By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
Set out crates and cages full of animals, add kids and families, and you’ll get the Crawford Park District’s popular Animal Extravaganza event.
The front lawn of Lowe-Volk Park was filled with various animals Saturday afternoon – from a donkey and turtles, to snakes, salamanders, chicks, and mice. To the delight – and sometimes disappointment – of the children, the chicks and mice were not food for some of the others critters.
Kids and their parents were able to hold the different animals on display and learn about each one.
“Animal Extravaganza is always a big event; it always brings people out,” said Park District Naturalist Josh Dyer. “They really enjoy seeing all the different types of animals that we have from the native animals – the salamanders, snakes, and turtles – to the exotics like the bearded dragon, rose haired tarantula, the hissing cockroaches. It’s just a fun day for everybody.”
Dyer said they even caught some things in the Sandusky River before the event and set up a living stream that included large crayfish and stream fish.
“It’s just a great event for the family to come out and either be aware of what’s in their own backyards if it’s native or be aware of different possibilities of a pet,” Dyer added. “Everybody thinks of the four-legged cat, dog kind of thing, but, you know, bearded dragons, tarantulas. People like those as well.”
An example of the more exotic pets on display was a sugar glider. Though it is nocturnal, this pet was often seen climbing up and down peoples’ arms and backs and attempting to burrow underneath their shirts.
Park District volunteer Alex Lawson was in charge of monitoring a number of animals on display, but one of the most popular at his table was the bearded dragon. Whenever a child would ask to hold it, he would gently place it in their hands then encourage them to allow it to crawl on their shirts, though he cautioned it may try to jump off.
“I just like helping people here and learn about the (animals),” Lawson said. “I think people are going to a lot of other things, but this is important. It’s a part of people’s learning experience, I guess you could say.”
The Park District even managed to bring in the Toledo Zoo for a demonstration, complete with armadillos and other animals.
Though it was easy to register to have Toledo Zoo representatives show up for the Animal Extravaganza program, Dyer said it also helped that their newest naturalist, Lisa Bogard, worked at the Toledo Zoo for 11 years in its education department. That connection was enough to finally push the Park District to bring the educational zoo to Crawford County.
“It’s great to see the community support,” Dyer added. “Every time we have something like this we know they are going to come out because people know we’re doing a good job here and they want to support that as well.”
PHOTO GALLERY: 2016 Animal Extravaganza