nothin “Spooktacular” Wows Wilson | New Haven Independent

Spooktacular” Wows Wilson

Allan Appel Photo

Borneo lizard visits the Wilson Library.

Tarantula kissing was not allowed. Nor was rough petting. Or thinking mean or fearful thoughts.

Shrieks of gross”? Nope. Not allowed.

Stereotypes of how many of us have been inculcated to respond to certain animals? Forget it.

Come to think of it, maybe all of the above rules should apply to people as well.

Animal Embassy’s Chris Evers teaching proper touching, and overcoming fear of the “other.”

That was the key lesson of an entertaining and, if you’ll pardon an old-fashioned term, morally edifying pre-Halloween show that 20 lucky New Haven kids were exposed to Tuesday afternoon at the Wilson Branch Library on Washington Avenue in the Hill.

The branch’s new librarian, Luiz Chavez-Brumell, booked Chris Evers’ Spooktacular” in the run-up to the trick-or-treat costume-and-candy extravaganza next week.

His company Animal Embassy puts on that and other shows to foster understanding and appreciation for the diversity of the animal world. The hope is that lessons in caring for snakes, lizards, rabbits, and frogs may carry over into how the dominant animal on the planet, namely we humans, treat each other.

Jamsiel with Evers.

The show was a hit with 7‑year-old Jamsiel Garcia, the first kid selected to get to know Cuba,” the Cuban tree frog.

Frogs come in different colors,” Evers said. Is that bad or great?”

The kids’ answer was a resounding great.”

Evers pointed out that people come in different colors too.

What about languages?” Evers continued. Do people speak different languages?

Yup, and so do frogs.”

Unfortunately Cuba the tree frog wasn’t particularly cooperative. Still, the point had been effectively made.

Evers told the kids that before he founded Animal Embassy, he was an animal rescuer. He was rescuing so many critters from owners who didn’t treat the animals right, he couldn’t keep up.

I saw a need,” he said. He decided that if people, at a tender age, could learn not to fear animals — even the exotic ones — and treat them correctly, far fewer animals would need rescuing.

People buy pets they don’t know how to take care of. My just adopting or rescuing doesn’t do it,” he added.

The milk snake, whose coloring makes enemies think it’s venomous, which is not the case.

That’s how Animal Embassy was born 16 years ago. Based in Stamford, the company provides a variety of shows for schools, camps, and other settings. The message of animal appreciation, and appreciation of the diversity in people, is a consistent theme.

After Cuba the tree frog’s appearance, a milk snake appeared.

Why’s the milk snake called that? Evers asked. The kids figured the creatures didn’t drink milk as they did.

Evers explained that these snakes were first discovered in farmers’ barns, where the livestock, including milking cows resided.

What did the snakes do there? Answer: They ate mice and rats, which carried diseases, thus preventing the cows from getting sick. They were useful. But because the farmers thought the snakes were after milk, they were misnomered.

Then Evers prepared the kids for a larger snake.

They were not disappointed when a six-foot reticulated python emerged from line-up of one of the mystery fabric-covered boxes he had set up on a table in the library’s atrium.

Python climbs, its basic action.

As the kids gingerly learned to touch and, in the case of the older teens who were there, hold the very sizable python — large ones grow to 30 or 40 feet — Evers told her, that is, the snake’s history.

It’s a serious challenge to take care of this kind of animal,” he said.

The man who had this snake didn’t take good care of her, or of himself. At least that’s what the police told me,” said Evers, of how his rescue of the python began.

She should be living on an island in South Asia,” he said. But she grew up with people, so people need to know how to take care of her, he added.

Between the spookier” or more exotic animals, Evers thrilled the kids by saying he was about to show a really dangerous animal. He made the appropriate noises of struggling with a creature behind one of the central boxes — then out came a cute long-haired rabbit.

How did Evers come to own the rabbit, which was inching up his chest and practically kissing Evers’ nose?

Answer: The woman who owned it had called the authorities to say the rabbit was was misbehaving. It was pooping all over the place. It was biting her children. She had to get rid of it!

Evers had the kids line up to pet the rabbit. Always, he demonstrated, with hand open, no pinching, and with a stroke that goes the full length along the back.

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