SAUGUS — The Saugus Public Library celebrated Earth Day one day late with the help of Saugus Action Volunteers for the Environment (S.A.V.E.) and Wildlife Encounters.
The event started with Pam Goodwin of S.A.V.E. introducing herself and the group.
“We’re sponsoring this event today… We hope you learn a ton of stuff about animals. S.A.V.E. is a Saugus-based group involved with looking at pollution, trying to save as many animals as we can, (and we) use Breakheart Reservation as one of our resources,” Goodwin said.
The Director of Outreach Programs, Colby Perron, showed off some of the center’s animals and told the audience about them. He also explained the importance of protecting animals and the Earth.
The first animal Perron showed off was Dante, the white-nosed coati.
“This guy is our South American coati… He can be found from Ecuador to Chile, Argentina, and the rest of South America,” he said.
Perron explained that Dante came from a zoo, and when he was a baby, the zoo gave him to Wildlife Encounters.
“We have to work with them as babies because they can be very flighty, very nervous, so we got him as a baby and we’ve had him ever since. Now, he’s a big sweetheart, even though he’s a giant pain in the butt,” Perron said.
Dante, who may have been a bit offended by the words used to describe him, did bite Perron’s finger, but relaxed after that.
Perron explained that most of the animals would be tropical animals, and in mentioning this, he brought up the importance of the Amazon Rainforest and the need to protect it.
“Yesterday was Earth Day. It’s my second favorite holiday… It’s pretty awesome. Earth Day is a day that we celebrate our planet… The rainforest is one of the most threatened environments on the planet, and it’s also the most biodiverse,” he said.
He explained that coatis are heavily affected by the pesticides used around the rainforest and how the forest is being destroyed every day, taking homes away from the animals.
The next creature to come out was an Emperor Scorpion. She was relatively new to the center, so she didn’t have a name. However, Buttercup and Snickerdoodle are in the running. The kids also shouted out some name ideas like “Marshmallow” and “Cookie.”
“Emperor Scorpions are one of the biggest scorpion species in the world. They’re also one of the least deadly,” Perron explained.
Many of the kids scooted back in their chairs as Perron brought the scorpion around, and some wandered back to their parents in fear. However, Perron assured everyone that Emperor Scorpions are less dangerous than your average bee.
“Not everyone likes bugs, but I’m happy to tell you if you don’t like bugs, you can still like scorpions because it’s not a bug! It’s an arachnid,” he joked.
Perron introduced his favorite animal next, Sophie, the blue-and-yellow macaw, who viewed Perron as her “partner.”
“The issue with Sophie is she does hate all of you. It’s nothing personal. She just doesn’t like you because you’re not me,” he said.
Sophie was given to the center after she had lived with her original owners for 35 years. Due to their age, they had to give her up. No one at the center could win Sophie’s heart until Perron walked through the door.
“She would fight and scream and wouldn’t eat sometimes… When I started my job, there was only one group of animals I hated… birds,” Perron explained, adding that at his last job, a zoo, birds had broken his fingers and even a leg. “When I started this job, I told my boss, ‘Hey, thanks for having me. Don’t make me work with birds,’ and he said, ‘No problem. We have five birds. Two love each other, two love me, and Sophie hates everyone.’ 10 minutes later, she was on my shoulder playing with my hair.”
He also explained the importance of birds who spread seeds by consuming fruit and “pooping everywhere.” The seeds leave their system and spread across long distances, forming a forest of trees over the years. Perron also stressed that birds are extremely high-maintenance pets and can live to be 100, making them very hard to care for, and he firmly believes there should be more restrictions when it comes to purchasing them.
Next was a Brazilian monkey-tailed porcupine named Thorn, whom Perron described as “a grumpy old man” who was now 16.
“He is incredibly annoyed by me all the time, but that’s because Thorn is about 16 years old… He is a very old man, and he’s semi-retired,” he said.
Perron also told a story about how he was walking up the stairs and didn’t notice Thorn in front of him, leading to a bunch of quills in his leg. Perron made the mistake of pulling the quills out, leading to a lot of pain.
Perron presented the crowd with two tiny Amazon milk frogs next, before getting to the two animals the kids could touch: “Miss Poops a Lot” the chinchilla and Hercules a Burmese python.
At the end, Perron said, “Earth Day should be every day. We should be celebrating the planet every day because can we live without it? Earth will live without us. If we all went extinct tomorrow, all of the damage we did will be healed. The Earth does not need us to survive. We need the Earth… We all rely on this one big blue water-filled rock.”
