ANIMAL HOUSE: Wild and woolly family

Business, lifestyle revolves around animals

Lisa Whiteaker is four months pregnant and expecting her first baby. Her first human baby, that is. The animal lover has already faced countless critter births ranging from exotics like white tigers, sugar bears and capuchins monkeys to everyday domestic dogs and cats.

Most days Whiteaker feels she can handle anything, but this one little baby has her excited, yet petrified.

"I'm worried that the day will come when I'm holding up the Huggies diaper for my baby and I realize I've cut a tail hole in it. Formula is the same for a baby and a monkey. I just add things to the bottle for the monkey. I could just see me making a bottle for my baby and accidentally throwing some monkey chow in there."

While Whiteaker and Shane Logan are both thrilled at the prospect of their first child together, they know they have their work cut out for them. This new infant will join a household packed with life. The couple share their home with a trio of hyper Chihuahuas, four monkeys, a pack of docile house cats, a pair of parrots and a python. Outside the home in Pahrump and in local friends' homes, the couple has farmed out care of their white tigers, sugar bears, additional snakes and their wallaby.

Caring for wildlife is a full-time job.

"It's an 18-hour, nonstop schedule. Last night we didn't get to bed until 3 a.m.," Whiteaker said.

Add to that responsibility the couple's newest business venture, Zoopreeme Dream Photo, and it's a wonder they sleep at all.

The Zoopreeme Dream Photo studio is located on the ground floor of Neonopolis in downtown Las Vegas. In the studio, patrons pay $20 plus tax to have a photo taken with the animal of their choice. Physical contact between animals and the public is not allowed, for the safety of both. But interaction is encouraged. Children can even bottle-feed tiger cubs.

Animals spend the day playing inside the shop windows at Zoopreeme Dream Photo, but Whiteaker is quick to point out the photo studio is not home.

"I get people all the time who say that's so cruel, how can you keep them locked up here. If they saw where these animals lived, they live better than you or I do," she said.

To prove her point, Whiteaker spent her day off running a tour of her "jungle" home. Two of the upstairs bedrooms in the two-story Summerlin home, built in 1994, have been dedicated to monkeys. Whiteaker painted the walls with jungle murals. Then she had locking metal screen doors installed. The two bedrooms are packed to the rafters with toys, child-sized playground equipment and swings. Each room connects to an outdoor playground that provides the monkeys with free access to fresh air. In addition to the upstairs monkey rooms, Whiteaker has custom-made cages in her family room downstairs. That's where her swinging roommates eat breakfast and watch their morning television.

"They love 'The Wiggles' and "Bear in the Big Blue House,' too," she said.

The rest of the family room is dedicated to the parrots and the puppies, while the dining room is the lair for the household cats. Amazingly, all the carpets and the furniture are white, and they stay white, a feat Whiteaker said isn't easy.

"People don't realize owning even one monkey is a lifetime commitment. It's like having a baby for the next 30 to 40 years," she said. "You spend $1,000 in vet bills the first year alone. It's demanding, but it is rewarding."

Outside in the backyard beyond the monkey playground sits the family pool. Whiteaker said everyone, from monkey to man, enjoys swimming once the mercury climbs in summer. Surrounding the pool is a cement block wall covered in hand-painted murals.

Animal-friendly surroundings are just the beginning of the commitment Whiteaker and Logan have made. The couple goes to extreme lengths to ensure the health and happiness of their household.

When Paco the Chihuahua was a pup, he was blind and had a tough time walking. His equilibrium was completely out of balance. Whiteaker wasn't ready to euthanize the pup, but she couldn't bear to see him miserable, so she searched to find a doctor to treat his brain disorder. Finally, she found a brain surgeon to implant a tiny shunt on the dog's brain.

"I never got to thank him. He made me promise to care for Paco the rest of his life, and I'll keep that promise," Whiteaker said.

Though the house is packed, Whiteaker said many of her neighbors don't realize she keeps exotic animals. Occasionally, kids will show up at the front door begging to see the monkey house. Whiteaker and Logan always send them home to fetch a parent before they give a tour.

"If most people knew where these animals live and the high life they lead, they would flip their gourd," Whiteaker said.

Every once in a while the home is put in the spotlight. The worst flash of publicity came when tiger cubs escaped out a window on to the home's roof. The couple was transporting the tiger cubs out to their home in Pahrump when the van they were driving broke down. With the temperature soaring, the animal owners knew they couldn't keep the cubs in the van, so they brought them to their Summerlin home. When one of the tigers relieved himself on the floor, Whiteaker opened a window to curb the smell. She left the room for a moment and when she returned the cubs had climbed out on to the roof.

"They were only out there seven minutes before I pulled them in, but it was long enough for a neighbor to catch 30 seconds of footage on a video camera," Whiteaker said.

The video was aired on local television news programs. Animal control officers showed up immediately and forced the couple to farm out care for a small dog, two big dogs, a monkey and the wallaby.

"It hurt," Whiteaker said. "I'll never let it happen again. That one time caused us to lose a lot of our family."

But soon the family will grow again with the addition of the new baby. Whiteaker said the monkeys seem ready.

"They understand something is up. They'll lay on my stomach and listen or feel the baby kick," she said. "I'm sure everyone will get along fine."


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