Santa Rosa's Safari West welcomes new addition, his name is "Tubbs"
Safari West's new Nile Lechwe, Tubbs, being cared for by a giraffe. Photo courtesy of Will Bucquoy/ for the Press Democrat.
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KTVU) - The Tubbs Fire, one of the deadliest infernos in California history, had the potential to wipe out Santa Rosa’s Safari West -- a 400-acre stretch of land that houses nearly 1,000 exotic animals. But they all survived. And on Friday morning, the preserve welcomed a newborn baby Nile lechew. Appropriately, his name is Tubbs.
Tubbs stood on wobbly legs with a Safari West giraffe and struck a pose. He is now among the rest of the animals that are reportedly fine despite the week’s chaos. These are animals would have likely succumbed to the wildfire devastation if not for the efforts of Peter Lang, the preserve’s owner, who was armed with a garden hoses.
The Nile lechwe is part of the waterbuck family of antelope – which get their name from predominantly living around water. The species native to South Sudan and Ethiopia is endangered.