Our People: Animal magnetism

Cindy Arnold was born and raised in Clovis. She’s the step-daughter of a military serviceman, which gave her the opportunity to live abroad in places like Japan and Alaska.

Arnold graduated from Clovis High School and studied at Clovis Community College. Arnold has held positions as a detention officer and three years as a zookeeper. She married her former boss, who was the director at the zoo at the time.

Staff photo: D'Nieka Hartsfield

Cindy Arnold, right, with her husband Herschel Arnold and their tortoise Zuri at their store, Pet Logic on Main Street in Clovis. Arnold says they have had Zuri for five years now and she will grow to 10 times her current size.

Because of the city’s nepotism policy, either she or her husband had to resign. Arnold said it was more feasible for her to leave at the time.

Later, she and her husband decided to follow their dream and open a pet store. They opened Pet Logic in March of 2009 and, Arnold said, they are living and loving every minute of it.

Tell me a little bit about your store, Pet Logic: There are a lot of people that don’t even realize we’re here. We are the only full line pet store in town. We carry fish, birds, small animals, reptiles and dogs when I have them. When people have puppies, they bring them in and I have Kennels they can rent to sell their puppies at my store. This is the easiest and safest way to do it rather than sitting out in the elements to sale their puppies.

How did Pet Logic get its name? We did a lot of soul searching. It’s just the logic of pets. It was a spur of the moment, oh that sounds great.

What is your favorite animal you work with or favorite in general? In general, I would say big cats because they’re what I took care of at the zoo. The cougars were my favorite. Simba and Nala were my babies. We just laid Nala to rest not too long ago. Simba and Nala were both old. Everybody knows me because of the Simba on the back of the tailgate of my truck. Then, of course, my monkey that I raised.

Tell us a little about the animals you’ve raised: Binky was born at our zoo. He was abandoned by his mother at birth. He was thrown to the ground. We waited about 15 minutes for his mom to go down and get him and she wouldn’t go so we went down and got him. That’s when I became monkey mama.

I raised him for 13 months. We didn’t think he’d make it because he was bruised and couldn’t suck from a bottle, so I had to feed him with an eye dropper. He’s 11 now, so he made it. We were calling him Binky because we didn’t think he’d make it but by time we were going to name him, Binky stuck.

This was the most interesting time of my life, something I will always cherish. But I don’t think I’ll ever do it again because it was also one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do because they stay on you 24 hours a day. Binky would be on the back of my neck by the time I was ready to blow dry my hair after a quick shower. I’ve also bottle raised a cougar, a squirrel and a raccoon, but mostly the big cats at the zoo.

What type of pets do you have at home? We’ve got four miniature Dachshund’s, two salt water tanks, an African grey parrot, and Indian ringneck, a leopard gecko and a tortoise here at the store.

Tell me about the tortoise: She’s from Africa. Her name, Zuri, it’s Swahili, which means fair skinned. When we got her she was tiny, tiny and a high yellow, light caramel color. That’s how she got her name. She will get 10 times the size she is now. She’s 10 years old now. The oldest recorded tortoise is about 135 years old.

what hobbies and interests do you have outside of work? I love to go camping and going to the mountains and the lake. I can’t hike anymore because of my COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). We try to go to Ruidoso at least two to three times a year just to get away.

— Compiled by staff writer D’Nieka Hartsfield