Exotic animals in King George

Photo by Robert A. Martin

I normally wouldn’t include a photo of myself in the blog, but who could resist a picture with Zadonia the zebra? Not only are we dressed in similar attire, but Zadonia and I also share the same birthday. How cool is that! (And for the record, I didn’t wear the zebra shirt just because I was meeting zebras that day. Animal prints and I go way back.)

I met Zadonia and other zebras at the farm of Wilma and Charlie Ward, long-time equine lovers who branched out to a horse of a different color about nine years ago. They currently have five adult zebras, Zadonia, who’s 1 on Thursday, and another baby on the way. The Wards also have a dromedary camel named Lemac (camel spelled backwards) who’s been the star attraction at school events and Nativity scenes.

Clearly, the Wards are as devoted to their exotics as to the hundreds of kids who’ve come to their farms for riding lessons over the years. Here’s the full story, which ran in the paper on Sunday, July 15, 2012.

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