It's a Zoo Out There
By Hugh Jones
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ASK RUDY It's a Zoo Out There By Hugh Jones |
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Not many people have their own zoo. For Rudy Crawford, it's natural–just an extension of what he's been doing all his life. You get a taste, entering his country home near Lexington, OK, where you're greeted by Popeye, an African gray parrot. And Wally comes hopping by...yes, hopping. He's a young Wallaby, a smaller cousin of the kangaroo. Outside, it gets better. In back, under a lush growth of trees, other Wallabies lounge in the shade. Geese ply the waters of a lake beside the house. Deer roam on the other side. Beyond, in rolling pastures dotted with trees, a zebra munches grass next to a burro. In the next pasture, tails swish on wild mustangs as they browse. Barbados sheep huddle in an open shed. An ostrich taller than Rudy patrols the fence line. And we're talking big fences–tall chain link over 40 of Rudy's 80 acres. Some people find having just one pet a big responsibility. But Rudy, 73, and his wife of 49 years, Eddeth, are right at home–literally–in their miniature zoo. And right at home at work. He lays claim to the oldest pet store in Oklahoma City–Rudy's Feed & Pet Supplies, and he also owns Southwest Pet & Supply, the wholesale arm catering to his and other stores, furnishing supplies to bird breeders. "We started the business in our home with parakeets," says Rudy. "Then we got into selling feed, and it just kept growing." Now it's a family affair with three sons in the business. And they've kept up with the times. "When I started mixing feed, it was in a barrel with a wooden auger," Rudy recalls. "Now we have automatic mixers–just punch some buttons, and the machines do the rest. We've come a long way since my barrel...Still have it though; maybe I'll make a museum piece out of it." But birds are a long way from Wallabies. Rudy shrugs and grins while sitting at his dining room table with Eddeth, who's holding Wally on her lap. "Well, I've just always been interested in animals," he says. "I grew up in the hills of southeastern Oklahoma during the depression. We couldn't buy anything; only things we had to play with were what we could catch. He had a little bit of everything, from squirrels to owls to a skunk. He learned a lot about animals that way, though he learned a lesson from the latter the hard way. "The skunk sprayed me. Now, when the grandkids come over and tell me they're doing outstanding in school, I tell them I was outstanding too...in the hall. Problem was, I only had one pair of shoes. We were in a school room with a gas stove. The skunk odor wasn't noticeable until the room warmed up; then the teacher made me go out in the hall." Wally (at nine pounds, about the size of a small dog) is rebelling a little at his constraint. He licks Eddeth's face, irritating her mildly–about like a mother with a restless baby. "He's still on the bottle," she says, putting him down to stroll off into some kind of mischief, she's sure. "He doesn't know he's an animal; he thinks he's family." "Wally's like a two-year-old kid," adds Rudy, "wants to get into everything. He's what's called a dump joey. His mother got sick and wouldn't take care of him when he was about the size of my fist. So we had to take over. We fixed a little pouch for him to stay in and keep warm." A squawk and Popeye weighs in with his opinion, drawing a glance from Rudy. "This type of parrot is the best talker of the bunch. Every night, when we were getting ready to go to bed, he'd say, 'Goodnight.' Later on, he got bossy and started saying, 'Go to bed.'" Popeye is 19 years old, but when he was young, he had a bit of a potty mouth. "We sold him to a man who kept him for a year, then decided he didn't want him," says Eddeth. "Unfortunately, the man had terrible language, and Popeye picked it up. He never could tame him. We took him back and, it took about three months, but we finally got it done. Fortunately, he's forgotten the foul language." "Yeah, he's something," says Rudy. "Had an antelope we hand raised; I called her Annie. I'd go to the back door and call, here Annie, here Annie. About the time she'd get there, that bird would start calling her too–in my voice! That poor antelope didn't know which way to go." At one time, Rudy actually raised cows and horses. But that just wasn't enough for the boy from the hills. You can't spend this much time with this many animals without knowing what you're doing. And, obviously, people think he does. "We get calls all the time from people wanting to know how to care for various animals," says Eddeth. "They think Rudy knows it all." He knows this–he knows what he likes, and he likes animals. Back to Archives |
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