Snakes Are More Afraid of You Than You Are of Them
Learning about a whole world normally closed to kids. What an original way to encourage cautious curiosity
Understanding Snakes
The world would be a poorer place without snakes. They remove rodents from farms and keep the jungle clean. Even medications - since 1981, snake venom has been used commercially to produce the largest selling anti-hypertensive medication in the world (captopril).
Kids learn to trust -- their parents, their Volare guide. Experiencing contact with animals we thought were dangerous improves confidence and challenges conventional behavior.
Conservation, Respect, and Education: Important Goals of Parents
One of Volare's favorite places to stop when we have a few hour extra is Minor's Snake Education Center. Minor realized modern school-educated kids had completely lost touch with natural creatures, and modern kids thought killing all snakes was a good idea. The result, of course, was a surge in rat populations, destroying sugar cane, infesting homes, and other imbalances of nature. So Minor started his self-appointed education efforts.
When we leave this Education Center (really, just a bench outside a shed, with a blackboard), they've had a' first-hand touch, and feel, of animals they most likely will never encounter again in their lives. But they won't forget this one encounter. We hope it will help shade their thinking about protecting environments, of maintaining a balance in nature, as they become the leaders of the generation that has to solve the environmental crisis we are leaving behind.
Snake handling is a great skill for life: confidence, respect for the other side, and thinking beyond conventional behavior.
It's time to call us.