By PAUL J. CONDRA
In February, the Herald ran a story about Spike and pending legislation to make owning such exotic pets illegal in New York without proper licenses. Since then, Spike has found a permanent home and the legislation has passed.
The tiger's caretaker, Larry Wallach, returned last week from an all-expenses paid trip to California to deliver Spike. Wallach said Jackson chartered a 747 jumbo jet, on which he and his large cat traveled to Los Angeles, near where the ranch is located.
Spike now has all the room he'll ever need at his new home on a portion of Jackson's 4,000-acre ranch. Spike's territory includes a vast mountainous range of the ranch, a swimming pool, and an elaborate roofed house.
In his East Rockaway home, Wallach was rehabilitating Spike. When he was just over a year old, the tiger was taken in by Wallach as a cub and has been trained for the last 10 months.
Wallach did not intend to keep Spike as a pet like some other exotic pet owners do.
Wallach said he had been considering sending the tiger to a zoo in Albany, but was contacted by Jackson who wanted to adopt Spike after he learned of the work Wallach does with the animals and children.
Wallach has two cable TV shows and he's a popular feature in many local schools where he brings animals around to show to the kids.
On Tuesday morning, for example, an Ohio zoologist named Sam Mazzola was in East Rockaway with a 900-pound black bear he cares for. The bear, Lakota, is trained to perform in movies and knows about 27 different actions, Mazzola said. Lakota is in town for a fundraising mission and was scheduled to appear with musician Robert Plant, but made a detour to visit with kids at Rhame Avenue Elementary School along the way.
But before he went to the school, the massive bear was sitting calmly in Wallach's den, eating candy, yawning and urinating on the floor. Wallach had to keep running to the closet for towels as Mazzola pointed out his pet has about a keg in there.
But it's the kind of work such animal lovers dedicate their lives to. Finding and caring for exotic pets that need special attention. Of course, the work doesn't come cheap. Mazzola said his vegetarian bear eats about 40 pounds of food a day, and his favorite food is pizza. The animals also require a lot of veterinary attention and space, and rely on private donations to fund the work.
Both Wallach and Mazzola have plenty of stories to tell about people who run out and buy baby bears or tiger cubs then realize they have no means to care for the animals as they grow. While Mazzola said he sees no reason why somebody shouldn't be able to own exotic pets, he wants to be sure the owners have the resources to take care of them.
