European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 04, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Ray Long cuddles up to one of his Tobies Cion a 680-Pound Bengal. He keeps his 73 cats on the 64 acres that surround his Springfield la. Home. Time makes it kind of rough he says. One of the rooms just Oil the Den. Has a Bare Concrete floor. It s Lor Ray Long s Susan and Shamu. Raised Iron a cub by Long. Susan is 680 pounds of Bengal Tiger at age 2, with a Black and Gold coat rippling Muscles langs. Retractable claws and the disposition of a grossly overgrown Kitten. He s Gonna be close to 800 pounds Long says. Susan s Roommate. 3-year-old Shamu. Is a Little smaller but just As much a Tiger As Susan. When the House settles Down Al night. Long says he lets them out of their room and the three of them lie on the big sectional Sola and watch the big screen color television. Iii did t have several Cas in the House at night i d go nuts Long says. He rough houses with Susan lying Down and sticking his Elbow in the big cat s Mouth Between the razor Sharp langs. He gets up and starts to walk away. The Tiger clamps its huge Iron paws around his master s leg. You Gonna let me go Long asks. Susan looks up sheepishly and lets go. Long starts to walk away the paws quickly but gently wrap around his leg again and the scene is repeated. Long s Lisl meeting with a big cat was t As much Lun. In the Jungles of Vietnam during the War he was attacked by a Black Leopard. A buddy shot the Leopard before it could do any damage. Long s action i hated to see the animal get killed. It was such a Beautiful alter the War. Long returned to the United states and met Dave Mcmillan who runs a Florida based travelling animal show known As Mcmillan s flying tigers. He was he says interested in owning a Tiger Cut. Just one Tiger cub. But. As he Learned about the necessary qualifications for owning just one exotic animal his interest snowballed. Long s Mother 61-year-old Dorothy Long recalls he got the first one. Then he Gol another one. That was Shamu and Susan then he got Angel a Black Leopard then. I believe he got a lion Long s cousins nieces and nephews living Neagoy adored the cubs me Mother says. Of course we never did think it would amount to most of the menagerie now resides in a Complex 01 4.1985 Long s calf could climb the fences but they Don t want to leave their new Home area. Cages on the vast expanse of around i ring s Home land thai been in Hir Mother s family Lor years. There Are a Lew completely eager for the Wilder animals. But most of the cats Are in Small individual Cayus adjoining Large . Tot surrounded by in loot High Chain link fences topped Wilh barbed wire the cats could clip no Iho Pinces and get out if they wanted to Long a Ayr. But they Don t want to they Are Well led and cared Tor hero. He walks Over to an abandoned ctr cur Cage lying under a tree with other aborted junk. It s 8 Leet Long. 4 decl High inc 4 fool wide. Many of his animals used to spend All of their time in cages like those he say now they Are Content 1o Roarn Here visitors Are Welcome Al the compound and there is no admission tee Long says school groups sometimes visit. We re not for says Tim Parsons. 19. A Volunteer worker. That s not what we re trying to do Long also notes a More practical conceal if we charge them we ill under a completely different set of Federal he say. More red tape would mean More expenses and Wilh More than 70 Large animals to leed. He has enough expenses his projected budget for the Corning year is $300,000 Long says he pours Allol the profits from his heavy equipment Export business r & l Marine and drilling Rig service into the compound he won t say How big a profit that is he raises no sch of the Money he needs Lor Tho compound torn contributions. He says he has a mailing list of 500 regular contributors and donations in the past year exceeded $120.000. One individual contributes As much As $1,000 a month he says. But he does t much like to talk about his contributors either. He s noticeably More comfortable showing off his animals and telling their stories. Like the Story of the two bobcats snarling Al passersby irom one of the smaller cages. Louisiana wildlife officials shipped Hern to Long pending the outcome of the trial of a Man who was t supposed to have them. We Don t try to Calm them Down he says. They will probably be returned to the wild eventually and their aggressive natures will serve them Well there. Other Bengal tigers will be born Here too he says he Hopes they eventually will help repopulate their natural Homeland. But there s still thai thing Aboul the stolen White tigers. Prodded about the incident. Long gives his Side of the Story. He says the cubs arrived at the new Orleans International Airport addressed to him with no indication of where they came irom he took them in called his lawyer and notified Federal authorities he says. One died probably because it was Loo Young to be shipped. Long says. He kept the other four until they were confiscated. While cubs Are rare and Worth a lot of Money but he says he could t dispose of them illegally in he wanted to because they Are so rare and so noticeable. To sell one of these without anyone knowing about it would be besides he says he s not in the business of Selling animals Lor profit. We be never sold barring any unforeseen Legal deals in Baton Rouge a Federal jury will decide whether Ray Long is telling the truth. No trial Date has been set. The stars and stripes Page 15
