WWW.REPTILESTORECAMP.COM - Review of Senior/L.I.T. Camp 2009

During session 1 of The Reptile Store Summer Camp, 13 Leaders In Training (LIT) and 9 staff members set out on a journey to collectively explore our natural world and some of the amazing creatures that exist in it! Our planet is currently going through its 6^th mass extinction, and we are in a race for life! The more knowledge we have about our natural world, the faster we as humans can perform in this race. Our camp is designed with a focus about conservation, education and preservation. This is a summary of our amazing experiences we encountered during our LIT week in the summer of 2009!
We started off on Monday with a base day, which included interacting with lots of different species of reptiles! We had the opportunity to personally interact with over 50 different reptilian species…all before lunch!
The first speaker was Lori Gibbons from The South Western Parrot Association. Lori brought in some amazing birds, and used some of our birds in a classroom lecture about parrots in the wild! Some of the species included smaller birds like Conures, medium sized birds like Amazons, and of course the LIT’s favorites the large Macaws! We also had a close personal friend of camp come in to visit us today! Jenn Sinasac, from Mountberg Wildlife Center came in to talk to us in the afternoon. Jenn has currently been working in Panama with Harpy Eagles, and has already left Canada again to head to Belize to help the Orange Breasted Falcon. Jenn is literally on the front line of conservation and she talked about different experiences she has gone through working in field research throughout Central America. Jenn brought us in some native birds of prey to look at, and handle including a Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus), Saw Whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus), Barn Owl (Tyto alba), American Kestrel (Falco sparverius), and a Red Tail Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis).
Tuesday we went off to the Brantford Twin Valley Zoo. The LIT’s had their first taste in zoo keeping as we cleaned enclosure after enclosure! The LIT’s were split into 4 or 5 groups and we worked on many different enclosures including Black and White Roughed Lemurs (Varecia vargiegata), Donkeys (Equus africanus asinus), Fallow Deer (Dama dama), White Nosed Coati (Nasua narica), African Pied Crows (Corvus Albus), and even North American Black Bears (Ursus americanus). We were treated to a small species show where we learned about some of the animals the Twin Valley Zoo has. After the show we had and opportunity to have our photos taken with a young Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes fulva).
After the Branford Twin Valley Zoo we went off to Valley Park in Hamilton. We ate our lunch, played some games and completed some LIT bookwork. After our work was done we treated ourselves to a swim in the Valley Park Recreation Centre pool! This was a good time for our staff to observe the LIT’s assisting and interacting with the junior campers.
Wednesday we spent at the Reptile Store. We completed some LIT bookwork, we did a huge “animal care” segment, went to the park, and we had a guest speaker. The “animal care” segment was really cool because we took care of almost all the animals at The Reptile Store. The animal chore and animal care segments are some of the most looked forward to sessions at camp! After animal care was over we ventured into the American Alligator enclosure. “Mojo” our 8 ft American Alligator was more than accommodating letting all the LIT’s in to have their photos taken! It’s a really cool experience to interact with one of the last remaining dinosaurs on our planet!
Brendan Davis, a long time employee of The Reptile Store came in to camp and did a slide show presentation on Venomous Snakes, and Snake Venom. We learned about types of venom, how it affects the prey after being injected, how anti-venom works and even seen a bunch of real life bite photos from human victims. The presentation was very informative and well received. Brendan brought in a couple of venomous snakes and talked about the risks working with “hot” reptiles. Brendan used a Coral Cobra (Aspidelaps lubricus infuscatus), a Usambara Tree Viper (Atheris ceratophora), False Water Cobra (Hydrodynastes gigas) and a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) during his talk. The LIT’s really appreciated the demonstration, and had a new found respect for venomous creatures such as the ones used at the show.
Thursday morning we headed off to Safari Niagara! At Safari Niagara the L.I.T.’s did some animal presentations. The LIT’s did very well at communicating to each other some basic facts about each animal. The information was well researched and it was satisfying to see how much they had learned about their particular animal, and how important it was for them to relay conservational messages in their talk! After our LIT talks we watched a Birds of Prey flight demonstration. We also had a chance to have some fun interacting with some of the species at the zoo. We even had a chance to hand feed some Reticulated Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulate). You get a feeling of how small you actually are on our planet when you are standing 4 ft away from an 18 ft Giraffe! Amazing opportunity for the kids as they feed them formulated pellets, and some brush!
After feeding the Giraffes we put the LIT’s to work in one of the most dangerous enclosures at the zoo…the Siberian Tigers! We learned about shift cages, zoo protocol, and about day-to-day routines as a zoo keeper at Safari Niagara. We locked down the pair of Tigers, and went safely into the enclosure to do some regular maintenance. We cleaned up old food, scat, tiger hair, weeds, and sticks. When we were finished cleaning the cage we talked about captive animals, and animal enrichment programs. One of the enrichment programs the zoo uses is to make the enclosure structures smell different! This heightens the Tigers senses, and seems to excite them! To achieve these results we rubbed my deodorant all over the climbing structures, and along some plants, and fences. When we left the Tiger enclosure, and closed and locked all the human gates, we let out the Tigers. It was awesome to see the two Tigers running around their spotless enclosure checking out all the changes, and smells! This was truly a unique opportunity for the LIT’s! Siberian Tigers are one of the world’s rarest creatures (only a estimated 200 in the wild, and less than 400 in captivity) and we were sharing space with two of them, in their captive environment.
