After her first capybara died of liver failure, Melanie Typaldos bought Garibaldi Rous. The Texan was attracted to the giant rodents, which tend to die in captivity, after seeing wild ones in Venezuela. Read on for more!

Florida animal trainer Pamela Rosaire Zoppe bought Chance from pet owners who could no longer keep him. He now appears in Hollywood films. “Chimps are so intelligent that they get bored,” she says.

Sasha, a cougar, is “the love of my life,” says Mario Infanti, who underwent more than a thousand hours of training before he acquired his first wild cats. The Florida musician had Sasha declawed when she was a month old, but “she can still bite.”

A Burmese python entwines Albert Killian in the Florida home he shares with 60 snakes. Tags noting the proper antivenom—and the nearest hospital that carries it—are posted next to venomous pets.

John Matus bought Boo Boo impulsively as a cub. Last summer the Ohio man gave her to a wildlife sanctuary. “She needs to be with her own kind,” he says. “It’s a lonely life.”

Shawn Geary and Allo. Shawn is an IT professional. His grandmother had skunks that he played with as a child. His wife Carole always wanted one.

Bobbi Phelan bought a patas monkey in part because they tend to avoid conflict. Even so, Eujo once got loose and scratched Phelan’s son and bit her dog. Eujo’s cage is attached to the living room of Phelan’s Indiana home, with a pet door leading outside to a larger enclosure.

Ohio veterinarian Melanie Butera took in Dillie after the blind farm deer’s mother rejected her. Dillie used to sleep with Butera but now has her own room. “She’s treated like a princess,” says Butera.

Alison Pascoe Friedman, a zoologist, acquired Amelia in 1980 as a rescue and trained her for a behavioral research project. When the project ended, she brought the capuchin monkey to her home in New York. Amelia, 45, died in her sleep after this photo was taken.

“My life is completely about the animals,” says Leslie-Ann Rush, a Florida horse trainer. “I rarely leave them overnight or take a vacation.” She raised her kangaroos and lemurs from infancy.