Football Star Gives Students Lesson on Protecting Wildlife
Oakland Raider and animal activist Anthony Smith on Tuesday showed two assemblies of Venice schoolchildren his soft and sensitive side and told them to stay in school, shun drugs and mind their parents.
In turn, the children showed their hearts and donated $158 and a truck full of supplies to the Wildlife Waystation. The Westminster Avenue School has been collecting for the nonprofit refuge, a haven for wild and exotic animals.
In appreciation, Waystation workers showed the students an 11-foot python, a California desert tortoise, two Bengal tigers and an American golden eagle that obligingly dropped a tail feather. It was also a chance to teach about animal rescue and rehabilitation and the future of wild animals.
Founded about 30 years ago by Martine Colette, the sanctuary in the Angeles National Forest is raising money to expand its facility. Every year about 5,000 wild or exotic animals pass through, receive medical treatment or relearn how to live with their own kind.
“What happens to the animals when people don’t want them anymore--that’s what concerns us,” said Colette, noting that people illegally buy tigers or lions, remove local wildlife from their habitats or operate roadside zoos. “If an animal is shot or hit by a car, we treat it and send it back out, but other animals need a sanctuary where they can live out their lives. The exotics, of course, have no wild to return to.”
Smith, who is a 6-foot-4, 285-pound defensive end, had more than 100 pounds on both Kadari and Larkana, the 1-year-old tigers brought to Venice as emissaries of their vanishing species. Smith, who has his own charity organization, Youth Enterprise Systems, that works with L.A. youth, sponsors Batak, a 750-pound Siberian tiger and Waystation resident.
“Every kid loves animals and when they get a chance to see them so close, bigger than life, they really get the message. They’ll listen to me just because of who I am,” Smith said.
“Football is a cool sport, but it’s not realistic. It will give me two or three years of fame so I want to use it, take advantage of it so that kids can learn about animals and learn to give themselves options, not to waste life now.”
Second-grader Chelsea Ripple was enthralled by the animals and in accord with Smith.
“I’m going to be a marine biologist. I already made that choice when I was 3. I want to learn about animals when I grow up because I find them very interesting and amusing,” she said.
Before Tuesday, Chelsea, 8, had seen a turtle and an iguana up close and personal. At home she takes care of Bugs Bunny, Scuba Dive and Fishie and Macaroni. They are a rabbit, two fish and a frog, respectively. Cheese, another frog, is buried in her backyard.
