ahmedabad their children may have flown out of the nest to lead independent lives but septuagenarians natubhai patel and his wife hansaben have filled that gap with over 100 beautiful and exotic petshaving spent 12 years in the us running a stationery business the couple returned to their farmhouse in thaltej in 1991 and since then there has been no looking back they now are parents to over a 100 pets some of which are rare and expensive some of their prized possessions are 11 emus a moluccan cockatoo a blueandgold macaw silver pheasants budgerigars golden pheasants a pair of black swans and golden cherry lovebirds and also dogs patels farm is spread over 10000 square yards in thaltej natubhais favourite pet is prince a weimaraner the hunting dog lives in perfect harmony with the birds natubhai concedes he has finally found his true calling in nurturing nature wife hansaben agrees it feels i have company all the time and the enjoyment they give to my three children and grandchildren is priceless she says the patels initially started with a farm with over 100 buffaloes and a dozenodd horses then they switched to exotic pets their moment of pride was three years ago when their pair of emus the second tallest bird in the world laid 14 eggs some got destroyed but seven emus were born and have now grown into beautiful birds says natubhai the couple is vegetarian and do not kill or give away the birds we keep expanding the cages says hansabenmost of the food requirements of their brood of pets are met by vegetables grown in the farm and the surplus is even sold