Excerpts from May 2003 cover article, Kenton Community Recorder, written by staff reporter, Eva Barry

     Park Wednesdays are
         about to get wild!

     
Every Wednesday through Sept. 10, Kenton County Parks and Recreation will provide entertaining and educational programs for children.
        Wild Wednesdays is a free program that is available to children of all ages at Mills Road park.  The program is sponsored by the Kenton County Cooperative Extension Service.

Photo by Eva Barry

        The programs begin at 10 a.m. and last about an hour with ample time for "up close and personal" observations.
      ...new to the line-up is guest Howard Schwartzman from Second Nature in Florence.  He will present "Triple L: Leaping Lumbering Lizards," "Giant Snakes of the World" and "Mammals of the Rocky Mountains."
        "I will show the kids the different diversity of animals around the globe, how they live and their behaviors," said Schwartzman.  "I will also explain to them how people interact with them in the wild."
        Last year, more than 4,000 people attended the Wild Wednesdays programs.  ….more details on Wild Wednesdays call Kenton County Parks and Recreation at 525-7529.

(Reprinted from a related 2003 cover article in The Cincinnati Enquirer)

On the Table, Big Guy
Howard Schwartzman moves to keep an 18-foot-long, 200-pound Burmese Python on a table during a Wild Wednesdays presentation at Mills Road Park in Kenton County.
Schwartzman, of Jackson Hole, Wyo., gave a presentation on the giant snakes of the world.

Photo by Patrick Reddy

Excerpts from 2001 Jackson Hole News article  -  Written by Carolyn Smith, photo by Lucas J. Gilman

150 Kids bid farewell to
animal man and his creatures.

     It takes a special person to quiet a gym filled with more than 300 kids and parents and then hold their attention for an hour and a half.
    On June 6, Howard Schwartzman and his entourage of pets dazzled Teton County children for the last time.  Schwartzman, who has worked for the last nine years to create a living wildlife museum for Teton County students, will move to Ozark, Missouri to realize his dream.
  ...It was evident June 6 why Teton County students will miss him.  In groups of seven, Schwartzman called on students to show the audience how his presentations worked in a classroom setting.  Almost without instruction, the groups of students sat on their hands and whispered to show respect for the animals.  It is a protocol they have learned from Schwartzman's presentations.
    "I give them a positive experience with nature that is second to none," Schwartzman said.

   ...students got to touch the coils of a live rattlesnake, see a cobra from 15 feet away, inch within five feet of a crocodile and hold the ivory tusk of a rhinoceros from one of Schwartzman's collection of real skeletons and plastic molds.
    Schwartzman, who fed elk for the Wyoming Game and Fish for 18 years, said he will miss Teton County and the students whose lives he touched.
    "It was great to give them something they would never ever get even in a big city, " Schwartzman said.

Call Second Nature at (307) 690 - 9045 - Call early to reserve the best time for your event.

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