Journal Entry 1 by glade1 from McLeansville, North Carolina USA on Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Picked up from the free shelf at the used book store yesterday. This is a book withdrawn from the Rowan Public Library in Salisbury, NC, so it has the nice library cover. From the flap:

"Human beings can behave like animals - and, by the same token, animals can behave like humans. Zoologists may denounce this as anthropomorphic heresy, but maybe these people have never been to Cricket, the West Country Wild Life Park. Maybe they have never seen a leopard cub delivered on a kitchen table, or been stuck in a van full of angry monkeys, or chased a Range Rover hijacked by a sea lion, or observed the peculiar similarity in the reaction of animals and show-biz personalities to television cameras. At Cricker no one would claim that animals are persons; yet no one would deny that they have personalities. All who delight in accounts of the private and public life of animals will be fascinated by the story of the Taylor family's achievements in building up from scratch one of the most beautiful and popular animal reserves in the country, Some of Our Best Friends are Animals is a story of the colourful inhabitants of this park, who make life there sometimes hilarious, sometimes tragic, but always full and exciting for the people who live and work there. Peter Spence is writing here about his wife'f family, which he married into in 1973. Born in 1944, he was educated at bromsgrove and went into journalism in the midlands, leaving after five years to go to Nottingham University. Here he started writing and acting in revues, two of which went to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and thereafter bacame a freelance writer specializing in comedy scripts for radio, television, and stage shows, and doing regular radio broadcasts himself. When he moved from London to Somerset he started writing on more serious topics and became interested in animals, and now combines his diverse writing activities with the job of Education Officer at the Wild Life Park. He lives on a farm near the Cricker estate with his wife Jill, son Nicholas, dog Woolworths, and two cats Boots and Oedipus." 

Journal Entry 2 by glade1 at McLeansville, North Carolina USA on Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Enjoyable tale of an early wildlife park in England. It is quite dated, as the park opened in the early 1970's, but entertaining nonetheless. I admire the industriousness of the family who embarked on this adventure with no experience, only an idea and a large piece of property that needed to generate income.

It looks as though things have changed a lot since this book was published. The property is now managed by a hotel chain and apppears to have far fewer animals: Cricket St. Thomas
 

Journal Entry 3 by glade1 at Edward McKay's off Battleground Ave. in Greensboro, North Carolina USA on Monday, January 30, 2012

Released 5 mos ago (12/1/2011 UTC) at Edward McKay's off Battleground Ave. in Greensboro, North Carolina USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Decided to move this one along. Released via our local used book store a few weeks ago. Hope it finds a nice new home!