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1978 Graduated from Palma High School - Salinas, California. Although I always had a need to have and be around animals, my Dad didn't always share this enthusiasm. It was my Mom who caved into it occationaly and it was she I must have received the anthropomorphic gene which often plaques me when dealing with my animals and the film industry in general. Our love for animals was, is and will no doubt alway remain beyound our control. It was at this time I moved out on my own which enabled me to begin an extensive and varied menagerie of pets. All were of a legal pet store nature, but exotic and unusual none the less. (Boas, pythons, sharks, parrots, alligators, as well as dogs, cats, rats, & horses)
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1979 - 1980 Enrolled at Hartnell College - Salinas, California where I attended the Animal Health Technology Program with the intent of pursuing a career in Veterinary Medicine. During this time, I also worked full time at the Toro Park Veterinary Clinic.
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1981 - 1985 In short, Mom & Dad's dreams skyrocketed. Their 54 unit Laurel Inn would eventually become 146 rooms with my sister Terry there to run it. To date, for two European immigrants from the Mediterranean island of Malta, Mom and Dad are the two most successful people I have ever known. They define the words self made and successful. They taught me how to prove "there is nothing I cant do or have if I want it bad enough"! My Brother George went on to run my dads second dream, the Forest Park Inn in Gilroy, California where George also bought into a restaurant franchise, The Black Bear Diner. As expected, George's success was no different than the rest of us and often calls upon my bear, "Brandi" for publicity stunts... Dad soon became a major developer in town having developed many restaurants, and even a shopping center and more important, allowing Mom to stop working.
And then, there's me. For reasons I still don't fully understand, I decided to become a police officer. (I guess school life or the business world was
just a little too boring...) I attended the Gavilan College West Coast Police Academy under the uniform of the Monterey County Sheriffs Department. Upon Graduation, I remained a deputy with M.C.S.O. for one year before transferring to the Seaside Police Department, a much more active department. I also found the time to marry ... (Life was anything but boring at this time)
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1985 - 1986 I bought Oxton Kennels, a dog and cat boarding facility as both an investment and a hobby. My intentions were for my wife, to run the kennel while I remained in police work. It was toward the end of this period that I adopted "Sam", an elderly cougar I found being held illegally in a garage in Seaside. The owners didn't want the animal any longer and I was able to obtain
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permits to adopt him. This was the when a "hobby" started getting way out of hand...
The kennel business increased to a point that made going to work for someone else every day unbearable. I resigned as a police officer to help run the kennel and start an educational program called "Wild Things"
with my exotic pets .
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1986 - 1988 Eventually time allowed for us to create two babies (the human kind), Justin & Briana. I would have never guessed that there could be anything that could give me more to worry
about or be proud of than my animals - I was wrong.
My infatuation with Sam led to an attempt to acquire an even larger cat. I ordered a tiger through an animal broker I had met along the way (it was legal to do such stupid things back then) but when the cub
arrived, it was a lion. Opting to keep the lion, the tiger arrived six months later...
1988 - Present As lion led to tiger, tiger led to bears, bears to monkeys, monkeys to elephants... Eventually, that tiger tried to eat me but the lion, Josef, became my best friend, my star, and the
single most important influence on my life that would change the course of my life forever. Impressed by his beauty and special temperament, a trainer in the film industry asked if I would allow Josef to participate
in a Dryfus Fund commercial to be filmed at the Grand Canyon, Arizona. I was getting paid to play with my best friend in a warm sunny place. Josef was having a great time. All this excitement coupled with the
financial reward was enough to lure anyone into the industry, as it did me. "Wild Things" became "Wild Things Animal Rentals Inc."
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Today, My little hobby has evolved into one of the most impressive private facilities on the West Coast. In 1994, we left our 5 acre rented property in North Salinas to move to the
largest investment I have ever made, the beautiful 51 acre Vision Quest Ranch located in the sun belt between Monterey and Salinas. The new Oxton Kennels operates better than ever, a complete equestrian
center has been added to further complicate my life.
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Wild Things A.R. Inc. now houses
100+ exotic animals ranging from spiders to African Elephants. We still maintain a full time educational program which touches thousands of children and adults annually. Our new B&B helps support our animals and allows us to share them with many more animal enthusiasts. We have dedicated the remainder of our land to our new nonprofit organization, EARS to help benefit elephants, my newest and truest passion.
Josef, is still, to date, our most requested star with a nation wide fan club, but most importantly, he remains my oldest and dearest friend.
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