CREDIT: JERROLD RUNDLE
Jennifer Bird from Jungle Cat World brought an array of animals to the event, which was put on by the Fanshawe Student Union on March 11.

Students and staff were greeted to unusual and furry sights if they spent noon hour at Forwell Hall March 11. Zookeepers Carl Tordiff and Jennifer Bird from Jungle Cat World brought an array of animals to the school for an educational outreach program, something the zoo is quite familiar with already.

“We promote conservation and the educational value that animals bring,” said head zoo keeper Tordiff. “A lot of people aren’t really up to speed on endangered species, so we give them some educational facts have a little bit of fun.”

The event – hosted by the FSU – left Forwell Hall packed with students edging as close as possible to the array of biodiversity like an Argentine tegu, a fennec fox, a New Guinea singing dog and a Tarantula, to name a few, all being shown to the crowd.

Business Marketing students Dominique Juric and Samantha Tobin were lucky enough to interact with the animals. Being one of five students chosen to hold the snake, Juric said, “It was heavy and smooth, and not slimy at all actually – it was really cool and I had a great time. I love snakes.”

Tobin’s experience was similar.

“I got to pet the [tegu], it was really cute,” she said. “Its tongue was really big, it was really funny, and [the skin] felt like rubber.”

Both students agreed Jungle Cat World is a possible future vacation for them.

Tordiff said the show isn’t just for entertainment though.

“[We] have a nice relaxing atmosphere where people can learn, interact, where they make a connection with the animals, and hopefully in turn want to do something to support the animals or the conservation of threatened or endangered species,” she said.

Most of the animals at the show were rescue animals, being previously used as pets-something Tordiff was vocally against throughout the show – reminding the crowd several times, that these animals are from the wild. And while a serval may seem cute and cuddly when it’s born, it and the other animals outgrow the owners’ capacity to care for them.

Only when talking about the role of the safety to his animals, the role of Jungle Cat World, other World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), and Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) zoos around the world did Tordiff change his demeanour from relaxed and cheerful to serious.

“We have captive breeding programs for all of our threatened and endangered species [having an] SPP (species survival plan) in place at our facility,” Tordiff said. “We love animals. We wouldn’t bring animals into a situation that was going to stress them out or become a public risk safety hazard. We would never bring animals into any type of that scenario.”

At the end of the show, both zookeepers answered any questions by the students, which Tordiff said was one of the most enjoyable aspects of his job.

“[When] people come up after and say, ‘Great presentation, I really enjoy how the animals were presented, how you brought educational value into the presentation.’ I get something out of it when I know people got something out of it.”

Jungle Cat World is inspected twice annually by the OSPCA, and biannually by CAZA to ensure the highest possible standards of animal welfare safety and species conservation are being upheld.