Visitors of all ages packed the John Rhodes Community Centre Saturday to take in this year’s exotic animal exhibition presented by Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo.
The show runs again from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
The theme of this year’s show focuses on Australian creatures, such as the red kangaroo.
Visitors were able to get a close-up look at creatures such as a Pueblan milk snake, a Norwegian rat, a red kangaroo (which was the star of the show by far), a caecilian (a snake-like, limbless amphibian), a cane toad, golden-knee tarantula, scorpion, stinkpot turtle, green anaconda (which eats rodents, fish, other snakes, even turtles, but not people, fortunately), an iguana, parrots, cockatoos and many others.
Many of the young children in attendance, accompanied by their parents, didn’t seem afraid to touch or stroke exotic creatures such as large snakes, especially with the zookeepers in charge.
“For sure, I would definitely let him pet them (snakes),” said Mariah Clement of her four-year-old son Mason.
“I think it’s a good experience for children to get interactive like that, as long as they know that in the wild you just can’t approach them like that, but in a controlled environment like this I think it’s wonderful for them,” Clement said.
Other caregivers were a bit more cautious.
“I don’t know about that,” said Ada-Marie Ruffolo with a laugh, accompanying her two-year-old nephew Tatum.
“As long as the animals are inside (behind glass),” Ruffolo said.
“For visitors coming in, there’s not a fear in the world,” said Kyle Lawrie, zookeeper and wildlife educator with Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo, speaking to SooToday.
“There are tarantulas we’ve had for six or seven years which have not bit a single person…we have protocols on how to hold certain animals.”
“It’s mostly Hollywood that makes people fear certain animals like tarantulas and alligators,” Lawrie said.
“It’s highly, highly educational,” Lawrie said of the show.
“People tend to learn better visually and interactively instead of us standing and talking about it.”
“We travel around basically to get the message out about responsible pet ownership,” Lawrie said.
“About 90 percent of our animals are unwanted pets.”
“We’re actually Canada’s largest reptile rescue,” Lawrie said.
“We rescue animals like alligators and giant snakes and whatever you can name from across the country and we take them around as ambassadors to teach people about them.”
Exotic animal ownership laws differ from city to city.
Lawrie said some exotic animals are well-cared for because their owners have the right amount of space and money to house and feed them, but that some people begin by keeping animals such as alligators as small pets and then abandon them as they begin to grow.
Other creatures, such as turtles, are abandoned in ponds after a year or two by their owners, unaware the creatures can live for many years.
“It’s about conservation, saving the wildlife of the planet, there are animals that are extremely important out there that people disregard… these animals need our help. A small box in the corner is not what they deserve,” Lawrie said.
At the same time, Lawrie said another part of the educational aspect of the show is designed to keep people from importing certain other types of animals, such as the South American cane toad, now considered an invasive species.
There were about 30 different species on show at the exhibit at the Rhodes Centre.
There are approximately 500 species kept at the Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo home base in Ottawa.
Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo was established in 1995 by Paul Goulet (‘Little Ray’ being his nickname, in honour of Goulet’s father ‘Big Ray’).
Lady-Chomps-A-Lot, a three –legged alligator (she lost one of her legs in an alligator fight) was not present this year at the Rhodes Centre, simply because she‘s getting too big to travel in the shows.
(PHOTO: The star of the show is Austin, the baby Red Kangaroo, as Little Ray's Reptile Zoo visits the John Rhodes Arena on Saturday, May 30, 2015. Donna Hopper/SooToday)