There’s one animal at the fair petting zoo you probably don’t want to pet.
It's the porcupine.
“I tell everyone he’s named Fluffy,” said Darrell Blankenship in joking about his porcupine.
Blankenship owns Tennessee Valley Zoo with his wife, Beth, and says the porcupine is not an animal you want to cuddle.
 “If you touch him, his quills will break off and get into your skin. It’s their natural defense,” said Blankenship. “Porcupines are nocturnal so he won’t do much during the day. And he travels well.”
It’s the first time for Tennessee Valley Zoo to bring its animals to the Warren County A&L Fair. The fair had been without a petting zoo for the past two years and visitors were eager for its return.
“We’re averaging about 10 people a minute coming through the door,” said Fair Board member Jenny Kelsey. “We keep count. The last time we had a petting zoo, we had 28,000 for the week.”
Blankenship said his zoo travels all over the country. “I say it’s the coolest job in the world because my co-workers never talk back."
Blankenship says he owns right at 100 animals and brought 37 of them to the fair. One of the most noticeable is a 7-foot, 800-pound camel.
Among other animals, there’s a llama, numerous goats, and a wallaby, which is commonly confused with a kangaroo.
“If your fair had been a week later I would have brought a baby zebra,” said Blankenship, who joked he is going to name the zebra Spot.
Feed is available for those who want to give the animals something to eat and Blankenship is quick to warn the kids not to eat the feed themselves. Money from feed sales goes to fund scholarships for members of the Youth Fair Board.
Kelsey was thankful Blankenship agreed to give up his week off and bring his animals to Warren County. He is booked for the next two months solid and this week was supposed to provide a break.
“We’re slammed all fair season,” said Blankenship. “In the winter we go up north and do nativity scenes. I guess we have it backwards. We’re some of the few people who go north for the winter.”
The petting zoo is located to the right the fair’s main entrance.