good back-story, and good acting

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Normally I wouldn't be quite so blunt in my summary, but wow--the people featured in this film who owned these incredibly dangerous 'pets' were crazy!! While I knew there were a lot of sick folks who owned big cats and chimps, I didn't realize the problem was that bad. The documentary folks do two things--travel with people who are trying to get these animals away from irresponsible owners as well as show the owners themselves. While the film is clearly against most folks having these animals as pets, it equivocated a bit from time to time--such as Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation officials saying that they were NOT in favor of banning the owning of these animals and the film portrayed the owners rather decently.Overall, a very bizarre but important film--important because crocodiles, tigers, chimps and the like are quite probably living near you! In fact, the Dayton, Ohio locale for some of the film was a bit scary, as I used to live between Dayton and Cincinnati--and there are apparently LOTS of insanely dangerous animals in that area.Also, the film apparently came out just before the biggest and scariest story about insane people with exotics--the man near Zanesville, Ohio who deliberately released his dangerous managerie (which included 18 tigers) and then killed himself!! Wow...

REXANO was featured in this documentary. The movie follows an Oakwood, Ohio public safety officer Tim Harrison, who is a failed former exotic animal owner. He admits giving up his pet lioness years ago, when she grew big and he couldn't handle her. It is not clear how he went from a failed pet owner to an exotic expert; it appears he is self-taught, just like most exotic animal owners.Tim claims that over 10 years ago, he used to receive less than 10 calls a year regarding exotics, but nowadays it's over 100 calls per year. The movie doesn't give us the breakdown of how many calls ended up with animals sighted and captured, and how many were a case of mistaken identity by liquored up house wives. The movie only offers old pictures or supposed re-enactments of old cases, Tim holding gators, or two kids supposedly playing with a Gabon viper in a garage (It is strange there is no media coverage of the Gabon story, other than Tim claiming it happened in his interviews). When it comes to the recent reports of people claiming to see big cats at large, the cat is never found. The movie revealed Tim's concerns over two lions owned by Terry Brumfield, a depressed disabled truck driver, who got the cubs without any forethought. The cubs helped him with his depression. Even though Terry loved his lions, it is impossible not to get angry at him. After his male lion escaped his poor caging and chased cars, Terry successfully recaptured him without incident. Afterwards his two lions, were housed in a nasty horse trailer where four cubs were born, bringing the total of lions to six. Tim helped Terry rebuild the cages; the reconstructed caging was nasty, not worthy of a "king". With the continual showcasing of Terry's lions horrible living conditions and not showing responsible owners' caging, the viewer undoubtedly believed that all private captive lions live in such deplorable conditions. Tim spoke in absolutes and falsely claimed there were no "happy ends" pertaining to private exotic and wild animal ownership. Tim browses through Animal Finder Guide (AFG), which is a publication for exotic animal owners to learn and post want/sell ads. The majority of animals currently for sale in AFG are exotic hoof stock, not big cats or apes. Tim shows few examples of big cats given away for free. Those were not exotic pet cats; those were cats from a USDA licensed facility that is closing and looking for another USDA facility to place their animals for free. He showed AFG pages with pictures. One showed baby tigers; this is an ad for milk replacement formula, not a tiger for sale ad. Another was a cover picture of a white tiger with Christmas theme. This tiger was definitively not for sale; this is our 13 year old tigress Pepper when she was younger, and we provided this picture to AFG .We have no intention of ever selling her! Director Webber followed Tim with hidden camera to the reptile show. In one case a father and son buy a small alligator, in another case a father and son buy a 10 foot constrictor. In both cases, the film crew talked to the kid and asked if that was his new pet, in both cases kids said that it was indeed their new pet. This is the same joking that occurs when parents are buying a car, and the salesman jokes with kids if this is their new Ford Cobra, Dodge Viper, Mercury Cougar or Jaguar. Venomous reptiles for sale were properly packaged with red tape. Tim bought a venomous Puff Adder, took it outside and did exactly what he criticizes others for: he removed the snake from the plastic container, handled it with his bare hands, while milking it with a hook. No mention of anti-venom is made in case the snake escaped and bit somebody.If Webber wanted to only show the developing story between Terry and Tim, he should not have included all the sensational captive exotic animal attack news clips throughout the movie. He should have only featured these two men, so it would be clear to the audience there was no hidden agenda/propaganda to the story. If Webber wanted to include the sensationalized clips, he should have included more PRO exotic footage for fairness; show footage of our proper big cat cages to demonstrate how responsible exotic animal owners build quality enclosures. Instead, mostly the "bad stuff" was featured, and the viewer will unfortunately leave the theater with the wrong impression that Terry is the typical big cat irresponsible owner, which is far from the truth. Terry was a great choice for a tear-jerker documentary--a man with problems who owned dangerous animals, needed help and the hero savior Tim Harrison comes to Terry's rescue. In reality, Terry was a horrible choice, it painted exotic owners as weak, irresponsible people, who cannot responsibly handle our animals we love, and unless we get outside help, we are incapable of making it on our own. For the movie to be fair (aka boring for ratings), a strong responsible person should have been cast against Tim and Terry. Unfortunately, this movie, even if well intentioned to bring the attention to the occasional bad owner, will seriously hurt the responsible exotic animal community. Since 1990, captive big cats kill on average one person per year in USA, venomous snakes 0.9, non-venomous snakes 0.5, elephants 0.8, bears 0.25 and non-human primates 0. Those killed by exotics are owners/handlers/trainers/family.It is occupational/hobby hazard, not public safety issue. The lion owner Terry died in fall 2010, when his car collided with a train. He didn't die as a result of an animal attack; he died in traffic accident which kills up to 45,000 people each year in USA, which is approximately 123 deaths each day.

This movie will shock and astound you. It follows the work of a county officer/firefighter/paramedic, Tim Harrison, who takes the calls concerning loose large cats, poisonous snakes, or anything else of the sort that are released by owners or escape from their enclosures. He works to remedy dangerous and unhealthy situations for these animals by serving as a placement coordinator where he can. During the film we meet an owner who loves his pet lions, but keeps them in extremely confined conditions that become progressively worse after one escapes and chases cars down the highway. We see the tragedies unfold until he decides it is no longer feasible to keep the remaining lions and permits Tim to assist rehome them. You get a peek into some of the exotic pet auctions that will leave you with haunting images of primates, hyenas, and bears being sold like cattle to people with no sort of permit or certification. The reptiles people have access to is unbelievable. After seeing this film one realizes the importance of having laws in place to control this trade.

This is a must-see for anyone concerned about animal welfare or the welfare of their community (which includes almost everyone!). We see exotic animal incidents from all over the country and closely follow a heart-breaking story of a man and his lions. Most people (including me until I saw this film) have no idea how easy it is to purchase exotic animals and simply keep them in your home as if they were no different from a dog or a cat. How is it possible that you need a license to keep a dog, but not an elephant? This film shows why it shouldn't be possible, and blows the lid off an industry that turns a blind eye to human and animal suffering.