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Gus, the barred owl, was taken into custody by a police officer when he saw some kids playing with it. It's illegal in Virginia to have pet owls.
Monty, the ball python, delights students at Harrison Road Elementary School, including Brandon Meade.
Gus, the barred owl, helps handler Rebecca Jones teach students about nocturnal animals. The creatures had been injured or were too tame to live alone. |
Buzz got displaced after his home was destroyed. Monty, a skinny runaway, was scrounging for food. Gus was picked up by the cops.
The three wound up in rehab, where they discovered a new life and a new calling--as teachers.
Buzz the great horned owl, Monty the ball python and Gus the barred owl came to the Virginia Wildlife Center without much hope for the future.
Buzz was injured when his tree was chopped down. Monty's owners no longer wanted him after he escaped from his cage and spent six months eluding capture and slithering around their home.
A police officer discovered Gus playing with some kids. Because it is illegal to have pet owls in Virginia, he brought Gus to the Wildlife Center. Because Gus had spent time with humans, he could not be returned to the woods.
None of these animals could go back to their original homes. So the Virginia Wildlife Center gave them a new home at its facility in Waynesboro.
The animals no longer spend their nights hunting prey, but the center gave them a new occupation: teaching children about wild animals.
Buzz, Monty and Gus went to Harrison Road Elementary School on Thursday to teach the kids about nocturnal animals.
Rebecca Jones, an environmental educator for the Wildlife Center, said she usually likes to bring an opossum to schools, but the center's opossum was sick last week so she brought an extra owl. The animals' teaching appearances are rotated Jones said, so they don't get overworked. Teaching is hard work for the animals, because they usually sleep during the day.
Jones and the animals work year-round, going to schools fall through spring and teaching at libraries during the summer.
The Wildlife Center charges $200 to $500 per visit, depending on how many presentations will be given throughout the day, according to the center's Web site. A press release from Bluemont, a regional cultural foundation, stated that the center came to two Spotsylvania County schools, Harrison Road and Wilderness elementaries, with help from Bluemont's Artist-in-Education program.
The Wildlife Center offers different educational themes. This year's include workshops on the effects of litter, nocturnal animals, the food chain, wildlife myths and birds of prey. Harrison Road chose the nocturnal animals theme. Wilderness had the wildlife myths presentation in early April.
No matter what theme is presented, students learn about the Wildlife Center and its work rehabilitating injured animals. Jones said the center treats about 3,000 animals a year. Half of them return to the wild. Some of them die. Some never heal enough to go back to their homes. Some, like Monty, couldn't survive in the wild after being raised as a pet. These animals, said Jones, "We turn into teachers."
Jones told the students how they could help injured animals.
"If a squirrel were to hurt its foot, would it be able to look up the Wildlife Center on a map?" she asked the students.
"Nooooo," they replied.
"We rely on people like you to bring us these animals," she said.
The students also learn about animals' habitats and how human actions affect Virginia's wild animals.
During the presentation at Harrison Road, a student asked about Buzz: "Why was his tree cut down?"
"Well, where do we get our paper? Where do we get our toilet paper?" Jones said. "The best thing that you can do to help out is to be very conservative. Don't waste a lot of paper."
To reach AMY FLOWERS UMBLE:
Email: aumble@freelancestar.com
