By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
This past Tuesday, July 18th, the Medfield Public Library (MPL) hosted Joy Marzolf to present her live animal show on Endangered Species. The library was packed with excited little ones and their guardians to enjoy this amazing show and its special animals.
Marzolf ended up bringing eight different animals with her for this show, some of which kids were lucky enough to touch and hold. These species included an eastern box turtle, a skink, a chameleon, a desert rosy boa, a hognose snake, a black rat snake, a Texas rat snake, and, incredibly enough, a crocodile!
While presenting each animal, Marzolf made it a point to explain the things in which we can do to help get these animals off the endangered species list. One of the biggest things that we can do is make ourselves aware of the certain species we have in our area. Unfortunately, and especially when it comes to snakes, people will kill them because they think they are venomous and will cause harm to us. Marzolf explains that by knowing the species, we don’t have to kill the snakes that are by no means a danger to the public.
Marzolf further explained, “Sometimes what happens is, sometimes we are afraid of things that we don’t understand. And sometimes people will kill animals, like snakes, because they think they move like rattlesnakes do. I can assure you there are no rattlesnakes in Medfield, so please don’t worry. But when we are afraid of something, sometimes we can do something really easy so that we are not so afraid. And we have to be in a great place to learn more about animals, maybe get a really good book to learn more about animals, like from here at the library!”
Marzolf’s call to action was clear: her mission was to spread awareness, while also allowing attendees to meet with these animals. Once shown all the good that they can do for our ecosystem, it is easy to see why they deserve all the protection they can get.
All in attendance were mesmerized by these adorable animals and were able to learn so much about them. One can only hope that Marzolf will continue to spread this important information to as many people as she can!
