Two-year-old Emily Clayborn timidly stuck out her finger, touching Mazie the Corn Snake’s scaly side as her grandfather, Mike Clayborn, sat in amazement.

“She asked to touch it,” he said as he held his granddaughter in his lap while she pet the corn snake being shown off by rangers from Edgar Evins State Park during the Summer Reading Program at Justin Potter Library. “She wasn’t scared a bit.”

Little Emily was one of many children who dared to pet the friendly snake held by Ranger Nick Fleishour.

“They love it,” said fellow Ranger Brad Halfacre of the reaction they get when they bring animals to meet children at various events in the community. “It gives them a better appreciation of wildlife and nature at a young age.”

Halfacre says they do programs regularly at schools, camps, churches and basically anywhere they are asked to bring their little bit of nature.

“We do a program at Edgar Evins every week,” he said, noting all anyone needs to do to get them to their event is to call ahead of time to the park ranger office and make the request.
“We love doing it and the kids enjoy it,” he noted as he held up Jay Edgar, a broad-wing hawk, to the wonderment of the children at Justin Potter. “Anything we can do for outreach.”

The young hawk, Brad explained, was injured when it flew into a swing set at another park. It lost a talon and broke its wing, rendering it unable to fly. However, Brad said the unfortunate event had a happy ending as Jay Edgar is now their “show bird” which they can take and let children see up close. Summer Reading Day at the library was the first time Jay Edgar was displayed publicly.

“And he did great,” Brad said of the well-behaved bird.

Anyone interested in their child attending a junior ranger program at the park can do so by contacting Edgar Evins and registering their child, ages five through 12. The camp will run July 16-20 and cost is $30. There is a limit of 30 children and registration is due by June 30.