Couple Has House-Trained Buffalo Named 'Wild Thing' as a Pet: 'He's Really a Gentleman'
Meet Wild Thing, the 11-year-old pet buffalo that has its own room inside Ronnie and Sherron Bridges’ Texas home.
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“He’s a house pet,” Ronnie told InsideEdition.com. “Outside, he plays really rough but inside the house, he’s really a gentleman.”
Ronnie, 68, who calls himself the “Buffalo Whisperer” was forced to sell his herd of 52 buffalo in 2004 to pay for medical bills.
But the Bridges ended up keeping Wild Thing, who was just a 3-month-old calf at the time.
“It was kind of my idea to bring Wild Thing in the house,” Sherron said. “We bring the dogs in the house, and [Ronnie] said, ‘You don’t understand – he’s a buffalo, we might not have a house left.’ [But] we brought him in the house, and ever since then, he’s been in the house.”
Ronnie explained their buffalo has his own room in the house, and a couple other rooms he is welcome to roam as long as they move the furniture. Wild Thing also loves watching television, and even though he can’t turn it on himself or change the channels on his own, he prefers to watch cartoons.
“I think the news bores him,” he joked.
Wild Thing is also potty trained, although Ronnie said he somehow learned to use the bathroom outside on his own.
“He never uses the bathroom in the house,” he explained. “He walks right out, potties, [then] turns around and comes right back in the house. It amazes me because how would you potty train a buffalo?”
In addition, he said Wild Thing never breaks anything in the home even though he weighs 2,500 pounds, Caters News reported.
“It’s like having a small car in the house. He’s real careful about not knocking anything in the house, but he tears up my house on the outside,” Ronnie laughed. “I think he knows the house is my territory, and outside is his territory.”
Wild Thing was even the best man when Ronnie and Sherron renewed their vows. “We put the rings on his horn, but he threw em in the air,” Ronnie said.
However, Ronnie said they’re well aware of what a dangerous animal Wild Thing can be. He explained they also have wolves, bears, bobcats and tigers on their property but feels they are less dangerous than their buffalo. In fact, it was ten years before Wild Thing allowed Sherron to touch him.
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“The biggest thing with animals is not being scared of ‘em, because if you’re scared of them, they feed off it,” he explained.
Even so, Sherron said their children and their grandchildren love coming up to visit the buffalo.
“Our son and our daughter, they both call Wild Thing their brother, they grew up together in the house,” Sherron said. “Our grandson, he’s 3, he absolutely loves Wild Thing. He calls him ‘Thing Thing,’ and he loves helping grandpa feed him. He just can’t touch him.”
