by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
The deer and the antelope seem to be about the only wild animals that don’t regularly play at Deborah Warrick’s home.
The buffalo don’t roam out there, either. Not yet.
More than 80 wild and exotic animals have found a home at the St. Augustine Wild Reserve that Warrick founded and directs. Some have been big stars, in theaters as well as on television and music videos.
“Nemesis,” one of several leopards at the Reserve, was featured in a 1998 movie, “Passion of the Desert.” He then took part in a magic show in Orlando.
“Mariah,” an Asian leopard, was featured in four Michael Jackson videos. She also was in “The Island of Dr. Moreau” (the Marlon Brando/Val Kilmer version).
Two servals, small spotted cats with extra long legs, worked on the set of the television series “Sheena.”
Most of Warrick’s 11 wolves are retired from one show or another, including the Busch Gardens show that she used to produce and manage.
“We took in a lot of film industry leopards that came out from California,” said Warrick, who opened the seven-acre refuge four years ago. “I work with Florida Fish and Wildlife whenever they need a home for an animal they seized — whether it was abused or because somebody couldn’t care for it anymore.
“We’re here to do a service.”
Ensuring that those services avoid potential snares is attorney Sammy Lanier, with Dore, Lanier & Noey in Jacksonville.
“I make sure that things are taken care of so we can legally transport the animals,” said Lanier, who recently helped guide visitors around the Reserve. “I represent Deborah and a lot of Deborah’s friends who do what she does, which is to have refuges or be licensed to keep exotic pets, wild animals.”
The main part of Lanier’s work is trial practice, including personal injury and medical malpractice. The firm also has a mediation practice.
He got involved working with animal cases in the mid-1990s, when he represented the Wildlife Conservation Society, formerly the Bronx Zoo. The society, which had loaned a breeding alligator to the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, was sued when the animal bit off a keeper’s arm.
“We got a good result,” Lanier said simply.
From there, he did some work involving horses and cows in Ocala.
“They’re mostly liability issues — a cow in the road, say,” Lanier explained. “The equine work came separately.
“But it all made me realize, as an attorney, that no matter what type of animal case it was, it was vastly more intriguing than dealing with cars, trucks and premises liability. All of which I still do.
“This can get interesting.”
Lanier began representing Warrick shortly after she moved to St. Augustine from San Diego, where she had an animal compound.
“Then I hooked up with the Sea World/Busch Gardens crowd and started a wolf show,” she said. “I trained all the wolves for their show in Virginia, so they wanted me on this coast.
“So they moved me out here, but I don’t do the show anymore. I sold it to them, but I stayed here. People are a lot nicer here than in California.”
In the course of representing Warrick, Lanier has gotten increasingly knowledgeable about and comfortable around the animals, reaching through the bars to rub those who aren’t feeling cranky after a big feed.
Mufasa (who doesn’t look ready for a scratch behind the ears) is The Lion King. He was 3 months old and weighed 35 pounds when Warrick got him. He’s now almost 9 years old and hits the scales at a little over 600 pounds.
Hanging from Mufasa’s fence are his old water bucket and food dish. He was feeling out of sorts one day and took it out on the bowls. Within five seconds he made them look as though they had been targets for some serious rifle practice.
Onyx is a 9-year-old Asian black leopard who lost a hind leg to cancer two years ago. She was featured on an episode of “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” television show.
Mickey, a male Siberian tiger, takes a big bite out of the Reserve’s monthly food bill.
The 750-pounder is in a class that includes some of the largest cats in the world.
Macumba, a Brazilian form of voodoo, is “a perfect name for a leopard, for this leopard especially,” said Curator Mickey Manoram. “Of all the cats, leopards are the most in your face.
“Macumba would just as soon pounce on you, tackle you and have his nose a couple inches from yours and say, ‘Hi, how are you?’ ”
And then there’s Genesis, a playful orange Bengal tiger who enjoys a game of peek-a-boo with the staff around his large metal tub.
The cost to feed the animals is about $3,000 a month. They also receive supplements and vitamins.