CORNWALL, Ontario – From birds, to skunks, to reptiles and more, Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo and Nature Centre was open to the public at Nav Centre for the second year in a row on Saturday, March 2 and Sunday March 3.
Del Niedzialek, Director with Little Ray’s and Executive Director of the Foundation for Animal Rescue and Education, said he expected over 2,000 attendees throughout the weekend. Tickets to attend were $14.50 per person, with persons under 3-years-old admitted for free.
“There’s kind of two main points to these (exhibit) events. One of them is to go to smaller towns that don’t have all the museums and science facilities that say Toronto and Montreal might have…and give them the opportunity to have access to supplementary educational institutions like those,” said Niedzialek. “In addition to that, these are also fundraisers, not just for Little Ray’s…but for multiple other charities as well.”
Niedzialek explained that this year, Little Ray’s is supporting the Wildlife Conservation Society, which is run by zoos within New York. Niedzialek commended the society and their preservation efforts with the Burmese star tortoise. Little Ray’s will soon be sending a team to Burma to assist with breeding and releasing projects.
During the weekend-long event, attendees could interact with several animals, touch tables with furs and skulls, and listen to biologist presentations which mainly focused on responsible pet ownership and backyard conservation.
“This is an event series we have run for about 16 years now across Canada,” said Niedzialek. “It is our first year moving it into the United States as well…Our set of organizations is expanding quite quickly. We have (sanctuary) locations in Hamilton, Ottawa, Syracuse and Halifax.”
Niedzialek explained that he has seen firsthand how the exhibit events spark people’s passion for wildlife, conservation or biology.
“We have a stack of thousands and thousands of letters from people,” said Niedzialek, recalling one letter regarding a past attendee who decided to study conservation because of the Little Ray’s event they attended.
Niedzialek understood that a group of protestors intended to express their opinions outside of the event.
“Once in a while we will have a small group of people protesting our events who never contact us, never ask us what we do and equate captivity to cruelty,” he said. “If you take the spectrum of people’s views about animals…you have these two tiny groups at each of the spectrum that can dominate the conversation. It’s an area where people can have very simple and absolute views…there’s almost no simple sentence you can say that will convey animal ethics (per scenario).”
For more information about the organization, visit Little Ray’s Nature Centre or Foundation for Animal Rescue and Education on Facebook.
