Bob Ross Loved Animals (As Much As He Loathed People)

Bob Ross may have hated fame, but he and Joe Exotic have more in common than you might think. They're both media pioneers, animal lovers, and collectors of spouses.

But while the Tiger King was stocking up on beasts of prey and expired meat, the Father of ASMR was nursing injured, abandoned animals back to health, and releasing them into the wild.

He wasn't kidding when he called animals and trees his "friends." Here are some of his closest pals:

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Before he was the poster boy for joyful tranquility... Bob Ross had a career in the Air Force as the guy who makes you scrub the latrine... makes you

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While he didn't particularly relish berating GIs, he never much enjoyed the company of people, either. ROSS He dropped out of school in 9th grade, had

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But you know what Bob Ross did like? Animals. He was a real-life Ace Ventura. As a kid, he kept an armadillo in his bedroom, and nursed an injured all

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As an adult, he ran a full-on animal hospital out of his home. He brought lots of his friends on the show, and they inspired some vintage Ross quoteSource

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An Injured Cougar 5I can't imagine anybody hurting something like that... but Psn strange,

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Major' the Fox We made friends very quickly and we had a very gJood time together.

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Bobette the Squirrel Annette and I have raised this little rascal... we call it BObette, that way we both have CRACKED.COM our name in je.

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Recurring guest Hoot the Owl 5That son of a gun's gjot some big toes!'

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A Baby Possum You think that possum's not hungry?! He's somethin' else.

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Pocket Squirrels Sometimes they stay in my little pocket there all day. They just fall asleep, and take Jife easy

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A Baby Deer HI don't know how anybody could shoot Bambi I like these little characters. CRACKED.COM