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PAGE B4 • STAR TRIBUNE *
<br />METRO /STA'114
<br />MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3.2001
<br />PAUL from Bi
<br />77.egnant pony was start of
<br />the animal - raising business
<br />"She repeated the stories a
<br />'couple times. After she left,
<br />the nurse told me they hadn't
<br />heard the woman speak in the
<br />past five years."
<br />• A varied brood
<br />At their home base in
<br />White Bear Township, the
<br />Waltons feed and shelter more
<br />than 150 animals, most of
<br />them of a huggable size.
<br />They're running out of room,
<br />though, and are building a
<br />new place in Lino Lakes to
<br />house their varied menagerie.
<br />When they take their pet-
<br />ting zoo on the road, the Wal-
<br />ton usually set up small en-
<br />closures in parking lots or on
<br />lawns. Chicks and ducks and
<br />geese start to scurry when the
<br />gates open at public events
<br />eiprivate parties. Rabbits,
<br />, calves, llamas, turkeys,
<br />goats and some riding ponies
<br />also roam around the pens.
<br />They also keep some small
<br />Norwegian Fjord horses at the
<br />barn, which they use for fall
<br />wagon rides. There are no
<br />wild or exotic animals.
<br />Usually lounging along the
<br />fence is Buddy, one of the
<br />family's three Great Pyrenees
<br />dogs who help protect the an-
<br />imals back on the farm.
<br />"We were losing 40 to 50
<br />:birds a summer — chickens,
<br />ducks, peacocks — to fox and .
<br />raccoons that would sneak in
<br />at night. So we got the Great
<br />Pyrenees, which are livestock
<br />guard dogs," Walton said.
<br />Losses now are way down,
<br />but occasionally an . owl
<br />swoops down and carries off a
<br />small bird, to the great frus-
<br />tration of the dogs, which can
<br />only bark helplessly at the es-
<br />caping predator.
<br />These rare attacks happen
<br />back at the fame, never during
<br />(getting zoo performance.
<br />A pregnant pony
<br />Their business is called An-
<br />imals of Walton's Hollow and .
<br />it's grown rapidly in recent
<br />years.
<br />Jean and Bill both grew up
<br />on farms; his family lived in
<br />North Dakota, she came from
<br />Iowa. They met in Des Moines
<br />while Bill was in school . Soon
<br />after they were married, he
<br />joined the Army and served in
<br />Vietnam. In 1971, Bill became
<br />a St. Paul police officer. He
<br />retired six years ago.
<br />They got into the animal-
<br />raising business 22 years ago.
<br />They wanted to move from
<br />Shoreview to the acreage in
<br />White • Bear, but their two
<br />sons, then 6 and 8, weren't
<br />excited at the prospect of
<br />moving away from their
<br />friends. "So we bribed them
<br />with a pony," Walton said.
<br />Turned out that Ginger, the
<br />pony, was pregnant. And so it
<br />began.
<br />"Once we had a barn, we
<br />decided we might as well get
<br />more animals," he said.
<br />The boys, Jason and Justin,
<br />now think their parents are
<br />nuts fo`r spending so much
<br />time and energy on the pet-
<br />ting zoo. "They ask: `Are you
<br />making 25 cents an hour
<br />yet ?' " Jean Walton said.
<br />But the boys were grateful
<br />for the many critters in their
<br />teen years. "They always said
<br />the animals were babe mag-
<br />Business prospers
<br />Since Bill's retirement, the
<br />couple has taken on more and
<br />more engagements; many
<br />days, Jean will take one trailer
<br />of animals to a day care while
<br />Bill takes another trailer to a
<br />senior center.
<br />For the past year, they've
<br />been assisted by the four Bev- ,
<br />erly sisters: Congetta, 17; Ali-
<br />sha, 15; Gretchen, 10 and Las-
<br />sie, 7. Their parents, Garda
<br />and Jackie, had hired the Wal-
<br />tons to appear at the girls'
<br />birthday parties for several
<br />years and eventually all four
<br />asked if they could help out,
<br />first as volunteers but now as
<br />paid assistants.
<br />Jean Walton says she loves
<br />sharing the animals with chil-
<br />dren and adults. She always
<br />points out the many kinds of
<br />chickens and goats, making
<br />the point that different breeds
<br />all get along in the pens.
<br />Last week at Ebenezer Hall,
<br />a Minneapolis home for sen-
<br />iors, Jean held rabbits and
<br />chickens for residents, while
<br />Bill led a llama and a calf
<br />through the rows of wheel-
<br />chairs. A week earlier, he had
<br />taken a llama on an elevator
<br />to the top of another senior
<br />housing center, creating quite
<br />a stir among those waiting at
<br />each floor.
<br />Rose Furst, a
<br />volunteer at
<br />Ebenezer Hall,
<br />a health -care
<br />facility In Min-
<br />neapolis,
<br />made face -
<br />Friday at a lla-
<br />ma named
<br />"Paint the
<br />Town."
<br />Star Tribune
<br />photo by Joey
<br />McLeister
<br />Ruthie Hall, an Ebenezer
<br />resident, tried to feed grain to
<br />one of the ducks, but an adult
<br />Vietnamese potbellied pig
<br />kept nosing in.
<br />"I thought you were going
<br />to bring a baby pig instead,"
<br />Jean said to
<br />"Couldn't catch any," Bill
<br />said.
<br />"Some people seem con -
<br />cemed about whether the ani-
<br />mals get good care, but once
<br />they see how clean they are
<br />and healthy, we get a positive
<br />reaction," Jean Walton said.
<br />The . couple keeps all the
<br />animals year- round, never eat
<br />any of them and provide regu-
<br />lar veterinary care.
<br />"One of the reasons we
<br />started the petting zoo was to
<br />help pay the costs of all the
<br />animals we already had," Bill
<br />Walton said.
<br />And now it's become .a full-
<br />time job for the couple.
<br />One of the Ebenezer resi-
<br />dents asked Jean: "What else
<br />do you do ?"
<br />Lots of chores and poop
<br />pickup," she said.
<br />— Around St. Paul runsMon-
<br />days and Fridays. Joe Kimball
<br />is at 651- 298 -1553 or joek-
<br />@startribune.com
<br />
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