By Jordan Studer
A plethora of animals of all shapes, sizes, and species were present at the Animal Extravaganza event held at Lowe-Volk Park on Saturday afternoon. According to Program Coordinator, Josh Dyer, well over 350 people were in attendance.
When asking Dyer his feelings on how the event was turning out, he was excited to say that the attendance record had been broken, making it the largest Animal Extravaganza the Crawford Park District has held.
“Today’s Animal Extravaganza event is going great…We’ve got lots of native wildlife that people can see that are native to Crawford County and Ohio and also some exotic animals. There are lots of snakes around, there’s a giant African Sulcata Tortoise crawling around…It’s just a really fun event for everybody!” Dyer explained.
Many interesting species were present at the event, and the kids were more than interested to learn more about them, and pet as many as they could. Excitement, mixed with some fear, warmed around as kids viewed and attempted to touch a large variety of snakes, turtles, sea creatures, and so much more.
A crowd favorite was eighteen-year-old Sulcata Tortoise, Brutus, owned by Trent and Jennifer Black. With a calm temperament, Brutus had many tiny hands reaching for his back as he inched his way around the property, munching on grass every foot or so.
Possessing the largest snake at the event, a Columbian Red-Tailed Boa named Nova, was pet owner Charles Yaussy. Yaussy decided he wanted to bring a variety of his plethora of pets for the community to see and learn about.
On each display case, Yaussy had posted the name of the animal, with a description as to educate the children and their families as best as possible. Yaussy proudly claims to own around fifty pets of a wide variety of species. Although he had a lot of animals at the event, he was not able to bring them all.
Some of the animals he brought were a Salmon Pink Bird-Eating Tarantula, a Water Dragon, a variety of Ball Pythons and Royal Pythons, a Bearded Dragon, a Columbia Red-Tailed Boa, and four kinds of turtles.
When asking Yaussy what had given him the passion for owning so many animals, he didn’t have a specific answer.
“I have no idea, I just always have. There hasn’t been a time when I haven’t been interested in something in nature somewhere,” Yaussy explained.
Yaussy described that by bringing out his exotic display of animals, his hope is to educate the kids and familiarize them with different animals.
“Mostly it’s just so that they are more aware of the world around them…they learn an appreciation for animals in general. So, if they are in their backyard, traveling, or going fishing, they have a respect for it. They aren’t going to hurt it. They aren’t going to have an unnatural fear of it. Because nothing is going to jump out of a bush and hurt you, it’s going to go the other way first,” Yaussy said.
The event also had an area for face-painting where many kids chose to be painted like an exotic animal. A concession stand was also provided with food for purchase, to be sure no one would go hungry while enjoying the animals.
With the large turnout and crowd reactions, hopes are set high that the Crawford Park District events are able to continue to wow the community.