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Show ' 'I ? i : 4 " $ Page IB Lakeside Review Wednesday, August 7, 1985 uwwmu 4 S ,wJ ;,- 'a1 ( ,rvf sJt f ,if I H V hv & ? y jf ' ? xC ff-- tj u. 4Vl.V?t V . , his backyard shed, Tom Lewis tends to the needs of his INSIDE v - prize-winni- W ng v ,Y . t - t '. - a , , f- v , f , ' ; V ! , k x pets. f5?fe :a '4:. -- KAVSVILLE Inside Tom Lewis backyard rabbit shed n Kaysville,:; a soft white rabbit on a table is hunched into a shape and characteristically wiggles its nose. mwKagwwiRW '4Ht, ' $ ' vV v , . - ' ' , i C - i. :.$,. JL ,'r jv i & ; & x H ' 5,,f i U x ' v? fty 'f'tf t 't ; y ;5 1 - , - . t - 4 , j i r4 ' t ''' $ X , a& . iIS 'V fj y- - y - ' ; 'I ' 4 i v.'4 ' ', ' S', .T " X tI nrf spaniel-sir- e v x5iv' ir S & ; j ?"f I V- - r. : i e with his rabbits.. He is line breeding them to improve weight gam and fur - ; These are not just your average animals, he says of the rabbits that have taken 16 Best of Show Awards" in 18 rabbit shows. Lewis is not just your average teenager. He has a string of accomplishments. He is president of the youth Wasatch Rabbit Breedof the Utah rabers Association and is 7 '" ' 11 Jit iNvSi 5j-- i - ; fc , J S r - - r?'-- ',' vice-preside- nt 'j ' .. y :.,. .it s TOM if . $' TOM LEWIS , ' ,j.vf V . i- n - first-plac- ps week. t s Vip ' ; V:. if i3g y ' ;.'-s 1 Vt Mv,'.. READING a book on zoology, Tom has ambitions of managing a zoo one day. Stow hv Chm I Archibald Photos by Hoilocy U'right, V ? e His work took award in the Davis Science Fair in his category and second-plac- e award in the state science fair, and also the Army and Air Forte outstanding achievement awards. Lewis has been breeding rabbits now for nine years. He bought his first rabbit when he was 8 years old, after his mother and fathers divorce. Lewis is also raising prize chickens and is caring for peacocks, lbs mother named a long list of animals including a racoon that the family has had to take in over the years. The young geneticist reads books and talks to teachers and professors about blood lines and the care and feeding of rabbits. He writing a report for Lagoon on the gestation period and mating cycles of animals. Two or three days a week he tends animals and assists the veterinarian at Hogle Zoo, "Eventually 1 want to be the director of a zoo of some sort." Lewis is taking 30 or so of his New Zealand Whites,: Flemish Giants, New Zealand Reds, Califor-- . mans and Mini-Loto the Davis County Fair this 1 1 IV, I 4 handles a white rabbit with care. holds his Bard Rock rooster. 4v - 4-- H 4-- A - " club. 1 try to help the kids starting out," he says. After as an advihe turns 19, he would like to stay in sor. He has entered his rabbits and also some chickens in fair and shows all over the western United States and some in the east. 1 went to the convention (for the American Rabbit Breeders Association) in Colorado Springs two years ago, and out of 45 rabbits in the class I won first place," he said. Probably his most notable success is his scholarship in zoology, earned for his science fair project - an. ex- pose on genetic factors in breeding rabbits. bit 4 r 5 big-tim- '.qualities. ,.j Kkk'i V4 a ' 'iV4 f ; z3 $ Boy from his cage, at all, Lewis is into the v " &Jk - Bob wiggles his nose as he is set on a table and he promptly stretches out, not the round basketball type , ij V ; X i d rabbit has been Another, I marked by name; inside its car. Bob is so named because he has personality". n He and the rest of his Flemish Giant family were names like Taffy," and Lucky" by Lewis, their ; owner and breeder. Besides, Bob was more the pet type; he would never be sent to market to be turned into a piece of meat like the whit? rabbits are. I like these best These are my babes," Lewis, 1985 graduate of Layton High explains as he lifts cocker giv-e- Ilf: : '- - sandy-colore- ' - ,- i v , 4'- cages. ,v 'V , Ar S si( ( ir ' ' 5.x.ss- ' ' , S.& X , Is y y' ?t&r . .' f' r ' , The grand champion New Zealand White is marked by number inside its long car to identify its pedigree and separate U from its relatives in the other ' x ;'.' ' '" '!:: x '' J- 1 6- " ; 4 - s half-basketb-all s WITH respect, Tom cleans the cage of Tarzan,' a tiger at Lagoons zoo. i a , :: ; |