welcome to the Zoo
Allison Ilcken slides open the back door of her house in Tampa at 6:30 A.M., just after dawn. Her yard abuts a nature reserve, so lush tree branches drape over the fence. Bald cypress. Southern live oak. Pink milkweed blooms in the garden. A few butterflies flit about in the warm Florida air. Birds chirp. For a split second, it’s serene.
Suddenly, two blurs of brown-and-white fur zip past her, all but shouting, “Go, go, go!”
Fosters Raphael and Michelangelo, nicknamed for the Ninja Turtles and from a litter of four hound-beagle mixes, hurtle out the door. Followed by Australian-shepherd-cattle-dog-mix Beau and shepherd-mix Izzy—Allison’s daughter Madeline’s dogs—then by Hope, Allison’s younger shepherd-hound, and Lucy, her senior shepherd mix. At 14, Lucy is not
