Inside Wild Things
Posted at 6:38 AM on Jul 6, 2016
Wild Things, Inc. came to the attention of the Sierra-Cascade Logging Conference in 1998. We asked them to put on 4 performances at the February 1999 Logging Conference and they have been wowing conference crowds ever since with their amazing wildlife presentations. In 2007, we began selecting a different neighboring elementary school to receive a special, live, on-campus visit from Wild Things, in place of the Friday morning show at the conference. Each year the selected school has been more than happy to host the wild critters. Selected schools that have been unable to attend the Thursday Education Day program where Wild Things has presented for the hundreds of schoolchildren visiting the conference each year, have especially cherished receipt of this special on-campus visit.
Wild Things, Inc. is a 501(c)-(3) non-profit organization, founded in 1987 to serve two valuable purposes.
1. Provide homes for displaced wildlife.
2. Share these animals as wildlife ambassadors in a public education forum with a message of conservation and appreciation for the earth's natural wonders.
Wild Things, Inc. provides a home for over 60 species of wildlife, which are presented in their wildlife education programs offered to hundreds of thousands of school children every year. By introducing these animals and their stories with future generations, their hope is that children will gain a greater appreciation for the natural environment and thus be more likely to have an environmental conscience and make decisions that will benefit the earth.
The amazing creatures that have found a home with Wild Things are all animals that have needed help in one way or another; either injured animals that could no longer survive in the wild, or former illegal pets confiscated through the California Department of Fish and Wildlife or the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
The majority of funding to run the organization comes from their daily work of providing wildlife programs in schools, churches, senior centers, Girl and Boy Scout troops, and other groups seeking environmental education programs. However, tax-deductible donations allow them to engage in special improvement projects on the facility, which don't always fit into the daily budget.
Wild Things, Inc., which Gabe and Barbi developed while attending America’s Teaching Zoo program at Moorpark College in Southern CA, has been home to a variety of wildlife over the past 28 years. There have been many ‘crowd favorites’; Ozzie the Vervet Monkey, Izod the Alligator, and many years ago; Kelp the CA Sea Lion just to name a few. However several of the wild creatures that have found a home at Wild Things have not been part of the outreach programs. One such animal is Pook a White Handed Gibbon, from Thailand. Pook is now 51 years old, and has resided at Wild Things since 1989! Her story is a typical one from years past – She was stolen from her mother’s body as a tiny infant to become part of the ‘pet trade’ here in California. After the family who had kept her for nearly 25 years could no longer keep her, she was sent to live out her years in beautiful Weimar, under the loving care of Gabe and Barbi Kerschner and the Wild Things staff.