A WARMER TIME OF YEAR

It has been a long time since I have added a blog but that will not continue. First of all we are winding down our school year and looking forward to the next few warmer months. Spring means the return of the ruby throated hummingbirds, bringing our alligators outdoors to their pond and facilities and one of the greatest things seeing the snakes coming out of hibernation. Yesterday I spotted my first snake of the year a beautiful blue racer. It was this time five years ago that my friend Glenn Baker took me to Texas to adopt our baby olive baboon, Elizabeth. Well this winter we lost Glenn and we miss him very much. He believed in our work and I am going to approach this life with an all new passion so that he will be proud of his friends Cheryl and Larry Battson

Cool Creek Show

Check out Cheryl's Blog for the story.......it was fun.....

RAINING FROGS

Sorry that I have not posted very much in the last few weeks but I will be rolling now and keep everybody up to date. Rain, rain, rain and more rain, please turn off the hose we do not need anymore. The other afternoon after another big shower it was so warm and humid that it felt like you were walking thru the mildest mist, I envisioned that this is what Borneo must be like. Then I could hear nothing but frogs, especially greys tree frogs (hyla versicolor), their trill cuts right thru the surrounding murmur of other woodland sounds. We are blessed we have over 20 acres of woodlands, creeks and fields it is quite the nature sanctuary. And the songs that you hear from the song birds, woodpeckers, barred owls, various insects and our bellowing alligators is very beautiful. I thought that I would doodle a picture of a tree frog, color it or add you artistic effects and have fun. If you would like after you have finished it send me what you have done, I would love to see it, all the best, Larry larry@larrytheanimalguy.com

Our Friend

Saturday morning our dear friend DeWayne Akin passed away after his battle with cancer. He was the principal at Woodbrook Elementary in Carmel , Indiana. We have been visiting his school for over 25 years and his students and staff were always the best. We would always bring our animals the day before their spring break and all the kids and teachers would wear their best Hawaiian attire. I remember walking in to the school and it was so colorful and there was Mr. Akin drinking his coffee and sporting a beautiful Hawaiian shirt. And he would walk up and shake my hand and hand me a piece of paper with the date and time of next years show. He loved the animals and he understood why we do what we do and he thought that it was the best convocation they would have and it made us feel very good. One year we had our baboon Dolly and while she was doing her thing for the kids Mr. Akin walked up with a Hawaiian lei for Dolly to wear. I thought to myself that the baboon would rip the lei off and destroy it in front of all the students...but she did not she wore it proudly and I thought "Dolly has a lot of respect for this man and baboons that is not a easy thing to gain". We will miss Mr. Akin so much and we know that he is in a better place. R.I.P. Mr. A Cheryl and I love you very much.....

Baby Elizabeth's Latest Photo

Baby Elizabeth our year old olive baboon has been a real treasure to Cheryl and I. And everyone loves her antics during our show. The audience cannot hear her but she is laughing the entire time she is jumping around and going crazy. This picture was taken the other evening while she was having her bottle and getting ready to go to bed. It is going to be fun for the students and teachers to watch her grow up in the next few years and we know that she will be a amazing animal ambassador and teacher.

Finally back to school...no snow

Well the weather is starting to cooperate and we have been busy this week visiting schools with our animal family. This week we were at Thorntown Elementary, Granville Wells Elementary, St. Joseph Elementary and Morristown Elementary. We had some great audiences which makes it a real blast doing our show. This past week we learned something that was kind of disturbing. For about 29 years we have been showing animals on the Channel 8 WISH TV noon news. It seems that the new news director does not want live animals on the broadcast, not only us but the Humane Society of Indianapolis. That is sad because the dogs and cats that they would take on were usually adopted, which means that the segment would save about 52 lives a year! I think that not for us but the Humane Society this is a bad decision. We loved doing the segments and people would tell me they enjoyed them as well. If you have a comment you can reach her at PMcGettigan@wishtv.com I am planning on contacting other tv stations to see if they would like to have our animal family. all the best, Larry

New School Year

Well we have started the school year and here it is almost December and it has flown by. The schools have been great, we have had some really good shows and the students and staffs have seemed to love our animals that we are traveling with this year. Gus the bobcat has been a delight, I have had bobcats before and no one knows the great job Cheryl has done raising and working with this cat. Anyone that has worked with them knows how tough they are and being in front of a audience is a challenge. But Cheryl has only had a couple shirts and sweaters damaged from its claws and for a bobcat that is excellent. He is outstanding and this is a animal that people need to know about. Elizabeth the baboon has been a favorite and the energy level that she brings has our audiences falling in love with her instantly, and funny......she is a natural comedian and she knows it. The audience cannot hear her but she is laughing the whole time she is jumping around a nd hanging by my hair and pretty much beating me up. We love her and she is good for our hearts after losing Dolly. The ring tail lemur is a big hit and because of the popularity of the movie "Madagascar" the kids are in a different world while she is out, they love her. And about every show I can get her to make her hello sound and that is very cool. The tarantula and python give many the creeps but still we get a lot of positive feed back from the schools. We have about a week off and then we will be in Mooresville and be doing our December shows and anticipate 2010...all the best, Larry