I live in a ZOO

The tribulations involved in the purchase meant our arrival was not as euphoric as it could have been. But on October 20 2006, my 76-year-old mother, my brother Duncan, my wife Katherine and I, and our children, Milo, aged six, and Ella, four, finally moved in. Though once a grand, 12-bedroom mansion, our new house, with its peeling paper and dodgy plumbing, needed urgent redecoration. But outside, looking out across seven miles of sunlit hills to the sea, we allowed ourselves a few big smiles.

In the parkland around us were our new neighbours: five Siberian tigers, three African lions, nine wolves, three big brown European bears, two pumas, a lynx, four Asian short-clawed otters, two flamingos, quite a lot of owls and a Brazilian tapir called Ronnie. We also had vervet monkeys (who were fighting), several emu, some deer, a llama, a small reptile collection, including some large boa constrictors, and a tarantula. It was hard not to feel excited.

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Tesco and Sainsbury's feed most of the herbivores between them, providing past sell-by fruit and veg that we pick up twice a day, so the emus get to eat asparagus that was on sale three hours before.The carnivores depend on "fallen stock", animals that die or are culled on farms, or a horse struck by a car. And the animals themselves are free.

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Of all the animals, my favourites are the three hand-reared tigers, Blotch, Stripe and big Vlad, a male Siberian. All three come to the fence round the back of their house to try to cadge a stroke through the fence (no chance). Tigers don't growl or roar, they "fuff", which is a noise a bit like blowing a raspberry using just your top lip. But if you fuff at them, they fuff back, and having a 300-kilo cat a foot away trying to be friendly is a uniquely uplifting experience.

A fascinating account titled My family and Other Animals, from The Guardian

DZP opened on 7 / 7 / 7 :)