The truth about zebras

The air was dusty, hot to the taste, as the car bumped over gravel toward the illusive white house nestled in a thicket of trees on the Rutherford and Cannon counties' border. As the car stopped, the window blinds parted and two glassy white eyes peered outside taking in the visitors. The front door swung open.

"Welcome," Billy Boner Jr., 46, shouted. Billy was not your average good ole' boy; no he was something of a rare breed, an aspiring novelist who spends his days shoveling hay. Billy's father Bill runs Cripple Creek Farm, an oasis for children and animal lovers.

"Dad started it. He used to work at Rudy's Farm and Packing House in Nashville. When I was born he used to ride the ferryboat to work. At the packinghouse they always had buffalo," Billy grinned. "They had a few little exotics like turkey, buffalo and llamas, and he always wanted a buffalo. About 11 years ago, he got himself a buffalo and then some llamas, alpaca, then the whole door just opened up."

Billy's father started the farm to bring children together in a safe and welcoming environment. Billy said that while the plan was not always to have a farm, but once the first couple of animals started coming it was impossible to stop.

"We just started getting a little bit of everything," Billy laughed. "He tried to pair everything up so all the kids would have something to compare a mama to, to compare baby to, to see their growth rate process."

While many of the animals are of the petting variety, the zebras are observed from a distance.

"Zebras are super mean," Billy said shaking his head.

According to the San Diego Zoo, zebra's aren't hostile toward humans or any other animal unless taunted or threatened.

"I got mauled by a zebra," Billy said, pointing to his legs and chest. "He shredded my clothes, I was all tore up. They put stitches in here and taped me all up here. He mauled all the muscles in my shoulder."

Billy said that while this was an isolated incident, he would never trust zebras around children without proper supervision.

Zebras aside, the Boner family has a copious amount of animals ranging from regular house cats to camels and everything in between. Billy said that finding animals and purchasing them was much easier than one would imagine.

"The animals basically come from everywhere," Billy smirked. "There's a place in Macon, Missouri called Lolli Brothers and you can get everything from an alligator to a giraffe. Matter of fact, when I was once up there for an auction I got to hold a baby cougar and a baby monkey. They had everything in there from scorpions to giraffes."

In Tennessee, owners of exotic animals are required to have a permit.  Billy said that while they have a permit to own some animals the elk at Cripple Creek are exempt from state law because they were already in place when elk were added in the legislation.

"They already passed a law because they started releasing elk again in East Tennessee up towards the Smoky Mountains. They released them up there and now they're calling them part of nature so nobody can actually deal with them," Billy said, as he shuffled his feet on the hot Tennessee dirt.

"But since we had them before they actually released them, we fall under the grandfather law," he continued. "We can actually deal them, travel across state lines."