CAN you ring me back in 15 minutes? I'm feeding a baby monkey."

Parting a rottweiler from its bone would have been less daunting than trying to track down the daughter of famous circus performer Mary Chipperfield.

After days of hunting I finally located the Chipperfields' secretary Ginny, only to find she was fobbing off phone callers to nurture a baby chimp in the early hours of the morning.

The scenario was bizarre, to say the least, but totally typical of an animal-crazy family. And the daughter of renowned lion and tiger tamer Mary was proving to be no exception to the rule.

Suzanne Chipperfield is a pretty 25-year-old who walks in the shadow of a baby giraffe and spends a good part of the day chasing chickens through hoops. "I've been chased out of the ring by the pig," she said, bemoaning the lack of brain cells among the species.

"They are not the most intelligent of animals. It is easier to train tigers than chickens," moaned circus performer Suzanne, who has switched from taming ferocious creatures at a national circus in Paris to launching her own farmyard act in Blackpool.

Clara the chicken and Sophie the two-year-old giraffe are among the big names in the act, which really does turn nature on its head and is currently wowing crowds at the Peter Jay Superdrome Circus on the Pleasure Beach. Gone have the days when chickens simply laid eggs and pigs rolled in mud. These farmyard favourites are the new super-breed of talented animals with stars in their eyes. Chickens move on cue, pigs roll out carpets and sheep count people!

"After Paris, our tigers are in quarantine at home so I decided to try my hand with the farmyard animals. It is a bit different - and people are loving it," said Suzanne, who assured me that their antics had nothing to do with a love for the job and everything to do with reward nibbles.

She has just finished working with movie giants Disney, providing the animals for the 101 Dalmatians film which will be released later in the year. "There is a lot of stress in working with animals," said Suzanne, who grew up in Hampshire thinking every child had tigers and monkeys as family pets.

"My childhood was hectic. I was always surrounded by animals when I was younger. I talked to them as I do to people and gave up so much of my time getting to know them that I needed a break when I grew up."

She tried her hand at snipping and perming at her local hair salon but the pull of the animals proved too strong.

"I really missed them," confessed Suzanne, who launched straight back into the animal kingdom and began thrilling audiences with a dangerous life-threatening lion and tiger taming act. "My mother really encourages me and I hope to be as famous as her one day," she said. "She has taught me that, no matter how much I get to know the lions and tigers, I must never forget that they are wild animals with teeth, claws and a lot of strength. But you don't think about the fear aspect of it and go in the cage with confidence. You also have a lot of respect for the animals. If they sense you are frightened you could be in danger."

She describes the farmyard show as "unorganised chaos."

"The animals definitely know they are out performing for a crowd and get nervous beforehand but they can go against me or with me when we are out in the ring. They can really show me up by doing something awful. It is very unpredictable and it is never the same show twice."

Tickets for show, which runs until November 3 and includes a host of other attractions such as clowns and trapeze artists, can be obtained from the box office number (01253) 407997.

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