Stephen Webb holds Cyrano, a Swainson's toucan that is one of several dozen exotic animals he keeps at his house in the northern part of the Las Vegas Valley. For financial reasons, Webb might soon have to sell off his animals and find a new place to live. Photos by Ralph Fountain. Caesar relaxes in his backyard cage at the home of Stephen Webb, owner of LIFES Safari exotic animal refuge and exhibition business. The declawed, 18-month-old mountain lion purrs when Webb puts him on a leash and walks him around the property. Stephen Webb holds Hang Ten, a two-toed sloth.

Neamiah the Moluccan cockatoo greets visitors with a cheerful "Hello, Neamiah." Sabrina the kinkajou sticks out her long tongue and yawns. Caesar the mountain lion purrs.

If any of Stephen Webb's exotic animals understand the fix they are in, they certainly don't show it.

Webb said his business is foundering, and he is about to be kicked out of his house in the northern part of the valley. Unless he can find another place to live -- and soon -- he will be forced to sell off his large collection of unusual mammals, birds and reptiles.

"My challenge is, I've got 65 animals and nowhere to go," he said. "Literally, we've got nowhere to go."

A little over two years ago, the one-time tiger handler for Siegfried & Roy launched his own exotic animal refuge and exhibition business called LIFES Safari. The name is short for Learning Institute for Endangered Species.

Webb said he poured all of his savings into the business -- $127,000 in all -- but so far he hasn't brought in enough money to cover expenses.

"It's a wonderful business, but it's a $9,000-a-month nut to crack," he said.

Though Costco gives him outdated meat to feed to his carnivores, Webb said he still drops about $400 a week on food. He pays another $680 a month for liability coverage, just in case one of the animals hurts someone.

Webb runs LIFES Safari out of his house in a once-rural neighborhood that is gradually giving way to higher density residential development. The home sits on 1 1/4 acres surrounded by horse property near Jones Boulevard and Farm Road, north of the northern Las Vegas Beltway.

Webb said he has fallen two months behind on the mortgage payments, and his nephew, who owns the property, now wants to sell.

If he can't find a suitable new home or make arrangements to stay where he is, Webb said, he will have to "liquidate all of the animals and go find a job."

He said he agreed to move out of his nephew's house by Jan. 31, but he admits there is little chance he will be able to meet that deadline.

"We really don't have time to liquidate everything we've got. The snakes are going to take forever to liquidate," he said.

Attempts to contact Webb's nephew were unsuccessful. County records list Edward J. Webb as the owner of the house.

In addition to Neamiah, Sabrina and Caesar, LIFES Safari's menagerie includes Lemurria the ring-tailed lemur, Sheena the bobcat and Cyrano the Swainson's toucan.

Webb's garage is home to a cotimundi, three macaws, a Sumatran water dragon, and a matching pair of two-toed sloths named Hang Ten and Serenity.

Inside the house, Webb keeps a host of dogs, cats, exotic birds and rare reptiles, including a 16-foot, 140-pound Burmese python.

Napping and playing among Webb's exercise equipment is Sunshine, a sick but friendly African serval who beat the odds by surviving kidney failure and a coma but still suffers from occasional seizures.

"I've got a diabetic mountain lion and a full-on epileptic serval, and I wouldn't trade either one of them for anything in the world," Webb said.

The largest of Webb's animals is Isis, a snow-white tiger with light yellow stripes. Webb has nowhere to keep the cat right now, so she lives in a backyard cage at the nearby home of Stardust magician and tiger trainer Rick Thomas.

Webb said he got Isis from a media company that purchased the rare animal as a kitten, to use in television commercials and other marketing campaigns.

"They basically signed the cat over to us," he said. "They had no means of taking care of her. They didn't have the knowledge."

Webb didn't really have a way of taking care of Isis, either, but he took her anyway because she was sick and he didn't want to see her mistreated or used to breed more unwanted tigers.

"I could either wonder what happened to her, or I could try to give her the best home possible," he said.

A lot of Webb's pets came to him that way.

"Almost everything here is something someone bestowed on me, and I've taken more than I can handle," he said.

Webb has recruited his wife, daughter and a handful of volunteers to help him feed and care for the animals. The same people serve as handlers when he takes the animals out in public.

For a fee, Webb and his animals make appearances at birthday parties, conventions and other events. He also charges production companies to include his animals in advertisements, television shows and feature films.

But Webb said his favorite work is the kind he hasn't found a way to get paid for yet: educational assemblies at some of the valley's poorest public schools.

"These kids have never seen anything besides a dog or a cat," Webb said. "Where I'm doing several schools a month, I'd like to do four a week."

"It's just so rewarding for the kids," Webb's wife, Kyla, added. "My greatest dream would be to have an investor come in and save this location or find another one."

Dr. Janet Dobry is principal at Robert L. Taylor Elementary School in Henderson where Webb and his animals appeared twice last year.

She said she hopes Webb can find some grant money or a benefactor so he can continue his educational programs, which include lessons in everything from biology to physical education.

"We love Steve's assemblies," Dobry said. "He talks about adaptations the animals make and what they eat. The kids wish he wouldn't leave."

Webb feels the same way.

"Out of all the stuff I do, I could let a lot of it go. But the kids program, I would have a hard time letting that go," he said. "I don't care about the money. I need the money, but I don't care about it. If I don't go (to the schools), these kids don't have any exposure to these animals and wildlife."