Urban Rescue Ranch…Part 2

Earlier I did a post on this YouTube channel. If you want to know the background I would suggest go there. He releases new videos (around 10-11 minutes long…never longer) every 3-4 days. He has a style of fast edits in videos and he does have ADHD and you can tell.

I went to a pet store in Nashville and asked them if they had prairie dogs. The guy behind the counter eyes lit up but he said no. He asked me if I had watched this show? Of course, I said yes and we spent 15 minutes talking about it. A few years ago hardly anyone had heard of it but now it is getting popular. The reason I want a prairie dog is because of the one that he has on his show…named Big Ounce.

Ben Christie operates an animal rescue and he keeps it fun. He doesn’t show the really bad cases at all. He has moved up from a typical house in a suburb in Austin Texas to a 3-acre spread in Waco Texas. When he bought it…it was really a “crack house” with the property filled with car parts, trash, needles, and hundreds of tires. He has cleaned it up and now it’s beautiful.

He fixed up the “crack house” and lived there for a while but now he has built another house on the property and uses the original house as an office and for animal rehabilitation. He takes in squirrels, ducks, alligators,  raccoons, hawks, owls, antelopes, and almost anything that needs help. Ben also keeps the show clean but a fun clean. It’s a show that adults and children watch. Ben’s sense of humor is the reason it is so popular.

He is called “Uncle Ben” and the stars of his show are the animals and his sense of humor. Some of the animals are permanent. Kevin the Rhea (who usually chases Ben and bites him), Big Ounce the prairie dog, Dababy a Kangaroo, Homelander the Ostrich, Master Oogway the tortious, Markiplier the goat, four capibaras, Petunia the pig, Garbanzo beans the duck, and Quenie and Poggers the dogs. There is more.

He spreads the animals out as far as featuring them. Not lingering on one too much but lately, Big Ounce has been the “star” so to speak. The animal to put the show on the map was Kevin the Rhea. Kevin lived on a farm and they were going to euthanize him because of his aggressive nature. Ben got him and gave him a home but that didn’t settle Kevin down at all. Sometimes Ben has to use a riot shield to feed him and to get into Kevin’s area.

Before I could publish this...Big Ounce the prairie dog passed away. Ben got Big Ounce in a pet store with 7 other prairie dogs in a cage. Big Ounce was severely obese so Ben gave him the run of his house and barn and Big Ounce got slim quickly. He has been there since January of 2022… he quickly became the most popular animal there.

Big Ounce was the alpha on the farm. The show is very entertaining and he helps a lot of animals that need it.

Remembering Big Ounce

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

29 thoughts on “Urban Rescue Ranch…Part 2”

  2. Poor little (big) Big Ounce! I have to find some time to sit and watch a number of his videos, It’s great what he does, I admire anyone who’s trying to help animals . Weird though that most of his menagerie seem to be exotic animals, not locals. Also weird, how low a profile he has in town – I don’t think I’ve ever seen a reference to him in the local media!

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    1. Oh those Rhea, crocodile, Antelope, all comes from Texas farms where they hunt and shoot them…and the Kangarool…BUT
      Yes he takes in local squirrels, every kind of bird you can think of….a lot of hawks get injured…he gets them all of the time. Raccoons and Opossums.
      Dave he built these MASSIVE flight pens for Eagles and Vultures….so he does show that also.

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      2. Yea I couldn’t help you there… he is becoming more visible now because he is taking animals dropped off now. After years of it being a small thing in his backyard…now he has a first rate place…really the only thing he needs now is an XRay machine.

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      2. Yes…that was the last one released…. so I stuck it on there this morning…it’s the longest one he ever had…because he died.

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      3. I was just looking at wiki and see they have a lifespan of 3-4 years? Looks like once Big Ounce came to the ranch he lived a good life, much better than the one he had before he was rescued.

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      4. In captivity its 8-10 years! That is a big difference. He did have a good life there…Ben doesn’t know how old he was but he guessed around 7 years old or so from what the pet shop guy told him… Big Ounce had cancer last year and the doctor said to put him down…but Ben gave him medicine and the tumor completely went away.

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      5. That’s amazing that life in captivity doubles their lifespan. Probably less predators hunting them has something to do with it. I wonder what that medicine was to cure a tumor like that!

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      7. Oh one thing about prairie dogs that I’ve never heard of before…they live an extra 3-4 years in captivity…which is strange….and they are ultra smart…probably too smart for their own good.

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      8. Oh wow that’s cool. I wonder if that tumor shortened Big Ounce’s life? Maybe he wasn’t getting the right kind of diet before he got rescued 😦 He sure was an affectionate little guy in the video. Fun to watch him. I bet your back yard would be perfect for one to run around in. He could probably ride on Martha’s back 🙂

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      9. Yes a prairie dog would have a good home here. I’m not sure about the tumor but I said it in the last comment so sorry….but the doctor said to put him down…that was around a year ago… but I liked that short video of him standing up to the emu’s and ostrich….the little guy knew no fear.

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      10. Yes he was a brave little guy. I was telling my kids about prairie dogs tonight on our weekly game night. They were surprised they could be pets and that they are a kind of squirrel.

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  4. I remember watching the video you posted before. Not sure I could take the biting bird. I watched about a third of the Big Ounce video and can see why 1) you might want a prairie dog as a pet; and 2) why you may be sad that the little guy passed away. It seems that a closer look at most critters turns them into more than just “wild animals.”

    I watched the new “Transformers” movie last night and was pleasantly shocked to see that some of the transformers are animals now instead of motor vehicles when they aren’t mechanized warriors. That is a HUGE quantum leap forward when you think about it.

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      1. At wiki I see they are a kind of squirrel. I know that once upon a time having (tree) squirrels as pets was common and they even dressed them up in little outfits. My dad had a pet squirrel once upon a time. I think it was a baby that had fallen out of the nest. This was after us kids were adults and moved out so I don’t know much more than that.

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      4. Yes and raccoons, foxes, and every other creature…. he also built giant flight pens…he gets more birds of prey than anything…usually injured by someone’s pet or pushed out of the nest too soon.

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      6. Yes he does…and he films himself most of the time…occasionally he will have a friend to film him. I believe he is the only animal rescue in that area as well…

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