When I got the invitation to attend an exotic animal auction from a friend in Wooster, Ohio, I was somewhat interested. “I like animals” I thought. “And I really like exotic animals, so why not?”
What I didn’t know was that the auction was in Mount Hope, a town smack in the heart of Ohio’s Amish Country. I initially imagined flashy business men meeting at a high-end convention center or zoo. What I found on auction day was quite different.
My friend and I made the hour-long drive from Cleveland to Mount Hope and asked around until we found the auction grounds, or so we thought. We bought our tickets and shuffled inside the big steel barn.
On the inside, however, there were no animals at all. There were only trains. Thousands and thousands of model trains with enthusiasts eager to lecture us about the “perfectly-to-scale miniature cabooses… or cabeese? I’m no expert on train lingo, but these people definitely were.
The trains were neat, but we came to see ferocious animals. So, we asked a friendly-looking man in a striped conductor’s outfit where we went wrong. He pointed us in the right direction.
Luckily, the animal auction was next door in an old wooden barn. The gravel parking lot was lined with what must have been 50 black Amish buggies and their horses tied up to wooden railings.
We stepped inside and were greeted by an older Amish woman. She peered over her spectacles as we explained our terrible mistake and showed her the tickets we bought for the train function. She was nice enough to let us in at no cost.
We walked through a hallway and squeezed our way into the main floor of what looked like a small wooden colosseum. Filling the bleachers were a couple hundred Amish people waiting excitedly for the show to start. Some naturally looked at us with curiosity as we were the only two city slickers in the building.
The stares, however, quickly shifted to welcoming smiles, so my friend and I found a place at the top of the bleachers. A large Amish family surrounded us with adorable little kids in their suspenders and dresses.
Suddenly, the gate on the floor burst open and a bucking wildebeest came running out. Before I had time to process what I was seeing, the auctioneer started rattling off numbers like a machine gun. Amish men shouted from the crowd, raising numbered cards to signal their bids.
Boom! The first wildebeest was led out through a shute and the next one ran in. And again, and again until all the wildebeests were sold.
Next, the camels lumbered in. Then the gazelles. Then the zebras. Then the I-don’t-even-know whats that had long sharp horns and looked like striped goats on steroids. I tried to imagine the journey these animals took from somewhere in Africa, across the ocean, and ending up surrounded by hundreds of bearded men speaking German in Ohio. “Nowhere else…” I thought.
So, if you ever come to Ohio’s Amish Country, stop in at the Mount Hope Auction. You’ll see some friendly people, interesting animals, and maybe even a caboose or two.
