Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Group takes exotic animals into class
HALF MOON BAY
FROM a young age, animals taught Steve Karlin about his relationship with nature. Now he lets them teach others the same lesson.
Karlin is founder of Wildlife Associates, a 26-year-old nonprofit that brings exotic animals into classrooms around the Bay Area. His 50 animals, which include a two-toed sloth, an African porcupine, a python and Arctic fox, coexist in separate pens on a three-acre ranch in the hills of Half Moon Bay.
The nonprofit, which also hosts sessions on the ranch for at- risk teens, corporate groups and families, reaches more students than any other program of its kind in North America, according to Karlin.
A staff of eight cares for the non-releasable animals, who come to Karlin after having been injured, abused or raised in captivity. Many times, the animals have been smuggled into the U.S. and discarded when they proved to be too much trouble to keep.
Karlin's presentations are about more than show-and-tell. By teaching children to care for animals, he believes he's creating better human beings.
"There's something about animals. They disarm us. They go to the core of who we are. They refresh us, they renew us, and all they ask for in return is love," said Karlin, sitting in his back yard on a sunny Sunday afternoon with birds singing in the trees, while his six cats stalked gophers in the wildflowers.
Karlin's lectures are designed to complement a school's science and biology curriculum, teaching children about the life cycle and humans' place in it. He also appeals to children's imaginations, opening their minds to the possibility that animals can feel emotions similar to human beings.
"I ask them if they think animals can feel happiness," said Karlin. "In younger groups, only 50 percent of the kids answer yes."
As a boy growing up in Cleveland, Karlin, 51, spent many hours "talking" to the baby birds living in the trees on a vacant lot behind his house.
"I got to know the movement of the seasons, when the animals would disappear for the winter," he said.
One day, a bulldozer came and flattened the lot, cutting down most of the animals' habitat. Karlin was helpless to do anything about it.
"I saw the nests smashing to the ground and saw the birds' eggs break. It affected me deeply," he said.
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