PIPE CREEK, Texas — There are some movie stars that you might not know by name – living their best lives in the outskirts of the San Antonio area. And you can visit them at the Movieland Animals and Camel Farm.
Bill Rivers got his start in the animal training business many moons ago. His father ran a traveling animal show and it became a lifelong obsession.
"I was in Hollywood for 37 years," the now 70-something-year-old said.
When he started talking about wrestling tigers... I had to draw the line!
Nowadays, Rivers has his animals on a small ranch in Pipe Creek: Seven or eight camels, an American bison, an Asian water buffalo, a Longhorn steer and many other animals – all as tame as pets.
River's animals have worked on a lot of big-time movies like Ace Ventura, Scorpion King, Rocky III and enough TV commercials that chances are, you've seen some of them.
Now, you can not only see them in person, you can literally walk right up to them, pet, feed and interact with them. If you choose, you can even go for a camel ride. Rivers charges a small fee to see and interact with the animals.
The ones that blew me away were the kangaroos. He has somewhere around a dozen of them, which almost act like dogs. When you enter their pen with food, they hop up to you and love to have you scratch their backs while they eat.
If you would like to take the kids out to see the animals – or bring out that inner kid – check out Movieland Animals and Camel Farm's website.