HERD the one about the couple who live with a pair of BUFFALO?
RC Bridges, who is nicknamed The Buffalo Whisperer, and his wife Sherron share their home with Wildthing and his new pal Bullet.
The beasts, who weigh 2,400lb and 900lb respectively, relax in the living room and around the house and even take a ride in the family car.
Buffaloes can be very dangerous animals, with curved sharp horns which grow up to two feet long, and they are able to run as fast as 40mph.
But RC says: “I knew they were crazy animals but it actually turned out way better than I thought it would be.
“I always dreamed of training a buffalo, but I never thought about training two.
“They’re like my buddies. Bullet likes to be with me at all times, she’ll even give up food to be close to me.”
RC, who is a cowboy and horse trainer, has worked with buffaloes most of his life.
After losing an eye in 2004 he had to sell his herd, except for one young male who he decided to keep as a pet.
Wildthing, who is now seven, even acted as best man when his owners renewed their wedding vows in 2006, after five years of marriage.
RC, 63, said: “He carried the rings on his horns and threw them off one at a time for us to catch.”
Bullet, a female who is three-and-a-half, joined the family after her previous owner found her too hard to control.
RC said: “Her owner told me if I could catch her, I could have her. She kept getting out of the pen and the sheriff’s department was mad about it.
“Well, I just caught her, put her in a trailer and brought her home.”
RC's photographer wife Sherron, 39, who is part Native American, makes traditional-style clothes and headdresses using the animals’ hair.
She said: “We love our buffaloes. I think if either one of them died, RC would probably go along with them."
And RC insists his friends and relatives still visit the families home in Texas, where they also keep a pet wolf called Jewell Spirit.
He said: “They’re not afraid to come over because I keep everything safe. But most of them think I’m going to get hurt or killed.
“I don’t think you can ever take all of the wildness out of the buffaloes, though. I’ve been hurt a lot, so I guess its just part of the game.”
Nevertheless, the couple’s two grown-up children, son Will and daughter Taylor, are proud of the family pets and have even broken world records with them.
RC said: “My son was the first person to ever ski behind a buffalo, on water skies and on sand.
“And my daughter was the first person to ever snow sled behind a buffalo.”
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