WOWEE at Cub Scouts

WOWEE At Cub Scouts
By Kate Chamberlin
Do you know what a Bear Cat binturong is? Have you felt the large, rabbit-like ears of a fennec fox? Have you ever had a albino Burmese python wrapped around your shoulders and lived to tell about it?
WOWEE, which stands for World Of Wildlife Educational Encounters recently visited the Seneca Waterways Walworth Cub Scout Pack 113. Sally Reaves, a former Guidance Councilor, first introduce her professionally trained, human helpers: Dan, Tyler , and Dolly and proceeded to introduce the wild and exotic animals from the many in their re-habilitation facility in Marion.
As Sally explained the special physical features, lore, life, and natural habitat of each animal, Dolly, Dan, and Tyler brought them around for us to touch and be up-close and personal with critters we’d probably never meet again in our natural lifetime…at least, I hope to never meet up with a huge Albino Burmese Python.
The time literally flew by as we learned about a chinchilla, an alligator. a mata mata turtle, a sulcatta tortoise, a skinny pig. a guinea pig, a binturong, a serval,and a fennec fox.
Sally offered $50 to a scout volunteer if he could out-stare a snake. She admitted it was an unfair bet, because she knew snakes don’t blink. The scout was also unable to find the snake’s ears (They don’t have any ears.)
Sally brought out three boxes and asked for three volunteers to play “FEAR DEAL”. In one box were Hissing Cockroaches, which Sally scared the heck out of us by calmly saying: Oh, one is missing. Do you see it? Then after we all gasped and looked around, admitted she was kidding.; the second had hairless white mice; and the third had a ball python, an arizonia mountain kingsnake,a boa constrictor, and an albino Burmese python.
Mr. Tony Kerr, our brave and courageous Tiger Scout leader was the unwitting volunteer who had his shoulders draped with the Albino Burmese Python. You should have seen the look on his face when he opened his eyes!
“It is our hope,” Sally told the scouts, “that, when it comes time for you to make a decision about saving the environment and wildlife, you’ll make a positive difference.”
TV and video games could never help people to understand the importance of wildlife preservation nearly as much as a hands-on, educational encounter with the real thing.
If your organization would like a presentation by WOWEE, contact: www.WOWEEWildlife.org.
Cornucopia Feb -2010
I shall never feel another banana without remembering petting a real live boa constrictor. And to think that I’ve been chasing its cousins out from under my front stoop and garage for years.
I met Sally Reaves, a former guidance councelor, when she gave a WOWEE presentation to the Cub Scouts (Jan08-2010).