Santa Cruz has had more than its share of reality TV stars. The most famous, of course, is Lex van den Berghe, who rocked the third season of Survivor so hard he made season eight’s All-Star cast. There was also the bluegrass-pickin’ Abbott family, who starred in an episode of Trading Spouses in 2004 (and did not appreciate the final product, thank you very much). Add to this proud lineage Taz, brawling orange tabby of Opal Cliffs, and the family of Terry and Lorna Campion. They star in an upcoming episode of Animal Planet’s Housecat Housecalls, described as “Supernanny for cats.”
As the comparison implies, Taz had issues. A horrific car accident had left him minus a hip, but even so, he was a 20-pound bruiser with loads of ‘tude. And in the space of a few years, the feline population of the Campion household had grown from one to five, including three exotics descended from wild Asian tree leopards. Big Taz was bent.
“Now, Taz hates all these new cats,” says Terry Campion. “He would growl and lunge at ‘em and chase ‘em around. And all the cats were getting stressed out. And when cats are stressed out they spray and pee and everyone wants to mark their territory.”
That stinks. But fate came knocking in the form of an email to Campion’s longtime associates at Santa Cruz Skateboards: a new TV show was looking for people in the board industry with cat problems. As owner of the Santa Cruz Boardroom, Campion qualified, and soon enough his phone was ringing. In no time the fetching feline behavioral expert Dr. Katrina Warren was on the scene, along with an army of crew members. They returned three times to film footage for the show.
“Corralling cats for a TV show? Good luck,” says Campion. “It’s easy to say your lines, but to get a cat to do so anything for you is virtually impossible. It takes an amazing amount of patience.”
We won’t ruin the ending—you’ll have to watch Saturday, July 3 at 10:30am or Sunday, July 4 at 8am—but here’s a hint. Says Campion of his formerly tetchy tom: “Last night he was asleep on my lap.”
