Bob Jenni with gilla monster

Walk on the Wild Side

By Hugh Jones

Home
Feature Stories
Vet's Voice
Bird Beat
Fe-Lines
Aunt Debe
Agility Tips
Miss Behavior
Dogs-The Right Stuff
Archives

On AccessOKC.com:
Calendar of Events
Pet Message Board

Animal Welfare
OKC Animal Welfare
Favorite Links
Let's Go Shopping

About Us
Authors' Bios
Advertising Info
Writer's Guidelines

Subscribe
Contact Us

I back up when Bob brings the rattlesnake out. Wouldn't you? Natalie didn't, but she doesn't count. She's the one with a python wrapped around her.

A sound that sends shivers up most people's spines fills the room. It blocks the senses to everything except the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake coiled on the table, its tail vibrating nervously.

Naturalist Bob Jenni isn't most people. He hovers over the table like a cook over a stove. And he's cooking up trouble, waving his hand in front of the snake. Suddenly, it strikes, lightning fast, but misses the target. Jenni can't help being amused by his guest's trepidation, but he understands. After all, it is the deadliest snake in the U.S.

Jenni with rattlesnake

He stretches his hands out. "The snake is this long." He brings them closer. "This is his maximum striking distance." He stretches them wider. "If you stay this far away, you're safe. He's not going to crawl over there and bite you just for the fun of it."

On the other hand, Jenni and his wife Natalie are enjoying the rattler, and other poisonous reptiles, snapping turtles, alligators, mountain lions, wolves–not exactly your average cute and cuddlies–that inhabit their Edmond, Oklahoma nature center. They have cute ones too, such as deer, a raccoon and a comical little groundhog.

Nature

Jenni has been involved with the animal world most of his life. He worked for the Tulsa Zoo when just 14–having caught and brought so many snakes to the zoo, he was hired to take care of the exhibit.

After college, he supervised a mobile wildlife exhibit for the Oklahoma Wildlife Department. Later, he established the Oklahoma City Zoo's first reptile exhibit and was its curator from 1955 to 65. During that time, he made regular appearances on the Foreman Scotty TV show.

Since then, he's traveled much of the world, led numerous tours to Africa, attended outdoor shows around the country, written articles, given seminars, taught wildlife photography, become a licensed wildlife breeder and rehabilitator and developed his nature center. There, he teaches classes on wildlife and natural history, primarily to youth groups. His scaly and furry friends have helped him influence countless young lives in a positive way. But friendship is where he draws the line.

"This isn't a pet," he says, referring to the snake. "I don't regard wild animals as pets. There are only two reasons for keeping them in captivity. One is for exhibition, and the benefit from that is making people aware of these creatures. If not for zoos, the majority of humans would never see most of them. Once they know about an animal, they may bond with it, develop respect for it. Then they're more open to sound conservation measures.

"The other is research, and that covers a broad spectrum. It may be research to maintain a species or propagate it in numbers large enough to restore it to its environment. Sometimes it's to better understand the animal and its behavior."

Jenni mentions another type of research that may be even more important. "And that's in the mind of a five-year-old child with a baby turtle in a bedroom aquarium. He bonds with the turtle; it becomes a friend and a confidant. If he has a conflict with mom and dad, he can talk to the turtle and work it out. Turtles solve a lot of problems.

"Moreover, it's a good way to teach responsibility. It doesn't belong to the family; it's his. This may be the first time he cultivates a love for something beyond his immediate family. If the turtle becomes ill, he has to deal with that; then he's learning compassion.

"It's important, though, for the parents to be involved. They have to help in caring for and managing the animal. Spending time with them, showing interest in what he's interested in, he'll remember that for the rest of his life."

Natalie with milk snake

With his snake hook, Jenni scoops up the rattler and puts it in an enclosure as easily as taking bacon from a frying pan. "You know, I've trained lions and dolphins." He chuckles. "On the TV show, I gave many demonstrations on many animals, only a few on snakes. But all they remember is the snakes."

He has a point. Why do we have this attraction, yet revulsion to the slithery set? Is it the danger?

"We're taught to be afraid," he says. "When we fear something, we want to destroy it rather than determine why we're afraid. Once you encourage that mindset, how much further is it to a child becoming destructive toward other creatures, eventually, maybe even his own kind?"

Jenni paces the room, rubbing his bald head, as he ponders this observation. It's a serious one, but there's a twinkle in his eyes and a smile beneath a thin mustache. They accompany a frequent, jolly laugh. Wearing a red shirt and suspenders, he reminds one of Santa with a radical haircut. He sits down and leans back in his chair.

