Rick's Exotic Animals

Students from kindergarten through sixth grade at Flomaton Elementary School got to see what exotic kinds of animals live in the forests of South America last Tuesday when Rick Rackstraw with Rick's Exotic Animals came to the Flomaton High School auditorium for a visit.

This was Rackstraw's second visit to Flomaton and he has been bringing his exotic cast of animals to audiences for almost 24 years.

"My wife was a teacher and she decided she wanted a monkey," said Rackstraw. "That was 24 years ago. We began doing the shows and I sold my landscape business to do this full time. We love it!"

So do the animals that Rackstraw brings. Some of them came to him and his wife because their owner could no longer take care of them, so Rackstraw stepped in. Some were rescues, surviving fires or other calamities.

They travel all over Alabama and Tennessee with the show, wowing audiences and bringing the exotic world of South American jungles to venues throughout the South.

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