One bright dry season day in tropical Panama, our Railroad Conductor father brought home an adorable fawn whose mother had been hit by a previous passing train.  The fawn had been keeping vigil alongside its mother next to the train tracks.  After stopping the train Papa wrapped the fawn in a towel and brought it home. We immediately named him Bambi after the popular movie of the time, and he became the pet of the neighborhood.  Bambi lived for many years until a passing Chiva (bus) hit him while he was crossing the street in front of our home after dark.

Bambi wasn’t the first stranded animal that our sportsman father rescued from the jungle surrounding the Panama Canal Zone.  Off and on over the years, we raised several monkeys, parakeets and parrots of all sizes. The parakeets were taught to climb finger ladders, sit on your shoulder and eat from your hand.  The parrots could talk in both Spanish and English. Saying such things as “Stop It,” or sometimes, “Quieres Cerveza?” Which translates-“Want a Beer?” It was the inflections in the voice sounds that made everyone laugh.  The monkeys also ate from our hands and learned to do many cute tricks.  Only once did we own one that turned mean from children taunting him.  We had to return him to the jungle.

Papa often surprised us with injured or abandoned animals from the jungle.  Another time he found a lonely baby pekare in the tall grass while hunting deer. When it tried to run away my father threw his hard hat over its head.  This little wild pig was highly intelligent and responded to commands like a dog.  He tried to follow us everywhere as we walked to the church next door or to visit a friend’s house.  Even after penning him in an enclosure, he would dig out, and sniff our footsteps to the church. To the delight of the parishioners he would go down the aisle snorting and grunting to whatever pew we were in at the time.

One of the most unusual pets my father brought home from the jungle was an alligator. It was only a foot long when he brought him home but soon outgrew his tub of three feet.  My father fed him venison bits and fish from his weekly hunting and fishing excursions. He too was returned to the jungle from whence he came.

Other pets we had were beautiful long-haired Peruvian guinea pigs.  These were colorful and cuddly and very tame, our version of a stateside rabbit. Other common short-haired varieties were baked by our native maid, and a few brave souls in the family learned to eat and enjoy the delicious meat. We once had an Iguana which we had to set free when we returned to the States. The Panamanian natives also ate these. It wasn’t necessary to keep them as pets as they roamed freely everywhere in the Panama Canal Zone.

We loved having these unusual pets and they entertained the whole neighborhood. When I think back I am thankful that the one jungle animal we did not have for a pet was a snake.