The BIG cats’ turn for Christmas at Smokey Hollow Farms
‘Tis the season of holidays in many faith traditions. I love the words to the Indigo Girls Holiday Song: “It’s your holiday song, no one more true or right or wrong. When our faith calls our name, someone else’s does the same. Hallelujah, thank you.” No matter your tradition, I wish you happy holidays. My story this time is about a Christmas tradition at a very unusual Iron Range farm. Beginning in the late 1960’s, the Christmas tree at Smokey Hollow Farms in Balkan Township had to be bolted to the floor and anchored to the ceiling. Christmas gifts of popcorn balls, meatballs, raw chicken, spaghetti, stew meat….and some toys were wrapped and ready for the seventy or so recipients who came in to gather ‘round the tree in small groups. First, the bears, then the wolves, and on and on through the whole day. Some could celebrate together, but the big cats (cougars, bobcats, even a lion) who lived in the basement for the winter came upstairs and had the tree to themselves while the human family took turns guarding the smaller animals like otters and skunks and raccoons who regularly lived in the house.
Wrapping paper flew everywhere and gifts of food were immediately devoured. The skunks and raccoons loved popcorn balls. The bears were fond of meatballs and spaghetti. The big cats got raw chicken and the wolves, stew meat. Sidney John, a chimpanzee who dressed in kids clothes, ate at the table with the family using a fork and spoon, and used the bathroom just like the humans got a red fire hat one year—it was his favorite toy. Sidney was raised like a child, with Ruth and Lyle’s two daughters calling him their baby brother.
Tammy with Sidney John, the little brother
It all started when Lyle and Ruth LaBarge got married. Ruth had always been an animal lover so Lyle bought Ruth a black bear as a wedding present--she named him Smokey. Over the years, they adopted many animals as infants, bottle-feeding and raising them in their home. At the peak, they had about 78 four-leggeds according to their daughter Tammy Hofsommer. I met Tammy about a year ago when I wrote a story about the Hofsommer farm’s grass-fed beef and pastured pork operation. Her husband mentioned to me that she was a “LaBarge girl” and grew up in a family that raised and trained animals for movies and television. Right here on the Range. I had to know more!
Ruth and one of her beloved bears training
Ruth LaBarge could train any animal to do absolutely anything according to Tammy. When Tammy’s grandmother sent in a postcard to the television show “You Asked For It,” Ruth and her animals were featured. Then a film company representative came looking for a tame bear. That started a long career of training “Hollywood animal actors,” as Ruth calls them, for the film industry. Though the farm has no animals today, Ruth is still actively training bears at a new location. Her website http://www.bearwithus.xyz/bearwithus/about-us.html provides links to the many commercials and movies (Like The Jungle Book!) featuring her bears. She has the largest selection of working Kodiak and Black bears in North America. Lynn Rogers used to visit their farm often. He later opened the North American Bear Center in Ely. Ruth helped to design the bear enclosures there. There’s a short video of some of her bears’ trained behavior on the Bear Center website at https://bear.org/training-bears/
I asked Tammy what it was like growing up in such an unusual environment. She told me they were a fairly private family and seldom had people over because of concern about liability. They constructed a 10 foot barrier fence all around their 80 acres. Within that, each group of animals had separate accommodations. For example, the Black bears had a large pasture with electric fencing. Lyle built them hibernating dens out of cinder block, insulated and lined with rubber and bedded with straw, complete with a door. Kodiaks had a separate pasture and the grizzlies yet another. And the family trained horses who had their own pastures. The wolves and other animals who were kept in large enclosures were regularly walked for exercise.
As you can imagine, this whole operation was labor-intensive. Ruth and Lyle both worked in the mines and spent all of their other time with the animals. Tammy’s grandparents helped too and were there almost every day. Tammy and her sister had long lists of chores. Just cleaning up the poop and pee was a huge job. The animals were tame, which allowed the girls to go right into the cages or enclosures to clean up. There were litter boxes for the house animals. I asked if Ruth considered any of their many animals to be pets. “They were ALL pets to her” Tammy said emphatically. Ruth could kiss and hug each of them. Lyle liked big cats and had several at Smokey Hollow Farms but none of the cats were trained. They were tame, but didn’t perform. (If you’ve had cats as pets like I have, you’ll understand that completely.)
Big kitty in the snow
Keeping exotic animals is a state- and federally-regulated activity and Tammy remembers the inspectors popping in often to check on things. Ruth would demonstrate her latest trained animal behavior for them. Occasionally law enforcement called Ruth and Lyle for help in capturing a wild animal. Farmers gave them dead animals to use for food and the DNR allowed them to collect roadkill deer. Local grocery stores would allow the family to come pick up scrap and expired meat and breads and produce for feed. And Tammy recalls regular trips to Central Mink Foods in Medford Wisconsin (animal feed and supplies for zoo and circus) to haul back truckloads of feed.
They bought animals from zoos and dealers including the Exotic Animal Auction in Macon, Missouri. There was a magazine (no longer in print) called “Animal Finders Guide” (https://www.animalfindersguide.com/) available then. It always stressed getting appropriate permits. Early on, they purchased adult animals but soon learned that raising an animal from infancy, bottle feeding it in the house with the family yielded the best results. Ruth’s current website says “All of Ruth’s bears and dogs have been with her since their eyes opened and will be with her for the rest of their lives.” Tammy helped out at the farm well into her thirties and today she trains horses at Diamond Willow Corral, the farm she shares with her husband Chad.
Ruth LaBarge riding Ursula in the early days
Tammy remembers going on film shoots with Ruth and being gone for weeks at a time. They had animals in Anchor Man, a history channel series on the Vikings, The Sopranos, and many many commercials for Ethan Allan Furniture, Hostess Twinkies, Farmers Insurance, even a Chobani yogurt commercial for the 2014 Super Bowl. You can view some of the commercials on Ruth’s website (above) and learn more about her current work. She is very involved in bear education—providing regular bear safety and awareness trainings and even simulations to help the public learn how to act if they encounter a wild bear. She believes passionately in sharing our environment with “these magnificent creatures.” So there you have it, lions and tigers and bears grown on the Range!
Holiday greetings!!!