Countywide : Children Enraptured by Wildlife Show

About 100 children, parents and nurses gathered outside Children’s Hospital of Orange County Friday morning to get a close-up view of some tamed wild animals introduced by Peter Gros, co-host of “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.”

Gros, who also directs the Wildlife Heritage Trust of Omaha, said he considers children to be the hope of the future for wildlife preservation. “It’s a bit harder to teach older people about conservation,” he said.

Gros and his assistants carried or led a range of animals to show the kids, most of whom seemed to fall in love with a sharp-nosed, highly-flexible, black-footed ferret. The animal can maneuver around narrow tunnels underground to ferret out other animals and rodents, Gros explained.

“I liked the ferret because he wiggled around,” said Ashley Alcantar, 5, from Anaheim, who was wiggling quite a bit herself while watching the show.

Ashley was too scared to appreciate the nine-foot python that wrapped most of its huge body around Gros’s arm while the children watched. “Maybe we should call this one Caesar Squeezer,” Gros suggested. The kids were also treated to a view of a recent layer of Caesar’s skin, which he apparently slid out of a couple of days ago.

Snakes, like ferrets, also are a tremendous benefit to the balance of nature, since they feast largely on rodents.

Holly Delrosso, a 10-year-old patient from Anaheim, loves snakes precisely for their slippery reputation. “I like them because they’re slimy and they’re slithery,” she said with a wide grin.

Another crowd pleaser was a 2-month-old llama, which fortunately did not use its long neck to spit on any observers. If pushed, this relative of the camel could have targeted that spit up to 25 feet away. “It burns,” Gros said. “I know.”

Patient J. R. Riggs, 15, of Huntington Beach, was unperturbed by this threat and was captivated by the animal’s thick woolly coat. “It’s just the fur,” he explained. “He’s very furry. It was cool.”

Gros and co-host Jim Fowler travel worldwide to make videos to distribute to schools, senior citizen centers “and anyone who teaches at a grass-roots level about conservation,” Gros said.