“We decided it was time to buy our dream home. We wanted something laid back, where we could have animals.

“I grew up around animals in Louisiana, where my dad was. There were chickens, ducks, hogs. He raised them to butcher them. I’d come home from school, and I’d start crying because the chickens would be hanging on the clothesline ready to be butchered. I didn’t like that. As I got older, I understood. But at the time, I didn’t like that at all.

“Here, we just started with our own animals, some little chickens and ducks. We thought, we could have our own eggs, and our granddaughter could enjoy the whole experience. Then we saw online about these two pigs, Acorn and Trixie. They’re Vietnamese potbellies, brother and sister. They were given up to Houston SPCA. They had been abused. I wasn’t really looking for pigs. But I showed Cecil, and he said, ‘Let’s go get them.’ We had to fill out a form. Had to send them pictures of where they would stay. We built a little house for them.

“Later on, the lady at the SPCA contacted me and said, ‘Hey, I have some rescue ducks. Would y’all want them?’ I’m like, ‘Sure.’ So we just added them to the 10 ducks we’d been raising since they were like seven days old.

“We’ve also been raising these little chickens called silkies. They have fluffly feathers that go all the way down to their feet. Then there’s Clyde the turkey, who we got when he was like 11 days old. So with the animals we already had and the rescues, it’s one big happy family out here. When we move the pigs back to the pasture, we’d like to get some little baby goats, too.

“When our grandbaby comes out here, she’ll feed carrots to the pigs. Then she’ll put on her boots, go out there and start hollering, ‘Clyde, Clyde.’ You can pick him up and pet him. He’s like a big baby.

“We’d like to get more rescues. We just want to take care of them and enjoy them. They’re all like our pets. Some are spoiled worse than our dogs. Especially Clyde. When you go out there, he just wants you to hold him and love him. He’s a trip.”

— Tammy (and Cecil) Merrill

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“I’ve always had this interest in animals. You name it, I’ve probably had it: geese, turtles, chickens, dogs, fish, rats, hamsters … I’ve had it all. I’m really interested in wildlife, too. I love fishing and stuff like that. So I guess it makes sense that I chose to study biology. I haven’t decided specifically what I want to do yet. But I would like to work with marine life and also terrestrial animals.

“I guess I’m leaning toward becoming a veterinarian, and just see where that takes me. I realize I have a lot of schooling ahead of me. But you know what? In life, you sometimes have to go through a lot of things to get to where you want to be.

“My biggest challenge is probably trying to accomplish so much at one time. Right now, I’m working two jobs. I work at a grocery store and I coach a young dance team called the Prancing Starlets. I’m a full-time student. And during the summer, I’m taking extra classes.

“I have a very tight schedule. I come to school at 8. I leave around 1. I go to work at 2. I get off around 7. And I coach until 9. Then I go home and do all my homework. Depending on how I feel, I might stay up until 1 or 2 in the morning.

“It’s a lot. But on Thursdays and Fridays, I have time to rest. So that’s when I build up all my energy. Then I just do it all over again.”

— Jaya Leblanc

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“I was raised on a kind of farm area in California. When I was 6 years old, I had a Pomeranian named Fluffy. One day he was out roaming, and he got bitten by a snake. He started limping, so we took him to the vet. As it turned out, he died on the table due to the snake bite. That memory definitely stuck in my head. It was pretty traumatizing. It’s very hard to lose a dog any time, especially at such a young age. I had gotten him for my birthday just a few days earlier, so it was even worse.

“I’ve always loved animals. Seeing them on the streets homeless or injured because of abuse really hurts me. So I just want to be there to help them whenever I can. That’s why I’m studying to become a veterinarian. I’m hoping to make a difference for pets and their owners.”

— Yesenia Chavez

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“My neighbors would laugh. I would put the hay and bag of feed on the back of the tractor, start that thing up and try to beat the cows down to the troughs. Then I would dump the feed, throw the hay out, jump back on the tractor and get out the gate before they showed up. When they see food, they come running like a herd, now, I’m telling you. That’s all they’re interested in. It gets pretty crazy around those troughs.

“The hardest thing was when we had calves, if we had problems with the birthing part. We lost several that way. We had one that was born in the dead of winter, and the calf froze to death. She had it in the middle of the night, and it was 4 below zero. She was an older cow, and she ended up dying later because of some birth complications. It was sad. 

“You get attached to the animals. You name them, but you shouldn’t. One time, we were eating dinner when our girls were pretty young. They had played with all the animals. So my husband’s brother, who had no children, said something about, ’Is this that calf?’ And he named the calf. That’s when the girls realized they were eating a calf they thought was a pet. It didn’t go over well with them. But that was just life on the farm.”

