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Quinn Robinson, speaking at Berkeley Elementary School, brings wild animals
Quinn Robinson, an education coordinator with the Wildlife Center of Virginia pulls Ferdinand, an opossum, from a cage during his presentation at Berkeley Elementary School.
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Quinn Robinson, an education coordinator at the Wildlife Center of Virginia, carries Ferdinand the opossum during a school presentation. |
SEVEN-year-old Sierra Radford's eyes lit up when the leather-gloved educator, sharing a message about the importance of "wild" in wildlife, gently pulled a barred owl from its cage.
The Berkeley Elementary School first-grader frowned when she heard that the small owl had fallen out of a nest near Mechanicsville.
The Spotsylvania County student was a tad confused to hear that the folks who found and kept the owl doomed it to captivity by imprinting it on humans.
"What many people don't know is that it's illegal to keep wild animals in captivity," said Quinn Robinson, an educator with the Wildlife Center of Virginia in Waynesboro.
By program's end, Sierra was glad to know Gus had found a good home with the Wildlife Center and she began asking questions like, "Can he turn his head all the way around?"
A long way, said Quinn, but not all the way around.
I've seen the Wildlife Center's education animals in many settings, from schools to outdoor events and even on television on "Today."
The education staff at the center recently explained where the animals come from, what makes them work as educational ambassadors and how these wild animals are trained to keep their cool in classrooms and beyond.
Gretchen Achenbach and Kelly Rourke, director and coordinator of environmental education, provided a quick primer.
First off, all of the animals used for educational programs, which run the gamut of topics from "Critters Don't Need Litter" to "Whoo's Awake in the Night?" are injured or impaired in ways that make it impossible for them to be released after coming in for treatment.
Many of the birds of prey which include eagles, hawks, owls and more, have injuries to wings or eyes, making it impossible to hunt or survive in nature.
Other animals, be they possums or rat snakes, have been cared for by humans to the point that they never learned how to make it in the wild.
But, said the educators, not every animal or species is suited to be an education animal. And there's only space for two dozen or so.
"Some species, like some of the hawks and owls, are not cut out for it," said Rourke. "They're naturally just too aggressive."
Animals that do seem suitable, and that the public would be interested in seeing, go through a process that assesses their potential for educational programs.
"You really have to get to know the animal and slowly get it accustomed to you and to being in front of a crowd," said Robinson. "It's a very slow, careful process of rewarding positive behavior."
Achenbach says it begins simply, placing the animal's cage where it will be near people for an hour or two
Eventually, educators begin working with it one on one, getting comfortable and learning to read its body language.
"When you work with them long enough, you can read their signs," said Robinson. "They're just like people. They have their good days and bad, some when they're calm, some when they're cranky."
Recognizing a bad day may mean the animal doesn't come out of the cage.
Center President Ed Clark and others there said that if you work with the animals long enough, you'll get a scratch or two, or worse.
Clark, who took bald eagle Schuyler for decades of programs with presidents and late-night hosts, won't ever forget a 1990 Earth Day show on the Washington Mall.
He had two birds with him, including Junior, a golden eagle. After doing shows all day, Junior was tired and had enough.
Somehow the eagle got tangled on its perch. With another bird on his heavily gloved hand, Clark reached up with his bare hand to untangle Junior.
The eagle responded by driving a sharp, strong talon through Clark's arm near his wrist.
"You only do something like that once," said Clark.
Clark said it's important to realize that when possible, the specific circumstances that bring an animal to the center are used to spread a certain message.
"When we talk about loss of habitat, you couldn't have a better example than Scarlette, a red-tailed hawk whose nest was toppled when a tree was cut down to make room for an amusement park," he said. "Taking the issue down to one animal makes it very real and accessible."
wildlifecenter.orgRob Hedelt: 540/374-5415
Email: rhedelt@freelancestar.com
WHO: Altaire, a red-tailed hawk WHY THERE: Found tangled in a barbed-wire fence at Woodberry Forest. Suffered head trauma and cannot fly. WHO: Pignoli, a screech owl WHY THERE: Found unconscious near railroad tracks in Charlottesville, possibly hit by a train. Damage to both eyes, including the removal of one, made release impossible. WHO: Emma, a Russian tortoise WHY THERE:Found wandering the grounds of the University of Virginia, far from her native desert territory. An escaped or abandoned pet, Emma could not tolerate climate. WHO: Lily, an opossum WHY THERE:Injured by a dog in Palmyra, rescuers kept her as a pet. She became habituated to humans, never learning to forage for food, find shelter or avoid predators. |
