Terri Irwin

I paid for it.

I got it home and it's just the sweetest little thing you could possibly imagine, right?

Just lovey, snuggly, yummy, sweet thing until it started feeling better and

And then this little cougar cub named Melina tried really hard to learn hunting skills on me.

So she would sneak up on me and pounce and all these hilarious things.

So the great big area in my backyard became where she lived.

And then I'd bring her into the house or go out with her.

And in pretty short order, I was thinking I have to justify having a cougar because this is nuts.

Yeah.

And so I worked with a woman

who did educational work with cats.

So she would go into schools and teach kids about cheetahs or servals or all these different animals.

And she taught me how to work with Melina so that I could take her into these environments safely and teach kids about wildlife.

So then I began finding out wild animals were needing help.

And that was a much better gig because I could take them in and let them go.

Right.

So my special sauce seemed to be predatory mammals.

So I started doing that rescue work and I'd taken about 300 animals a year.

I had about a hundred volunteers who worked with me to help raise things and take care of things and work with me.

And because I, again, I had a career, I could afford it.