— Sandy Barbee

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“Because I’ve gotten a little bit older and it’s a little harder for me to get around, I don’t take in as many animals these days. We did just recently have someone offload a mother dog with seven puppies. We found a home for the puppies. We could not find a home for the mother dog, so I took her home with me. I plan to get her spayed and, hopefully, find her a permanent home.

“We do have a few other animals here at the store. We have a cat that showed up after Hurricane Harvey. We have chinchillas. We have a resident rabbit that all the kids like to come see. We had a parrot but it was sad, so we sent it to be with other parrots. Right now, I think that’s our animal base here.

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“I’ve always really loved nature, and especially animals. That’s been a fascination for me. My dad goes canoeing and he likes the outdoors. So I was exposed to that, even if it was just a little bit at a time. And we had pets growing up. I loved our cats. I loved seeing animals at the zoo. To be honest, I’m not always that great with people. But I feel really comfortable being outside, being in nature.

“I’d really like to do research because I love learning more about animals and how they interact with each other and with the environment. I like wild animals because they’re connected to all of these systems that are so interesting to me. I’d love to contribute to scientific knowledge about wild animals, and I’d love to maybe even do something that would help preserve habitats for them or help preserve the environment for people.

“I became a Texas Master Naturalist during my first semester of college. Going through that program really expanded my knowledge of what was going on locally and connected me to so many other people who are passionate about nature. So I’ve been doing a lot more volunteering since then.

“There’s a project in Clear Lake called Exploration Green. It’s revamping an old abandoned golf course to become a park and nature conservancy. I’ve been working a lot with that. Every once in a while they have tree plantings and wetlands plantings. I also help with prairie plantings and prairie tours, and I go on Christmas bird counts where we collect data. It’s really opened my eyes to a lot that’s going on here with local environmental issues.

“On the Christmas bird count in Clear Lake, we were touring new urban development in that area. We passed what seemed like mile after mile of new neighborhoods and new shopping malls coming up. They pointed to one house in a new neighborhood and said, ‘This is the last place we saw sandhill cranes in Clear Lake. They’ll fly over, but they don’t stop anymore.’ That’s kind of startling.”

— Emily Blumentritt

In her spare time, Emily enjoys writing and painting. Check out some of her artwork.

Related:

• Student works to overcome nervousness, anxiety

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“I’m taking classes to become a veterinary technician. I think that’s my calling. I want to work with animals. Actually, I think they’re better than people. They’re just more friendly. They’re full of love.

“I really hate when I drive around and see all these dogs walking in the street. I often stop and pick them up, then take them to shelters. I’ve been doing that since I was little. My mom got me into it. She’s never liked seeing dogs running around outside like that.

“One time my husband and I saw this guy hit a dog, but he just kept driving. We were shocked. The dog died on the spot. That’s so sad. I just don’t understand why owners don’t take care of their pets.

“I feel like we have to watch out for them because they don’t have a voice. We’re their voice, you know?”

— Sydney Dobrota

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“When they’re all here, there are about eight or nine that we feed twice a day. Somebody’s got to do it, and we enjoy it. We have animals, and we wouldn’t want ours to go hungry.”

When did you start doing this?
“We bring our dogs out here to walk, so we’ve probably been feeding them for two or three years now. We’re just animal lovers. We have cats and dogs. We’ve adopted most of the dogs from here. Some of the cats came from here, too. Kittens, I can’t resist them.”

How many do you have?
“Well, now, I’d rather not say. A lot. We adopted another dog we found out here in October. And we have a few cats in the house, but I’m not going to say how many. They’re all well fed and taken care of.

“Our vet will take them sometimes if we can get them and they’re adoptable. We got one somebody dropped off here, a really pretty calico. She was real sweet, so our vet took her. They adopted her out, and I said we’d pay to have her fixed. But the people never brought her back to have it done.”

— An older couple, who preferred not to be identified

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“I’m definitely an animal and nature lover, and right here is an animal activist. She takes after me.

“She draws pictures and posters about not killing for fur and stuff like that. She’s the most caring person I know and the most beautiful singer and artist. She likes to go to nursing homes to pass out her drawings. I’m just real proud of her.”

While we were visiting, mom’s phone rings. Her ringtone is her daughter singing an original song.

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“I’m a licensed vet technician and I’m looking for a job. I’ve always loved animals and wanted to help them. My dream is to do that and to own a mini-ranch.”

What’s a mini-ranch?
“Well, it’s like a regular ranch but you don’t really have lots of big things. I’d have a horse, maybe five dogs, a couple cats, and build a house on 3-4 acres. I’ve had that dream since I was 15. That would be pretty cool.”

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