"As a boy, I was really afraid of snakes. But I slowly came to an understanding. I chased a couple of them once, and they hid under a big rock. I hopped on top and waited for them to come out. While perched there, it occurred to me, they were panic stricken and running away. If they ran, they must be afraid of me. So there's no sense in my being afraid of them. That was a turning point."

Jenni insists we can't tame the beast, but we can tame our fear. And avoiding a calamitous encounter with the rattler is really quite simple.

"If you hear a rattlesnake, just stop where you are and stand perfectly still. He sees you as a large, unidentifiable, moving monster. Remember when you were young and saw a Robin Red Breast? You wanted to sneak up and catch it for a closer look. Or maybe you wanted to pet a squirrel. But one flew, and the other ran away. Why? Because they were scared. So is the snake. In his eyes, you're a giant, but he can't fly like the robin or run like the squirrel. If you attempt to pet or pick him up, his only option is to bite.

So stop, stay still and hold out six fingers. Start counting down from 10 on each one. By the time your fingers are down, the rattling will have slowed, then stopped. When it stops, the snake has forgotten you're even there. He wouldn't recognize you from a nearby tree stump. Then you can turn and slowly walk away."

Good advice, and Jenny puts in a plug for the often maligned snake. "Predators are very valuable to the ecological scene, especially in disease reduction. They are, so to speak, lazy feeders, because they take the easy ones first. The odds are better, and it requires less energy. What makes one easier than another? It's sick, lame or perhaps has a genetic problem. Predators don't really control a population, as some say. They contribute to its health.

"The wood rat carries several diseases, along with the parasites that infest it, that are fatal to us. When the rattlesnake takes one out, it contributes to the health of the rat population and our health. Or you can take away the snake and face bubonic plague, encephalitis, lyme disease, etc."

Jenni is so attuned to nature, he maintains one can distinguish between the tones of a bee's wings and know when it's upset. An observant person knows, when an animal turns around, squares off and looks at him, he's being measured (sized up–what are my chances, what's the distance between us) prior to an attack. The animal, in effect, is saying bug off. And that's the message he delivers to his students.

"The first plants and animals we want to learn about are those that are dangerous to us. For example, until we learn to identify poison ivy, it's just a another plant with green leaves. If you've had the rash but never identified the source, then anything with green leaves can cause it in our minds. When we learn, we gain peace of mind. We don't have to worry about other plants. Then we learn about behavior. Poison ivy doesn't disperse through the air. It won't jump out and grab us; we have to come in direct contact. So all you have to do is recognize it and avoid it.

"That applies whether it's poison ivy or a lion. Once you recognize the danger and understand its behavior–how it responds to you–then you can establish a logical margin of safety. And that margin is the distance you stay away from the fire to keep from getting burned."

Jenni strongly believes in the word "logical" and prefers it to the commonly used "wise" when it comes before "management of natural resources." And he's in the best location to make his case. According to him, Oklahoma has a greater variety of plants and animals than any other state.

"We're special, environmentally, being at the crossroads of the country. Go to the northeast part, and find the same plants and animals that are in New York. Southwest and you find ones, like mesquite and the kit fox, that stretch to Mexico. Northwest and there's ponderosa pine, golden eagles and mountain lions that continue on to Canada. Southeast and you're in a gulf coast plains environment with cypress, bamboo, alligators that continue to Florida."

There are so many young eyes to be opened and so much to open them to, he never considers retirement.

"That's for people who are dissatisfied with their work," he says with a grin. "My goal is to create awareness in the young person's mind. That, hopefully, will become an interest and expand into an area of conservation. With the population growth and urbanization of society, people are getting farther away from nature. It's a positive thing to encourage children to become aware of what's out there. I know the pleasure they'll receive from it."

He leans forward, so the light catches the twinkle in his eyes. "I tell them snakes aren't bad. They, like the crawdads, the snapping turtles, the frog, the cottontail, the robin, the plants, are all individual brush strokes in a big painting–this beautiful panorama we call the out-of-doors. Each brush stroke is important. When we become acquainted with them, we feel more comfortable, and we can appreciate the beauty, mystery and adventure that nature provides."

Back to Archives

Natali with red fox
Natalie with red fox

snapping turtle


	© Copyright 2000-02 Ashworth Publishing LLC (OK PetGazette) No part of this Web site may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior written permission from Ashworth Publishing LLC (OK PetGazette)