On Friday morning we loaded up 23 people in to 3 vans and headed up to the Muskokas! This was our annual road trip. Each year our LIT’s head out into the world for their road trip weekend, to see new discoveries. In the past we have camped overnight in zoos such as Jungle Cat World Wildlife Park, and Safari Niagara. We visited our nations capital in Ottawa for a few days, and have mad tones of stops along the way to visit both captive, and wild animals! This year we visited the old stomping grounds of my youth. I used to spend months at a time in the Muskokas, and wanted our LIT’s to experience some of the same things I experienced when I was their age!
Our first stop on Friday was a Nature Centre in Orillia, which is not yet open to the public. Friends of mine, Jeff Hathaway and Jenny Pearce run an organization that does a lot of outreach called “Sciensational Snakes”. They do educational shows based solely on native species such as Eastern Hognose Snakes, Black Rat Snakes, Eastern Milk Snakes, and more. They have been working with many volunteers for about 6 years now to put together a Nature Center, open to the public, off of HWY #11. The facility is amazing, and its not even open yet! Lots of animals on site, both inside, and outside. They will do lots of programs for schools, groups, and families to help educate people about topics such as reptiles, amphibians, fish, trees, insects and more! Best of luck to the entire Sciensational Snakes community in open your Nature Center!
After Sciensational Snakes, and a quick lunch stop we headed off to the Muskoka Wildlife Center in Severnbridge. The directors of M.W.C. are Dale and Jody Ginoew whom I had the pleasure to work with previously at Jungle Cat World Wildlife Centre. This is a small wildlife center that again only concentrates on native species such as Black Bears (Ursus americanus), Cougars (Puma concolor), Grey Wolves (Canis lupis), Moose (Alces alces), Bobcats (Lynx rufus), (Lynx Canadensis), and more!
This “native species zoo” is built on the Oak Ridges Moraine, and encompasses the topography of the local area into the animal enclosures. This is one of the most natural “zoos” I have had the pleasure to tour. Dale, Jody and the rest of the staff took us in as part of their M.W.C. family. We were treated to an animal show, looked around the facility, and then did some zoo keeping chores. We split into two groups and totally stripped to cages, to help switch some animals around in new environments. We cleaned out the Fisher, and the Porcupine enclosures. We learned about 70 or more species that co-exists with us in Canada! This was hard work in the rain, but the new, clean environments looked amazing when our LIT’s where finished! We even collected some Porcupine quills for our species collections shelf.
When we were finished playing…I mean working at Muskoka Wildlife Centre we headed off to our new home for a few nights, Arrowhead Provincial Park, in Huntsville Ontario. This park is amazing and has tonnes of cool natural features for us to explore. We set up our tents, did some grocery shopping, cooked and ate dinner, did a small hike, started a camp fire, then ran from the rain to our tents and went to bed! The whether was not on our side at all this week! We have been rained on everyday so far, but the LIT’s and staff are all taking it in stride.
Saturday morning most of us were awake and active by 7am. Showered, breakfast and some free time followed by a LIT meeting at the Beach Pavilion. We all hand crafted our own soap stone arrowhead necklaces. This was unexpected, and was a must-add-in to our trip! The couple that helped us with this tours around to different parks all summer long. The process was pretty cool, we started with a chunk of stone and we started carving out our shaped we wanted with coping saws, and rough files. We used different files, and sand paper to get the shaped, and contour lines perfect. When we were satisfied with our creation we dipped it into a water and oil solution. This brought out the natural colors of the soap stones. Some of the arrowheads turned reds, green, yellow, and even black. When we were totally finished we put out creations on a necklace and wore them proudly!
The first stop on our day was at the Dorset Fire Tower. This original structure is over 2800 ft above sea level! We told the LITs to race up the 16 flights of stairs to the observation level, and the first one to the top would get a free desert at Fire and Ice! Nina was the first one to the top. It is quite a view from the top of the fire tower, and even though it is structurally sound, the observation room does sway a little in the wind! Only 2 staff, and 3 LITs could not force themselves to the top. If you are scared of heights this is not the place for you!
After the fire tower we took off for Oxtounge Rapid Falls. This is a very beautiful waterfall off of HWY #60. Oxtounge falls is classed as a class 4/5 waterfall. We gave the LIT’s rules (like don’t fall off the falls) and sent them on their way. We all participated in “free climbing” and “bouldering” for a few hours, and even went for a swim at the top, and at the base of the falls. This is a great location for relaxation, and even some self-reflection exercises. At the end of the week many of the staff and LIT’s said that this was one of their favorite things this week! As a young child I did things at waterfalls that I would never let a child do now. I often swam in rapids, and jumped from ledges to ledges. I made this part of the trip as safe as possible, with some freedom and exception. These are the things that children remember 20 years down the road.
