors and ability to talk are entertaining. Parrots are among the animals people give up after buying without realizing how noisy and messy they can be, Robin said.

Visitors to the ranch will see horses, miniature horses, donkeys, domestic cats and dogs, parrots, macaws, fennec fox, serval (a medium-sized wild cat native to Africa) and any other animal the Lyons take in. When they get an animal, it lives out its natural life there, Robin said.

“Once we have an animal, this becomes their forever home.”

To learn more about Lyon Ranch, visit LyonRanch.org or contact them by email at lyonranch@aol.com or by telephone at 707-996-5966.

Contact Anne at anne.ernst@sonomanews.com.