Wild Heart Ranch would not, could not exist without Annette King Tucker.
She says she could not exist without Robbie Tucker, her husband.
“Everybody should applaud him when he walks by because this is the most accepting man on the planet,” she says.
She was working three jobs in the early days of Wild Heart Ranch, just to keep it open.
“I was squeaking by,” she said.
One of her rehabilitation projects was a 200-pound mountain lion. She had no cage. She cared for the animal in her home.
“I desperately needed to get the mountain lion out of my house,” she said. “I didn’t have the money to pay somebody to build a cage.”
It was about that time that Robbie entered her life.
They met through one of her part-time jobs. He volunteered his services as a welder to build a pen for the big cat.
“He built my mountain lion a cage. A nice cage,” she said. “I thought, well, you’ve got to marry a guy who’s willing to build free cages.
“I mean, come on. My priorities are straight.
“I don’t require diamonds. Flowers. Fur coats. Fancy cars. You don’t even have to take me out to dinner.
“Just bring me a sandwich, and build me a cougar cage. I’m yours,” she said.
“When I married him, he learned real quick that life was just easier to come home, hand me his paycheck and don’t expect anything more than a six-pack. I was going to spend it all on animals that I was going to take into the woods and let go and never see again,” she said.
“That’s just life with Annette.
“Luckily, I found the only man on the planet that would be OK with that.
“His job is very dangerous. He risks his life every day when he works. And I take the money that he earns by risking his life and I take care of animals that I don’t own.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
— Terrell Lester
Features
A mountain lion, a cage and a husband
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