Sonoma County organizations become haven for abandoned, injured exotic animals

Humans are primates, so maybe it shouldn’t be a complete surprise when the wide-eyed, fur-covered little primate known as a Galago seems at ease clinging with miniature hands to my shirt collar.

Robin Lyon and her daughter, Lynette Lyon, of Lyon Ranch, in the foothills above the Sonoma Valley, are introducing me to the Galago, or Bush Baby, a native of sub-Saharan Africa who turns out to be playful, curious and have four thumbs.

It’s impossible to resist stroking the little creature’s mink-like brown fur as she clambers around my neck. As I do, Lynette offers a wealth of information about her charge’s diet, habitat and behavior.

Including the fact that cute little Bush Babies urinate on their paws to groom their locks.

Wild animals retain their wild behavior, Lynette notes. It’s taken thousands of years of domestication for house cats to reach their current level of human tolerance, she points out. But animals recently removed from their native habitat have lost none of their wildness, no matter how cute we think they are.

That is one reason Lyon Ranch now has 60 exotic species under its care, including a coatimundi, a serval cat, wildly colored parrots, a zedonk (zebra-donkey hybrid), two Bactrian camels and several alligators.

Eight years ago, after careers with Delta Air Lines, Robin and her husband, Robert, started taking in abandoned and neglected animals, cats, dogs and miniature horses.

Today with daughter Lynette, they provide care and homes to diverse species on their sprawling 12-acre ranch.

Californians are fond of animals, and not just cats and dogs. They also collect large exotic birds, imported reptiles, jungle cats and African primates - to show off, for emotional support, as undomesticated pets, even for guard duty.

But without government permits, keeping many types of exotic animals is illegal in the state. Some species are excluded entirely from private ownership.

Properly caring for these animals requires a substantial understanding of wild animal behaviors, nutritional requirements and how they interact – or don’t interact – with humans.

Donated or abandoned

Lyon Ranch and another Sonoma County organization, Petaluma-based Classroom Safari, end up receiving and caring for some of the local exotic animals that have been seized from people who were holding them illegally.

Sometimes they receive animals that are donated or abandoned by owners who weren’t up to the task of caring for such exotic pets. They also take sick or injured exotic animals from other organizations like Safari West, or from animal breeders.

The owners of Lyon Ranch and Classroom Safari are busy around the clock, addressing the needs of a menagerie of animals most people will never see in person.

But they do give the public a chance to do just that. Both organizations bring many of their unusual species to schools, medical and retirement centers and events.

It’s an educational and therapeutic experience for many. Terminally ill children and Alzheimer patients find comfort and smiles.

Lyon Ranch has had their Bush Baby since she was 6 months old. She’s now 3.

“They’re one of the few primate species that don’t live in family groups,” Lynette explains, so they’re not as stressed being without a troop.

Lyon Ranch also cares for three Fennec foxes, another African native, who sport large bat-like ears and miniature bodies. These came as babies from Safari West, when it was thought Lyon Ranch’s ability to hand-raise them might help them survive.

One fox, who they’ve named Rickets, suffered from a neurological disorder that made it difficult to walk. All three made it.

Caring for skunks

As Robin Lyon cradles a young skunk in her arms, she describes wanting one as a child.

“It was my fondest wish,” she says. Today, Lyon Ranch is caring for two of the striped youngsters.

“They’re not legal for the public to keep skunks as pets,” Robin says.

“But they’re a gardener’s best friend. They eat loads of ticks and snails and slugs with relish.”

Some exotic animals are comfortable interacting with humans. Others, not so much, according to Bonnie Cromwell, who runs Classroom Safari near Petaluma.

“Our lemur came to us at 1 month old, and as he grew, he was OK with everybody.

Then, suddenly, one day he wasn’t,” she recalls. While he’s comfortably bonded with Cromwell, the lemur will go after others who come into his enclosure, she says.

Lifelong love of animals

Like Robin Lyon, Cromwell has had a lifelong love of animals, rescuing birds and worms as a child. One day in 1976, Cromwell brought animals for show-and-tell to her 5-year-old daughter’s kindergarten class.

Soon, other teachers were asking her to stop by their classrooms with the animals, too. That’s how Classroom Safari began.

Today she cares around the clock for nearly 100 unusual animals, including scorpions and spiders, serval cats, a ring-tailed lemur and a porcupine. Classroom Safari provides experiences with some of the safer animals in their care, like their hedgehogs, jaguar-spotted serval cat, yellow boa snake and Fennec fox.

“We really try to focus on establishing a connection between a child or adult when they see an animal,” Cromwell says.

But she has to walk a fine line. She doesn’t want to encourage the public to collect these wild species as pets.

“I tell people, these animals don’t make good pets. They eat good pets.”

To keep exotic animals, the Lyon family and Cromwell must have constantly updated permits, inspections and training, provide veterinary care and tend to the individual needs of their animals, including their habitat, nutrition and enrichment activities.

It’s a 24-7 responsibility.

Lynette Lyon brings out a young 3-foot-long young American alligator from its enclosure. “For some unknown reason, alligators are really popular now with meth labs. It’s probably some kind of status thing,” she suggests. The unblinking reptile, whose jaws make up one third of its length, is not flustered by the agitated serval cat on the other side of a wire enclosure nearby.

When we pass by the bird enclosures, we set the resident parrots, macaws and other colorfully plumed birds into a loud cacophony of screeching, cawing and piercing calls best suited for dense jungles where sound is the only way to communicate at a distance.

Some of these birds are here, Lynette Lyon says, because they’ve outlived their owners. Some have life spans of 60 or more years.

Near the front gate, Freddy the Bactrian camel, still a 450-pound youngster and eager as a puppy, extends his head over the enclosure fence to nuzzle. He’s a favorite on visits.

Learn from experience

Both Classroom Safari and Lyon Ranch hope that by letting the public experience these wild creatures, they may learn and respect the needs of wildlife still living in their native habitat.

Seeing them up close - with their patterned fur; stunning, colorful feathers and still-wild ways – is a reminder of the wide, diverse and rich world of species facing human encroachment around the globe, Cromwell says.

“The main goal with animal encounters is to create empathy,” Lynette Lyon says.

“Empathy encourages curiosity about both the individual animal and the wider range of that animal’s family.

“Creating a one-on-one environment gives people a more intimate experience that creates a bond that isn’t easily forgotten.”

Stephen Nett is a Bodega Bay-based certified California naturalist, writer and speaker. Contact him at snett@californiasparks.com.