Drive down the right street in Waco, Texas, and you just might come face to face with an ostrich.
That’s all thanks to Ben Christie, owner and creator of The Urban Rescue Ranch.
What once started with a small chicken coop at Baylor University has grown into a ranch hosting a veritable zoo—from blue jays, possums and beaver to capybara, kangaroo and ratites.
Christie began posting his videos in 2019, allowing viewers to see just how his ranch has grown and changed throughout the years. In each video, Christie updates viewers on the day-by-day tasks of the ranch and explains a bit about how he takes care of each creature he rehabilitates.
But if you skim through the titles and find them a little … off … don’t worry! Though his videos often have provocative titles that intentionally make fun of clickbait, such as “Why I Ate This Baby Raccoon (Apology Video)” or “Saving My Duck From a 14 Foot Snake (I Died)”, Christie has a wildlife rehabilitation permit and treats his animals well.
The Urban Rescue Ranch is a “prospective wildlife rehab,” taking in and rehabilitating animals that often arrive on the doorstep with injuries or diseases. The ranch fulfills a need to restore wildlife in the area, as, according to the ranch’s website, “there are no large rehabs for 100s of miles.”
Christie strives to be a good steward of the animals placed under his care. He names many of the animals who arrive and frequently checks in with them as they grow strong enough to survive in the wild.
As Christie states in a video celebrating one million subscribers, Christie, as a Christian, felt God calling him to leave his job at a tech company to pursue his animal sanctuary work full-time.
“If you believe in the literal interpretation of the Garden of Eden, then this was our original assigned task,” Christie says. “Literally, just take care of the garden and name the animals.”
It should come as no surprise that The Urban Rescue Ranch’s mission is to “share God’s beautiful design of animals while promoting, improving, and educating on animal rescue/welfare and sustainable farming/rescue practices.” And through his work and YouTube videos, Christie hopes to inspire others to take up homesteading by showing how even someone with a tiny backyard can get started rescuing animals.
The majority of the channel’s concerns come in the form of what you might expect while working on a ranch. Animals poop and vomit, and they occasionally arrive with visible injuries or diseases. And, unfortunately, some of the animals arrive too late and don’t survive. A couple dead animals (such as a chicken) appear in videos. Christie sometimes shows scratches he receives as a result of working with the animals.
The worst language we could hear in any video was “crap.”
The Urban Rescue Ranch just might motivate you to finally start that chicken coop in your backyard you’ve been thinking about. At the very least, the channel helps to educate viewers about animal rehabilitation. And even if you have no interest in raising any animals, Christie’s channel remains a fun and informative watch for the family.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
