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Zebras may be living closer to your home than you think. Once upon a time, they were thought of as a wild animal running through the tall grass of Africa. Now there are zebras around our area and in other parts of Texas. Alvin New has had zebras on his 4N Ranch for about a year, and the zebras live about miles from the San Angelo, Texas, Airport. The 4N Ranches have Sunset Safaris for families. They include activities for the children, a meal, and entertainment. Kevin Timms works on the ranch and explained that when a family comes to the Sunset Safari in the afternoon, the children have three activities. They have a chance to try archery, a .22-rifle target practice and fishing. After these activities are finished, it is about 6:30 p.m. The Safari helpers load the kids up and take them to see the exotic animals. Kevin said the zebras are the favorite animal. After they see the animals, a dinner of shrimp and premium steaks are served. Then they are treated to a story teller and western music.
Kevin's wife teaches at Veribest. He said she had a reading program where the students who completed it got a reward. This past year, she took them on the Safari as their prize. Kevin said, "Everybody wanted to see the zebras." He added, "They went crazy over the zebras." Kevin said that because our climate is similar to that of Africa, they do well here. He explained that he hopes to get a breeding program started.
Judy Smith of Zephyr, Texas has been raising zebras for a long time, but she says they aren't easy to work with. Judy said, "They are a wild animal and are unpredictable. If you do something different when you are around them, they will leave." When I asked her about riding zebras, she explained that she thought they would be hard to train to...