Reply To: Cricket Contest – Lolong

[Zoodulcis]

Oh, you are an angel! Aren’t ball pythons the best!! I am glad you were able to find the time to respond, as I was thinking about you.

I was sprucing up one of my blogs on the human-animal bond and my latest post was a lovely story about a group of elementary schoolers who acquired a therapy animal for their school, and also were instrumental in an award of $100,000 for the animal shelter the doggie came from. Very happy tidings.

Then I wrote an article for another venue on ‘zoonoses’, diseases transmitted by animals to humans. It turns out that there are real liability considerations still in place for students handling reptiles in a classroom setting. They are getting better, and much less paranoid, every year, as teachers and administrators are being made more aware of the power of the human-animal bond. Nevertheless, I wondered if you had a handwashing/sanitizing routine in place, as well as a waiver for all students who will be handling the reptiles directly. I really, really, really want to see folks like you offer this information and these experiences to children, and never have to worry about unfortunate consequences from a helicopter parent, etc.

Just some practical thoughts from a former zookeeper and co-worker with Joan Embry (San Diego Zoo), back in the Johnny Carson days. Now I am really dating myself, so I will stop here 🙂