After the water falls we went to a sit down restaurant outside of town for a late lunch. The restaurant did well accommodating for 23 people, but we provided our own waiters and waitresses!
After lunch we headed back to Arrowhead park and went straight to Stubbs Falls. This waterfall is located right inside the camping area, inside Arrowhead Park. We gave everyone a chance to swim, and climb, and again did this without injury! There is an area at the falls that water has eroded the shaped of the rock, to make one of nature’s best natural half pipe. We slide down, climbed up, ran down, ran up, and even fell down this rockslide. After Stubbs Falls we hiked down to the beach, and went for a swim. Most of use swam across the lake from beach to beach. We played some keep-away in the water, and had a great time. The weather was finally on our side.
Pasta Dinner was served at the beach pavilion. We ate dinner, and told some stories. We played a few games, some people did some more soap stone sculptures, and then we had a large communal campfire. At the camp fire we took care of a lot of LIT bookwork, and handled a bunch of behavioral situations that could come up at camp. The LIT’s all had a lot of imput into the discussions. They are now transforming from campers to LIT’s.
Sunday morning we woke up and packed for the drive home. We drove from Huntsville to Lindsay for lunch when we stopped at a Wendy’s. After lunch we continued on our way to Jungle Cat World Wildlife Park in Orono, On. At Jungle Cat World we talked to a long time friend Peter Klose. He explained to use the risks of zoo keeping, and did some talks on day to day routines, safety protocol, environmental enrichment and more. At J.C.W. we had the opportunity to sit on the ground in a circle and interact with a baby Lynx (Lynx Canadensis), a baby Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes fulva), and a very young Cougar (Puma concolor). The LITs and staff really appreciated getting up close and personal with these amazing animals. After playing with the animals we hand feed a bunch of primates such as Black Handed Spider Monkeys, White Handed Gibbons, Black and White Ring Tailed Lemurs and Brown Capuchins. We also went into a bunch of security areas to see some of the worlds best predators such as Jaguars (Panthera onca), Siberian Tigers (Panthera tigiris altecia), African Lions (Panthera leo), Cougars (Puma concolor) and Amur Leopards (Panthera pardus orientalis) as close as possible!
We did some environmental enrichment in the Jaguar (Panthera onca) enclosure. We put the two Jaguars in their shift cages, and put 3 or 4 LIT’s into their cages. The LITs dug a whole in the ground and buried a bristle broom in the whole, with the bristles sticking straight up to the sky. One of our LITs went to the washroom and urinated in a bottle, all in the name of enrichment! The urine was poured over the brooms bristles to stimulate the Jaguars. Once the people were on the outside of the cage we let the Jags back into their enclosure. It was really interesting to see them run around, and smell for the chemicals in the urine. Interpretation of scents, especially each other’s, seems to be quite advanced in jaguars. The sense of smell is carried out via the 'flehman gesture’, which is identified by a facial grimace as the mouth is opened, nose is wrinkled, chin is raised and tongue hangs out. This allows the opening of the vomeronasal, or Jacobson's Organ, which is located in the roof of the mouth. As a result, the full capacity to draw in chemical scents for analysis is obtained. The 'flehman gesture' is vitally important for assessing reproductive and territorial behavior.
Peter relayed a message to our LIT’s and Staff that I have long been a firm believer in. Animals in captivity, and organizations such as zoos are a necessary evil. If possible I would release every captive specimen into their natural habitat. This however is not feasible. Peter summed it up with this statement “I would rather spend days in a jungle to find a pug mark (footprint) of a Jaguar in the wild, than see an actual Jaguar in captivity”.
On the way home we stopped in Markham for our annual sit down dinner at Fire and Ice! The food and atmosphere was awesome as usual! We even had the opportunity to celebrate a birthday! Once again, Happy Birthday Nina! Lol!
This year’s group of LIT’s should be amazing! We had a great week to prepare and we had tones of fun and experiences in the process. We understand that animals truly belong in the wild, and that we need to protect our remaining natural places. We also understand that animals in captivity provide many things for humans, and that we need to ensure we provide the best possible situations for these captive animals. We support the organizations that truly deserve our support! Working with these young leaders inspires me to keep pushing to create a summer camp packed full of wildlife experiences that will hopefully inspire the younger generation to put nature first, live green, tread softly, and to learn and understand our natural world! I believe that these children will make a difference in the future. I encourage each and every one of you to find your “Jaguar Footprint” in your life.
Congratulations should go out to our 13 LIT’s for the 2009 Summer Camp Sessions! They are going to help make every child’s experience at our summer camp just a little more WILD! Yours in adventure, Steve Featherstone. Director, The Reptile Store Summer Camp.
To download past years LIT Summeries click on the date! 2008 LIT SUMMERY