DALLAS — Lions, chimpanzees and kangaroos are animals you expect to see at a zoo, but in Texas there are people who legally own them.

There are some requirements to own an exotic animal in the state and it’s not an easy task. 

Briana LaFleur never thought she would own a kangaroo. She owns TLC Horse Training LLC, where she trains, sells, and rides horses. 

“I’ve always been huge in the animals,” LaFleur said.

In 2019, one of her clients brought a 5-month-old kangaroo with them and LaFleur fell in love.

“It was just love at first sight and since then, he has been my child,” LaFleur said. “He sleeps in bed with me every night.”

The now three-year-old Nigel is not the average kangaroo. While he does eat kangaroo pellets, a supplement given to the animal usually if they’re in captivity; he loves his tea, grass, sweet potatoes, and wheat toast. 

The University of North Texas professor, Andrew Gregory, explains caring for a wild animal is a responsibility not everyone can or should take on.

“They have a different diet, a different instinct, a different set of needs,” Gregory explained. “They have different they have different responses to diseases.”

He adds tracking the trade and selling of exotic animals, animals not native to Texas, is difficult.

According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, wildlife trafficking is a more than $23 billion industry.

The United States Department of Agriculture does track licenses and registration of dealers, exhibitors, research facilities, carriers and handlers under the Animal Welfare Act. Texas has issued more than a thousand licenses to individuals and zoos.

Gregory adds that not all states require a permit for an exotic animal. In Texas, it depends on the type of animal an individual owns. A certificate of registration is required to own a “dangerous wild animal” such as a lion. Endangered species are illegal to own unless a permit has been filed and approved. Kangaroos do not fall into either category and are legal to own.

“As long as you’re not breeding him, and he is a neutered male,” LaFleur said.

Nigel has grown accustomed to his home and LaFleur explains she can give him the care he requires.

“He has his daily routine where he gets up in the morning, he comes outside, he waits for his bottle, and then he’ll usually hop me over to the fence when I go outside to feed the horses,” LaFleur said.

Besides Nigel, LaFleur cares for 30 horses. 

“This is my full-time job, this is what I do for a living, but I mean, it’s a 24-hour, seven days a week job,” LaFleur said.