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America’s Teaching Zoo visits Pierce College
Moorpark College students showcase exotic animals
Coburn Palmer / Roundup
A California king snake, a falcon, and a macaw shared the stage in a presentation by Moorpark’s animal outreach program from America’s Teaching Zoo as they spoke to a room full of students during Friday’s presentation at the Center for Sciences.
Presidents and vice presidents from across the LACCD, along with the chancellor also attended the presentation along with 30 Canoga Park High School students.
The group of Moorpark students, who are enrolled in a program called America’s Teaching Zoo, gives outreach programs to the public while training to be pre-veterinary majors.
“They’re practicing their outreach on us,” said Leland Shapiro, chair of agriculture and natural resources.
When not giving outreach demonstrations the group spends nine hours every day taking care of the animals at the Moorpark zoo, according to Fike.
Becoming a vet doesn’t necessarily mean going to a clinic every day,” said Diane Werner.
The group explained that there were many different opportunities for those with veterinary degrees including training animals for movies and TV.
“Most of us think that these animals should be out in the wild,” explained Fike. “It takes a lot of effort to rehabilitate an animal, especially if you don’t want to get them used to people.”
The group explained that pre-vets often become conservationists as well. Being a conservationist means not only recycling but also making the most of our planets resources by buying the best product possible at the time to avoid re-buying that item soon afterward.
“You get to be greedy and buy a great TV at the same time,” said Werner.
We educate people about animals in order to save” them,” said Fike.
