More than 140 animals live at Kenny's Korral, and that's not counting the birds.
Kenny Ellis' animals include buffalo, Watusi cows, Scottish Highlander cows, Zeebo cows, an assortment of sheep and goats, llamas, alpacas, miniature horses, and his pride and joy, camels.
Kenny's Korral is a local favorite for kid's birthday parties, school field trips and family reunions. They are events that don't cover the costs of keeping the animals, but do help pay for some of their food.
Ellis' animals are also a regular attraction at the local Science Spectrum.
"Well the USDA inspected that facility back last summer and they got to checking and realized that I didn't have the federal government permit to run a petting zoo," Ellis said.
Ellis said it took USDA inspectors awhile to track him down, but once they did, they basically shut him down.
"I'd have to bring my place up in compliance just like the San Antonio Zoo, the Forth Worth- Dallas Zoo, the rules and regulations just doesn't recognize a little momma and poppa type thing, like what we have out here," Ellis said.
Meeting the USDA's standards is something, Ellis said, he just can't do. One of the main requirements involves building an eight-foot tall fence that surrounds his property, and another eight-foot fence that runs inside of the first.
"Just that expense alone is way over $100,000 you know, this is a small place, and we lose money on this place every year. You know we do it, we just do it," Ellis said.
Thousands of people visit Kenny's Korral each year, but the community, like members of Indiana Avenue Baptist Church also depend on Kenny's animals to come to them.
Brenda Loftus said the church has hired Kenny's Korral every year since she began working there ten years ago.
"We have an event called Search for Baby Jesus, and it's an event that helps young children experience the events that led up to Jesus' birth. Kenny helped us by providing animals so the children got to experience the animals that they would have seen back in Jesus' time, and having camels are a special treat for the children," Loftus said. "It has been such a blessing to all of us, and it's just going to be a miss, a miss for the whole community I think."
Ellis said he has enough hay to feed his animals for six more months. He will have to use that time to come up with some sort of solution, until then, he can keep his animals only as pets.
"All of these guys are my babies, and what do you do," Ellis said.
