So right now you're thinking your chances of walking outside and running into, say, a slithering cobra or a crouching cougar are nil, right? Wrong, says Tim Harrison:

        “For 30 years I have averaged 60 calls a year about snakes in yards. Twenty of them are exotics, and five of the 20 are venomous. Cougars? I caught one two months ago on Xenia Avenue in downtown Dayton.”

        Oh.

        Those stories, and dozens more, are collected in Wild Times (Orange Frazer Press, $14.95), 176 pages of tales from Mr. Harrison's suburban safaris.

        Mr. Harrison, married, father of three boys, is a 45-year-old Springboro resident and public safety officer in the Dayton suburb of Oakwood. That means he works a 24-hour shift, 8 as a police officer, 16 as an EMT, paramedic and firefighter, then he's off 48 hours.

        And he has a sideline: He's the one they call when wild and exotic animals are loose, either because they escaped or were dumped by owners who lost interest or could no longer care for them. He gets about 100 calls a year, 40 of them from Cincinnati.

        Like the day someone spotted a 4-foot monitor lizard in Over-the-Rhine. “It was someone's pet that escaped. These animals are extremely fast and dangerous when cornered. Big teeth, sharp claws and a tail it uses as a whip. I caught it, but it wasn't easy.”

        Over the years, he's caught wolves, poisonous snakes (Gaboon vipers, cobras, rattlesnakes), Canadian lynx, crocodiles, alligators, 7-foot flesh-eating lizards, lions and tigers and two bears. Oh my.

        OK, we give up. What are these people thinking?

        “They're not. It's knee-jerk. They see the babies on TV, think they're cute and buy one. Three years later, they realize it was dumb and they don't know what to do.

        “There are more out there than you think. One in five homes has an exotic animal. It could be something like a parrot or a little hedge hog, but it could also be a bobcat like the guy in downtown Troy (Ohio) had.

        “And I know you're thinking they're hard to get, but they aren't. You can buy anything if you have the money.”

        Right. A recent issue of the Trading Post, the free classified advertising paper, had three ads for wolf hybrid pups, one for a water buffalo and three for snakes, all venomous.

        “It's even easier on the Internet,” he says, pulling a deadly Gaboon viper out of a picnic cooler. “I found him in a garage. Two kids were playing with it.”

        Now he's pulling out Mikey, a 4-foot Asia Water Monitor lizard he rescued and now keeps as a pet: “They're smart and gentle unless they're threatened. They also grow to be seven feet long.

        “I can tell you without exception, I've never, ever, heard of a happy ending when it comes to people owning large exotic animals. Wild animals will always be wild. They're not toys and they have absolutely no business being here in the first place. Until people realize that, I'll be busy.”

        Busy catching them. Then what? “It's sad. Many have to be put down. The venomous snakes go to my brother. His name's Jim Harrison and he operates the Kentucky Reptile Zoo. It's a research facility that supplies anti-venom all over the world.”

        Other animals go to Heaven's Corner for Endangered Animals, a non-profit zoo he maintains near Dayton. Mr. Harrison will open it to the public in February, 2002.

        Before that, we'll hit him with a few questions. ...

        My strangest adventure ...

        Looking for the Raja Gaj in Nepal. Raja Gaj was an Asian elephant that looked like a mastodon, with a head twice as big as normal. We found him and he ended up on the cover of Marc Miller's Chasing Legends. He was a hiccup in the gene pool.

        My scariest adventure ...

        There was only one time that was so bad I froze. That was in western Nepal. Three of us were walking through elephant grass when a tiger charged. It came within 20 feet of us, snarling, when Santoch, our guide, grabbed and squeezed us into a huddle to make us look really big. If not for Santoch, well ...

        One thing these adventures have taught me ...

        Is that when you enter the woods, the ocean, jungle, desert, you act accordingly. Remember you're just a guest.

        The main skill needed in my line of work ...

        Patience and the ability to show a lot of compassion. If you're patient and gentle, you eventually calm the situation, see what's upsetting the animal, fix it and go about your work.

        If I had it to do over ...

Definitely more school. More college, develop my art and learn a musical instrument. Art and music are two things that communicate anywhere in the world, no matter what language.

        The adventure I haven't had but want ...

Honestly, there isn't one. I think I've gone as far as I can go with what I've got.

        The most dangerous animal in these situations ...

        Humans. Take it from a police officer who's had to arrest them. After humans, a venomous snake, because you never know.

        My next goal ...

Is to get more information to the public. Maybe through TV or a second book. It's important that they understand that wild animals are meant to be wild.

        One thing I wish you had asked me ...

My favorite animal. Sharks, partly because they're misunderstood, but also because they're so perfectly designed for what they do. They swim, eat and make baby sharks. Perfection.
       

        Tim Harrison, along with rescued friends Chico the Burmese python, Gary the alligator and a Gaboon viper, will be at Hyde Park Library (2747 Erie Ave.) at 7 p.m. Monday and Anderson Branch Library (7450 State Road) at 7 p.m. Friday to sign and discuss Wild Times. To book his programs, contact Matt Hieb at Dorothy Lane Market, his corporate sponsor: (937) 299-3561.

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