There are dozens of animals that call the San Angelo Nature Center home, and for Casey Harrison, every single tenant has nestled their way into her heart. "I really like the box turtles, they just have their own little personalities, I like the bobcats the racoon, i really like all of our animals."
Those little personalities are groomed through healthy mental and physical care. Casey explained, "animals in captivity face different challenges, like they start to get bored and will pluck their feathers." She continued to say, "so you want to provide them with things to do that they would normally do in the wild."A great example of this involves the center's gray fox, who has to work for his dinner. "We will hide his food so he'll have to scavenge and try to find it." Casey said.
You may also be surprised how some of these animals came to call San Angelo their home. "We mostly focus on native animals but we do have a room for international animals." Casey continued, "normally they were peoples pets that they dropped off." These pets, were anything but cuddly little kittens, Casey remembers one of the most shocking animals brought in. "Our Burmese python baby, she is sixteen foot and 234 pounds, and she was someone's pet."
That's why the nature center is constantly teaching visitors about responsible pet ownership, habitat conservation, and much more.
"It's fun to show the kids different aspects about the animals then they'll come in and start to recognize the animals and know their names." Casey also mentioned, "then they'll come in and tell me those facts right back".
If your child is interested in learning more, the nature center is holding a nature camp starting next week. You can find that information on our website myfoxzone.com.
