“Take James Herriot, put him in inner-city Los Angeles in the early 1990s, and have him work on snakes, lions, and birds instead of farm animals—that’s Doug Mader’s story,” says Roark, founder of the ...

Bada Bing, Lollipop and Jingle Bell – an alpaca, a miniature horse and a miniature donkey, respectively – need to be fed. The rabbit hutches need mucking. And, uh oh, now there’s a sheep on the loose.