Animal talent agent who adopted pets to cope after her dad’s death has personal ‘zoo’ with more than 40 exotic creatures

An animal talent agent who started adopting pets to cope in the wake of her father’s death has said she now has a personal “zoo” in her home of over 40 exotic creatures – including snakes, fish, lizards, geckos, a bearded dragon and an iguana.

Paula Stewart, who runs The Animal Talent agency, started adopting and fostering animals following the death of her dad Paul nine years ago, who was a “big animal lover”, as she “needed something extra to love”.

The 41-year-old from Liverpool, who has no children and spends at least £400 per-month feeding and housing her pets, said she and her animals have “saved each other”.

After the loss of her dad, Paula visited several rescue centres to find out which animals needed care, and she first fell in love with a rottweiler mastiff crossbreed called Mitzi, who was on the “euthanasia list”.

Paula said Mitzi was on “death’s door”, but she “threw everything she had into her” and the rescue pup started to thrive. Mitzi even starred in a short film called An Everyday Act in 2019.

Looking after the animals alongside running her business, The Animal Talent, is a full-time job, but Paula said the best thing about having all of these “amazing” pets at home is that she “never (feels) alone” – furthermore, she said lizards and snakes are “cuddly” and “super friendly”.

“Every day is a learning day, and I don’t eat my food alone, the animals watch me,” Paula said.

“I sit with them and watch the television, or I’m working from home and Georgie, my bearded dragon, he’ll sit with me and sit on my shoulder and watch me type, or he’ll sit on my laptop.

“I just feel like I learn something new every day about the animals, but also myself; they teach me so much about myself and what’s important in life.”

She added: “I feel that they’ve taught me a lot about resilience. Even when times are so very hard, and you think you can’t carry on, well, (the animals) do. They’re amazing.”

Paula said she grew up on a poultry farm and has always been around animals, but it was not until her dad died of cancer nine years ago that she started adopting and fostering animals.

The Liverpool resident, who lives alone aside from her animals, said she bonded with her first rescue dog, Mitzi, over their stomach conditions.

Paula has Crohn’s disease and Mitzi had colitis – an inflammation of the large intestine or colon – among other health problems.

She explained that looking after Mitzi helped her to get over her dad’s death, and she feels they “saved each other”.

Paula has saved other animals’ lives, too, including another rescue dog called Riley – an English mastiff crossbreed who had a brain tumour.

She said “nobody else would have him” and was told he would only live for another three months, but he ended up living for four years.

Paula also rescued an iguana, called Edwina, who she initially called Edwin before vets confirmed the correct sex.

She said Edwina “nearly died in (her) arms” the night she picked her up, due to neglect.

“The fact that she is alive is a miracle,” Paula added.

“The rehabilitation of Edwina the iguana is really amazing – to see her coming back to full strength.”

While fostering and looking after all of these animals is extremely rewarding, it does not come without challenges and expense.

Paula said she spends at least £400 a month on food, bedding, and activities, such as taking her two dogs, Timmy and Betty, swimming.

This is before any vet bills are taken into consideration, which can cost hundreds of pounds per visit, and Paula even spent £3,000 on building an outdoor enclosure for her tortoise, Jeff.

Paula also has to have a licence to look after her exotic pets, and is regularly assessed by the council.

But the animal talent agent has picked up many new skills along the way, such as foraging, and she will go out every day to pick plants, including weeds and flowers, for Jeff and the other animals.

She explained: “I have to forage for (Jeff’s) food, because he’s only allowed certain weeds and that sort of thing to eat, so I learned foraging for plants.

“Then I realised that I could transfer it onto other animals, and so I took in the lizards, and then it went from that to snakes, and then all of a sudden, there were so many.

“The last nine years have literally spiralled, but I don’t think I am out of control.”

Paula currently lives with 15 pets and more than 30 fish – she has 11 indoor enclosures, two fish tanks measuring 4ft each, and one outdoor enclosure, saying her home is “like a zoo”.

Her animals currently include her two dogs, Timmy and Betty, a cat called Cheetah, a tortoise called Jeff, a bearded dragon called Georgie, two lizards called Eric and Spike, four snakes called Andrei, Rocket, Candy and Keano, three geckos called Pepper, Porridge and Parsnip, Edwina the iguana, and her tropical fish and goldfish.

Her previous adoptions and foster pets include Riley, who died in 2020, Mitzi who died in 2021, and two other snakes called Ronnie and Freddie.

Paula explained that after she started adopting animals, she was offered the opportunity to work with a friend in an animal casting agency as an animal manager, and she remained there for several years as a freelancer.

She said she “wanted to dedicate (her) life to animals”, and so she volunteered in her spare time for animal search and rescue organisations, at dog shelters, and raised money for animal-led charities.

But by 2020, Paula felt it was time to start her own journey, and she founded her business, The Animal Talent – a casting agency placing animals for film, TV, print editorials, marketing and social media.

Several of Paula’s animals have starred in productions over the years, including commercials for 888 Casino and Foxy Bingo, and she believes that any animal can be a star.

“I just felt that, with my new business, I wanted it to be a bit more ethical – how animals were handled on set,” Paula said.

“I think, in general, there’s very good practice in film and TV these days, but I felt like I could push it a bit further.”

For those who are considering fostering or adopting an animal, Paula said it is important to “do your research” as the animals, particularly exotic breeds, are a “massive financial investment”.

But she said that looking after animals who have been “abandoned and abused and burned and everything else” is extremely rewarding, adding: “They need help, too.”

To find out more, visit The Animal Talent website at www.theanimaltalent.agency.