Ralph Helfer [SEP] place of birth
Ralph Helfer
Ralph Helfer (born April 9, 1931 in Chicago, Illinois) is a notable American animal behaviorist, creator of Marine World/Africa USA, and writer of books about animals.
He was born in Chicago and had one sister, Sally. In 1942, his mother left her husband Sam and moved with her children to Hollywood, where they settled in the Green Apartments, one block off Hollywood Boulevard.
In 1955 he purchased a Vasquez Rocks property to train animals, which he called "Nature
been renamed "Ben" for the run of the show) had been "discovered" in White Lake, Wisconsin, and that he was 6 years old in 1968, making his birth year 1962. Ralph Helfer confirmed in 1970 that one of the bears who appeared in "Gentle Ben" was obtained from Ivan Walters' game farm in White Lake.
Anthony "Tony" Pelky, owner of the Chain Lake Game Farm near Lakewood, Wisconsin, and his son claimed during Pelky's lifetime and in his 1986 obituaries