Date: Fri 25-Sep-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: MICHEL

Quick Words:

schools-animals-Rusty-Johnson

Full Text:

Getting Wild At Hawley School

(with photos)

BY MICHELE HOGAN

From endangered birds to enormous snakes, Hawley children got "A Touch of

Wild" in an outdoor presentation by naturalist Rusty Johnson last Wednesday.

Children watched with rapt attention as he brought a harris hawk out of a

darkened travel cage. The bird flapped its wings and Mr Johnson gently settled

him down. He explained that fifty or sixty years ago people thought these

birds were bad, and people would get paid for killing them. Now that there are

so few left, killing a harris hawk could mean up to three years in prison.

Next was a European eagle owl that could spin his head all the way around. Mr

Johnson explained that he has had this owl since it was an egg. It hatched in

his hand. He said, "He thinks I'm his mother, and you are all other owls."

The children were entranced by an African pygmy hedgehog (sporting 5,000

spikes on her back) that Mr Johnson cradled in his bare hands. He explained

that even though she looks like a porcupine, she is not related to porcupines

at all.

Her hollow spikes do sometimes come in handy when threatened, but not the same

way that a porcupine's do. He said, "She'll jump in the water and since the

spines are hollow, she'll float and swim away from danger."

The kids laughed when he gently tickled her underarms and she rolled into a

ball. Since she eats cat food and cottage cheese, Mr Johnson explained that

she is an easy animal to keep.

On the other hand, his next animal, a baby alligator, is definitely "a

terrible pet." Besides not being able to catch a frisbee, Mr Johnson joked,

they never seem to warm up to their owners. "And look at those teeth, and he's

only a year old," he said as his alligator displayed its long tooth-filled

jaws.

Mr Johnson put the alligator back in it's carrying case, and asked for

volunteers from the audience to "be a tree" for a snake.

As a group of brave children lined up, their eyes were riveted to the strange

shape-shifting cotton sac that Mr Johnson was carrying toward them. The sac

would extend in one direction, then another, then squiggle at the base, while

the children watched with mute apprehension.

When the snake's head reached out of the bag and a 12-foot long sinuous body

followed, there were giggles and awed expressions, and nobody ran away. Each

child gingerly held out their arms to support the Burmese python from India.

Mr Johnson told the children not to worry if the snake wrapped its tail around

them. He explained that snakes do this to trees so they won't fall. The snake

gently wrapped its tail around one child's arm. Nobody screamed, and nobody

dropped the snake.

After the presentation, the python, the owl, the falcon, the alligator and the

hedgehog returned to their darkened carrying cases for a peaceful ride home.

This program was sponsored by the cultural arts committee of the PTA of Hawley

School.