CLEVELAND — Tom and Hope Bennett began raising animals simply due to their love of God’s creatures.

It started with the basic farm variety but now, 10 years later, the couple has more than 400 animals ranging from cows to cougars and camels.

The couple owns Wildlife Wonders in White County, which specializes in providing exotic animals for petting zoos and birthday parties. But this time of year there is only one thing on their minds — live nativities.

"The live nativity is small part of (what we do) but a big part of it this time of year," Hope Bennett said. "The live nativity came with the same idea I had ... to share God’s animals."

Onlookers at Wildlife Wonders events see these animals at their best, but there is a lot of hard work to do before the public gets a peek.

"People don’t see the behind the scenes part. We do feed them, brush them, our sheep just got washed, we have to clean the trailers," Bennett said.

"People think of sheep as white, and the reality is they look like that," she said, pointing to the hint of red clay on their woolly coats. "He’s not fit to be in a program right now."

Adah, a 2-year old female camel, is the youngest camel at Wildlife Wonders. She is still in training for the Christmas performance.

"Getting used to people is part of their everyday training," Bennett said. "Most animals you can hug them, play with them, but when you put something around their neck it’s a whole other story. We use positive reinforcement with food and we pull a little bit and give them some food."

Brenda Burke, a member at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Gainesville, said she thinks having live nativity brings the Christmas story to life.

"Little children love to see the animals and they can interact with them and touch them and pet them," she said. "It’s just more real to them."

Doug Stevens, choir director at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Dahlonega, agrees that people and animals bring a reality to the Christmas story.

"I think that you hear the story, but when you see it with your own eyes about how it really was, it just seems more real," he said. "It brings a better story than just what you read."

Mount Olive recently had their fourth annual live nativity called "A Walk Through Bethlehem," which included live animals. The animals for their performance came from local Lumpkin County farmers and attracted more than 400 people.

The animals at Wildlife Wonders will see many more than 400 people this holiday season. They travel mostly in Georgia but have been requested in New York, South and North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Florida.

The Bennetts have animals at the live nativity put on by Blackshear Place Baptist at Lake Lanier Islands’ annual lights display, along with five events this weekend alone.

"They stay there and we have holding areas, and about every two weeks we rotate out the animals so they get a break from there," Bennett said. "They love it because they get all kinds of human attention. They are on the scene from 5 to 10 p.m. every night and then they will go back to the tent area and get fed, cleaned and watered during the day. Whatever trainer is down there actually stays and works with them."

Obediah the camel is at Lake Lanier Islands; he replaced Sammy the camel. Bethlehem the donkey also just got a break from the performance by Jerusalem.

The camels love the spotlight they receive at Lake Lanier Islands, according to Bennett. And one camel has even learned a special trick.

"At Lake Lanier, our camel has learned to dance and we now have a dancing camel," she said. "He goes back and forth and people giggle at him and he is reaffirmed by that."

The live animals at a nativity scene also help teach, too. For example, Bennett said they have Jacob sheep, a breed that traces back to biblical times, and donkeys who naturally are marked with a cross on their backs. "Not only do we provide animals but we provide unique animals with history behind them."

Emma the llama is one of the more popular animals because she loves human attention and affection. But like camels, llamas can spit when spooked.

"Emma spit one time because a little boy pulled her ear," Bennett said. "Any camel has the ability to spit, but none of ours ever had. Spitting comes from negative behavior."

In February, Wildlife Wonders shared their hard work with Mike Rowe, host of the Discovery Channel’s show "Dirty Jobs." Episodes of the show, "Exotic Animal Keeper," will be airing throughout this month.

"He called us," Bennett said. "They had heard about us through the grapevine and he worked for the day. He actually helped me clean the cougar pen."