Some people call him the animal whisperer. Some people call him the Real Tarzann. Some people call him a great guy. No one is wrong. Mike Holston is the kind of guy who does things that make the rest of the world feel as if they are not doing enough. He’s got a gift, and his gift is communicating with animals, but not just any animals. He focuses on the kind of animals most of us will never see or experience in the real world, and those who don’t know him want to know as much as possible about the man who spends so much of his time with animals.
1. He is a Floridian
He has a deep love for South Florida. He’s put down roots in the Miami area, but he did not grow up here. He was born and raised elsewhere, but he and his own mother moved to the Miami area when he was a teenager. His love of the South Florida area grew quickly and deeply, and he considers it his hometown.
2. He Started Hanging Out with Animals as A Volunteer
His first foray into the world of animals was when he was a teen. He spent his time focused on volunteering at a Miami pet store, which allowed him to spend time caring for the animals and making a difference in their lives. He didn’t even earn a paycheck working at the pet store because it was on a strict volunteer basis.
3. He is a Zookeeper
If you want to know what he does during his day job, he’s a zookeeper. He spends his life and his time focused on his career with the Zoological Wildlife Foundation in Miami. He educates, he learns, he shares his wisdom, and he spends time doing what he loves on a daily basis.
4. He Learned to Love Animals Through Tarzan
When he was little, he and his grandmother watched Tarzan together. He loved the way the fictional character would communicate with the animals. At the age of five, he was already wondering if animals had their own way of communicating with one another, and he began to take a serious interest in the way that they communicate. He fostered a love of being able to communicate with animals, and that’s when the game changed.
5. He Tamed a Snake
As a child, he brought home a wild snake as a pet. His family clearly has more patience than most because the snake bit everyone in the house. His mom, dad, his aunts and uncles, and even his brother. However, they didn’t make him get rid of the snake. Instead, he practiced patience and eventually managed to – as a child – tame the snake. He then began working on taming other animals and his experience grew.
6. He Says Animals are Afraid of Us
When it comes to taming animals, he has a lot of patience. He has decided that animals are more afraid of us than we are of them, and they are defensive because they think we are going to kill and eat them while we are sitting here thinking the same about them. He takes that fear, he turns it to trust, and that is how he communicates with his animals.
7. He Believes Fear is Too Powerful
If there is an important lesson we can take away from Mike Holston, it’s that we fear too much, too often, and for no reason. Humans are often more afraid of everything from people to life experiences to situations to events and to things that we simply don’t need to be afraid of, and it sends us all off on a tangent that doesn’t set the right tone. Fear is not always the go-to, but we make it that way.
8. He Doesn’t Believe in Criticism
Perhaps he is cool with constructive criticism, but he’s not letting anyone’s ‘you cannot do this and you are crazy and this will never work,’ attitude get in his way. He doesn’t care if people believe in what he is doing simply because he believes in what he is doing, and that is where the power lies in his own life.
9. He Values Hard Work
If you ask Mike Holston what he has in common with the greatest men and women in the world, he’s going to tell you that they all have one thing in common. No matter what they do or how they do it, they do it with hard work, persistence, and talent that comes from practice, working hard, and doing what they do best. Hard work is the key.
10. He’s an Inspiration
At the end of the day, you should check out Mike Holston and what he’s all about. Even if animals aren’t your thing, watching how he handles them and communicates with them is a cool experience. He’s a man who inspires many, and for good reasons.
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