Wild Animals Make an Appearence in Monterey Bay

Noelle Blair, Staff Reporter

Noelle_Blair@csumb.edu

April 17, 2008

On March 30, CSU Monterey Bay

(CSUMB) students were treated

to a look at animals not usually

found on a college campus.

Representatives from the Wild

Things Animal Rentals Inc. spent

time on campus with several

animals from their facility.

Aja Kase, the educational

department manager for Wild

Things, brought out, among other

animals, a Hamadryas baboon named

Georgia. Hamadryas baboons can

fit three bananas in their cheeks and

interpret eye contact and smiling as

aggressive behavior.

Kase and her assistant, Joel Locke,

an educational coordinator, also

brought out an ocelot. The ocelot is

also known as the Painted Leopard

and is a good jumper. A raccoon

named Ramsey, was also shown

that day. Ramsey was given to them

after being kept as a domestic pet.

Next, the two representatives

showed the crowd a male and a female

Madagascar hissing cockroach. This

type of bug is the type typically

shown on the big screen in movies

that feature cockroaches due to their

size and general appearance. Kase

placed the cockroaches on Michael

Mutshnick, community director for

the residence halls, who was sitting

in the crowd.

“It was a little creepy,” Mutshnick

said of the experience after the

show. “I’m not too big a fan of

bugs. But I did it for educational

purposes,” he laughed.

Kase also brought out an opossum,

which is common to the CSUMB

campus, a marsupial generally seen

as a pest and sometimes as road

kill. She explained that the opossum

could carry 22 babies in her pouch,

though she cannot feed that many,

and that the babies can survive for a

while if the mother dies. Kase also

said that opossums are often used in

movies as large rats.

Locke showed the crowd a

Burmese python. This particular

python is a rarity because it is

albino. The lack of pigment

makes the snake appear to be a

yellow color.

“We do educational outreach

programs, so we can go to schools

or they can come to us,” Kase

explained. “We also do weddings

and concerts; the animals can be

involved with that.”

“It was sort of nice to see the

animals up close and in your face.

It was real, not like what you see on

TV,” Colleen Jozaitis, a Kinesiology

junior, said.

Students interested in seeing these

animals and more can go to www.

wildthingsinc.com to learn more

about tours offered at their facilities.

They are located at 400 River Road

in Salinas. They also operate a bed

and breakfast, which features an

elephant delivering patrons their

morning-time meals.