It’s a Jungle Out There : Animals: Moorpark College fair-goers learn about wildlife protection, but leashes have some spectators champing at the bit.

After watching the llama, the water buffalo and all the other exotic animals at Moorpark College on Saturday, Robin Mallinger said she both loved and hated the show.

“I just love animals. I think these animals are really beautiful,” the 17-year-old Agoura Hills resident said. But when animals are leashed or in harnesses, she said, “it’s just hard to watch.”

Another visitor to the show--part of an annual festival presented by the school’s department of exotic animal training--said people need to see unusual animals to connect with them.

“If people don’t have a connection with the animals, they’re not going to care about them” or about wildlife preservation, said Mischele Powell, 24, a Sacramento resident who plans to enroll in the program.

Bernadette Donato, 9, of Oxnard, who came to the show with her mother and her 5-year-old sister, Alexandra, seemed to “connect” with the monkeys.

“They’re a lot like my sister ‘cause they climb all over the place,” she said.

The importance of preserving monkeys and other wild animals is the theme of this year’s exotic animal festival at the college, dubbed the Spring Spectacular, which drew hundreds of visitors Saturday.

In addition to training demonstrations and various exhibits, the festival features two shows called “Where the Wild Things Were,” about disappearing habitat, and “Animals in Jeopardy,” a takeoff on the television game show.

Written by students, the shows are performed in a hut-like theater where audience members sit almost within reach of a baboon, a wolf and other creatures. The animals are led by students, some dressed as American Indians, safari hunters and native dancers.

Entertainment is the best way to teach people about wildlife issues, said Mara Rodriguez, 20, who helped carry a 75-pound, seven-foot-long lizard during one of the shows.

“You’re able to educate them without them knowing it,” said Rodriguez, a Moorpark wildlife-education major who hopes eventually to work at a park for marine animals or birds.

The college’s training zoo has programs throughout the year to educate the public about the need for protecting endangered species, said Susan Cox, community education coordinator. The main purpose of this weekend’s festival is to raise money to keep the eight-acre zoo running, she said.

The college contributes $22,000 annually toward feeding and housing the zoo’s 150 animals, which range on the exotic scale from a red fox to a dromedary camel. Students and staff raise an additional $50,000 each year through zoo tours, school programs and donations, zoo Director Gary Wilson said. They raised $8,000 at last year’s festival and hope to raise $10,000 to $12,000 in this year’s expanded event.

Some of that money, Wilson said, will go toward improvements aimed at opening the zoo to the public on a regular basis, possibly by summer. It would be Ventura County’s only public zoo.

Visitors on Saturday toured the zoo between shows, and some children had their face painted like an animal of their choice. Many of the young customers wanted to look like dolphins or cheetahs, said Richard Schwartz, one of the two students who applied the exotic colors to eager faces.

“We say, ‘What do you want? We’ll try it,’ ” Schwartz said.

More serious-minded exhibits included a fur coat and two fur stoles with a list of how many animals were killed to make them.

“That’s sad,” said Margie Van Evera, 32, as she peered at the display.

Nearby, one vendor passed out flyers promoting vegetarianism and sold T-shirts saying, “Meat Free Zone.”

That message didn’t seem to dog some hungry festival-goers, who lined up at a nearby booth for broiled tri-tip and chicken sandwiches.

FYI

The annual festival of Moorpark College’s Exotic Animal Training Program continues today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Shows are scheduled for 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Admission to the training zoo is free; tours are $2. Tickets to the shows, which cover zoo tours, are $6 for adults, $4 for students and senior citizens, and $2 for children. For more information, call the zoo at 378-1441.