Childrens educational event in MA

Hi all,

I saw the following on CL and thought those of you in the northeast might want to take a look. Sounds like a fun day that would be great for kids. I only wish I was on that side of the country! I know hundreds of kids who would love this.

It can be seen at: Salamander Celebration

The text of the post is as follows:
Sunday, March 20, 2011, 1:30–3:30 p.m., Salamander Celebration, Garden in the Woods, Framingham, MA. Family Program: Children with Adult Companion. Join our annual celebration of this shy and beautiful woodland creature. Instructor Bonnie Drexler will help us learn about several special kinds of salamanders who live at Garden in the Woods. Some may even live in your own backyard. Enjoy a puppet show and a short slide program, and then walk to a vernal pool to seek out some salamanders and their eggs. Make a salamander craft and a life cycle flip-book to take home. Fee: $9 (Member) / $11 (Nonmember) Pre-registration is required, contact the registrar at 508-877-7630, ext. 3303.

Ha! This sounds great, I wish I had kids or was one. This is very close to my home too! They'll probably see jeffersons, spotted, marbled, redbacks or duskies! I'll be sure to spread the word in my area :]

I may just be paranoid, but could this be a problem with children wanting newts as pets? I remember reading a thread on this, but I can't remember which one, but it was talking about the movie Finding Nemo and how the sales of clownfish skyrocketed. I guess what I'm getting at is amphibians going public, which could be a problem. Again, I may just be paranoid.

I think it depends on how the coordinators handle it. If they focus on the education aspect, don't let the kids manhandle the animal, etc., it should be a wonderful experience. The finding-nemo type occurrences tend to happen with anthropomorphized versions of animals in films that don't really educate about the species. (Same thing happened with dalmatians after 101 Dalmatians was released. Suddenly, puppy mills everywhere were inbreeding and the species is now known for a lot of behavioural quirks, now that they've been bred recklessly.)

I wish I were young enough to go, too. As an adult, I'd feel a little silly coloring in a flip book with children.

That's very true. I am just hoping that the coordinators will say that amphibians shouldn't be handled and shouldn't be kept as pets by younger people...do you know anything about this, Travis?

I have been on one of these walks in the Bay Area of California. In the experience I had there, the instructor was planning to be as least invasive as possible. The group was to stay on trails and move slowly to protect migrating T. torosa.

I notified the instructor that I had experience with different newts and salamanders and shared my knowledge with her. She then allowed me to explain information that she knew very little about (Where they go during summer/fall, breeding specifics, how the newts grow from egg to adult, what they eat, etc). I was impressed by the instructor attempting to educate the children on why newts were to be cared for in the ecosystem.

I applaud events like this because they actually inform about the animals on a much smaller scale. Movies like 101 Dalmatians, Finding Nemo, and even the Disney/Pixar movie Newt that was (thankfully) cancelled do little to protect the animals from the masses that watch them.