While this is essentially a half-hour commercial for the animal preserve and park near San Francisco, it is an appealing commercial, and this is, after all, a nonprofit operation that works to help endangered species. This tape also reflects an uncommon intimacy among the animals, their handlers and visitors to the park—right down to showing scenes of visitors petting a grown Bengal tiger. There are brief visits with such creatures as Yaka, a 10,000-lb., 22' killer whale; Tasha, a blind snow leopard; and Indy, a Harris's hawk that has a gimpy wing but still performs in the park's bird show. A running gag with reptile curator Tom Mintun pleading for airtime for his charges—"Reptiles do need all the friends they can get"—gets tiresome, but it's fun seeing the animals so close up and living in such apparent contentment with their human companions. An unspecified part of the profits from sales of the tape go to the Marine World Foundation. (PVR, $24.95; 707-644-4466)
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