Wild Times: Tales from the Suburban Safari

by Tim Harrison

Tim Harrison has been called to remove bears from apartments, lions from city streets, bats from swimming pools, pythons from workshops, and cougars from backyards. He has met, and rescued, alligators from local rivers, farm ponds, pet stores and basements. He has raised a Bengal tiger and has mothered wolves. Pythons call his Springboro address home. Yet Wild Times, a collection of his wildest "suburban safaris", wasn’t written to compete with reality TV. The stories are hair-raising, and sometimes frightening. But Tim’s goal is to let people know of the growing chance that they’ll be coming across an exotic or local wild animal as their population increases in suburbs across the country. Harrison is a twenty-year veteran police officer, firefighter, and EMT-paramedic for the City of Oakwood in Montgomery County, Ohio. His popular speaking programs are legendary. Finally, he’s wrestled his stories between the covers of a book.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals

176 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2001

Reviews

[Leonca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating and insane look at what can happen when you don't have laws in place to reduce (but never fully conquer) stupidity. I feel so bad for the people who had their neighbor’s bear tear through the wall separating the apartments to eat their dinner. Like something out of a horror movie.

Author sounds skillful on the job, but weirdly lax in other settings in ways I hope no one imitates. Trusting in your strength and a leash to keep a full grown tiger separated from a roomful of children???