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c8 economist suntribune july 29 1987 c sidney a himalayan llama goes bobbing for grain turn are the proud new parents of a baby named while owner lionel purcell is left holding the bowl patches a llama can cost up to 10000 mr purcell sidney and his mate coco patiently awaiting her says one of the most popular attractions at lionels pony farm is not surprisingly the pony rides above prince takes threeyearold benjamin russo for a tour of the farm while mom linda leads the bizarre beast below is a scottish highland cow the animals long reddishbrown hair makes for a warm winter coat on the damp moors of its native scotland despite those awesome horns scottish highland cows are actually quite timid scaling precarious cliffs is what this surlylooking have ho trouble leaping 10 feet straight up in the air south african mountain sheep wishes he were from a standingstill position doing according to mr purcell these animals exotic beasts reign at local farm by bruce etheridge double takes are not un common when people pass by the bizarre beasts roaming around lionels pony farm on mccowan rd just north of 19th ave we have a lot of cars jam on their brakes to take a second look says rita pur cell who helps her husband lionel operate the farm among the purcells myriad of animals are longnecked llamas which look like camels without the hump they have miniature donkeys and goats spiralhorned south african mountain sheep and dainty japanese deer wandering the pastures are scottish highland cows which appear to be a cross between a woolly mammoth and a texas longhorn mr purcc11 and his animals have been in great demand on movie and television sets ever since producers discovered the variety of trained animals he had available mr purcell has coached birds and ponies for ballet per- formances at the okeefe centre he provided all the livestock and horsedrawn carriages for the recent anne of green gables television series many of his 70 horsedrawn carriages and sleighs which include a 150yearold hearse a gypsy wagon and a circus cart have found their way into the movies mr purcell spent last week working with rats spiders and sammy the crow on the movie set fridays curse a made- fortelevision horror film his interest in exotic anim als began when a friend could no longer care for his chinese pheasants mr purcell bought them that was 35 years ago he says ive been adding to them ever since over the years mr purcell has expanded his menagerie by trading and exchanging animals with zoos and private collectors petting zoos at thompson park in scarbor ough and at centre island are stocked with his animals teachers started asking 25 years ago if they could bring classes to visit he says we have hundreds of kids come every day during the school year what makes mr purcells farm so special is that chil dren can get much closer to the animals than at say the metropolitan toronto zoo the chance to take a pony ride has a certain amount of appeal as well in the last seven years mr purcell has gotten into breed ing llamas he has raised half- adozen so far and is expecting another couple of babies be fore christmas the llamas share more than just a passing resemblence to camels they also shows signs of a similar temperament for example camels are notorious spitters its a trait not uncommon to llamas but mr purcell recalls a llama spitting at people only once a group of teenagers lounging along the fence started spitting at one of the llamas yelps and curses brought mr purcell running what the boys didnt realize was that they were dealing with an expert spitter llamas can shoot a prodigious stream with precise accuracy when he spit they got a good wad of it back mr pur cell says with a smile that put an end to it pretty quick along with his more exotic animals mr purcell has more than 100 horses and ponies he has been showing horses for more than 50 years and has won thousands of ribbons he also has various types of rabbits pigeons turkeys geese ducks and eight diffe rent kinds of pheasants the taxidermy guys love to get a hold of these pheasants he says pointing to a bedazzling bird decked out in gold and copper florescent greens and eyecatching blues on sundays mr purcell opens his farm to the public from noon to 5 pm free of charge children can go for pony rides or just wander around this unique home for unusual animals