From children's homestead to zoo: A tale of transformation in a community full of tail-wagging adventures.

bears, cougars, mountain cats, a mother orangutan with her baby Brigg, spider monkeys, a white llama named Stanley, a pair of gibbon monkeys, palm civets, lemurs, tiny moray eels and a giant lizard. The menagerie also contained exotic birds such as a hornbill calio (yes, that's a bird), herons, imeiling and penguins. As well as a 15-foot-long python that was recently declared potentially dangerous because it went missing from its glass heated enclosure. (It was later determined that someone had stolen the snake...hmmm). It seemed like a pretty good combination.

Batten was looking for a place to house his animals, and suggested that Giesis use small pets. This became a key attraction. Batten was invited to work on it and the council''Djiesis has entrusted him with the management of the zoo. Djiesis raised $50,000 from the community to create facilities for the animals.

Everything was ready. Batten was hired full time and two men worked with him to create an artificial natural backdrop for the 1.5-acre Animal Garden attraction. When the Children's Site opened in the summer of 1963, children and parents were thrilled, especially excited about their favorite animals.

But less than six months later, it became clear that Batten and Giesis' paths were diverging. In February 1964, Batten officially removed the animals, birds and reptiles with a truck, eventually moving them to Santa Cruz.

"I like animals better than people," he admitted to a reporter, "and nothing that happened in''Santa Barbara didn't make me change my mind!"

It seemed to be an understanding and scandal-free divorce between Giesis and Batten. But there were no more animals in the Children's Plot.