[FEL-L] Understanding wild animals 4-21-08

[BigCatSimba at aol.com]

Understanding wild animals
Animal  trainer introduces exotic animals to children, families. 

Residents of Sand Canyon should not have been alarmed when they  saw a 
mountain lion, a Russian brown bear or a bobcat in a backyard of a home on  Cliffie 
Way on Sunday afternoon. Despite recent reports of mountain lion  sightings in 
the area, these exotic wildlife animals were part of a traveling  exhibit and 
invited to the large backyard to put on a show for more than 200  spectators. 
Brought to Sand Canyon by Kimberly Sylvester-Malzahn and Jeff Lee, the  
wildlife show provided attendees, which included over 60 young children, with a  
first-hand look at animals rarely seen in cities. For more than three years,  
Sylvester-Malzahn and Lee have hosted wildlife shows at various location  
throughout the Santa Clarita Valley, traveling with eight to 10 exotic animals  and 
teaching children and adults how to respect and live with the creatures. 
Sunday's show was particularly vital in educating the local community on how  
to co-exist with the exotic animals in light of recent injuries and deaths to 
 domestic animals caused by mountain lions in the area. 
Many times, the injuries or deaths are caused by a lack of understanding of  
the local wildlife instead of an animal's predisposition to attack. Lee and  
Sylvester-Malzahn pointed out that many of these animals, such as mountain 
lions  and bobcats, are not necessarily predators. 
"My intent is to inform the neighborhood," Sylvester-Malzahn said. 
"The show is designed to inform and educate my community about co-existing  
with those who were here before us." 
Among the animals that made an appearance at the Sand Canyon residence on  
Sunday afternoon were a mountain lion, bobcat, Russian brown bear and lemur. 
Each animal was individually introduced to the crowd by Lee, a trainer with  
Steve Martin's Working Wildlife who also appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay 
 Leno. With Lee's guidance, several of the children were allowed to pet or 
play  with the animals. 
One of the first animals that Lee brought out for the crowd was a mountain  
lion. With recent reports of mountain lion attacks in the Sand Canyon area, Lee 
 talked to the audience about how to co-exist with the large, exotic animals. 
Lee then introduced a fully-grown bobcat, which only weighed 25 pounds and  
was nine years old, but he said it was one of the toughest cats in the wild. 
"Pound for pound they are the toughest cats on Earth," Lee said of bobcats,  
which is short for bob-tailed cat. "They walk around like they rule the  
world." 
By interacting with a few exotic animals, many of the children felt like they 
 ruled part of the animal world. 
_http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/1501/_ 
(http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/1501/)  



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