Kids meet furry friends at the library Zoofari show
Fri, 2016-07-08 05:00
News Staff
By DAVID J. HARDIN
Cove Leader-Press
Last Thursday at the Copperas Cove Public Library local children were able to get up close to a few furry animals, thanks to Courtney Cortina-Pineda who has a traveling zoo called Wild Things Zoofari.
Cortina-Pineda does multiple shows with her animals each week and visits libraries, birthday parties, schools, nursing homes and other places. She enjoys bringing smiles to kids faces and teaching them about the uniqueness of each animal.
During the one-hour presentation, she introduced the children and parents to several of her friends. Benjamin the red kangaroo from Australia, a ring-tailed lemur from Madagascar, an arctic fox, marmoset monkey, spider monkey, squirrel monkey, and a kinkajou.
The children were smiling and laughing at some of the antics and behaviors of the animals.
When asked what animal was their favorite during the show a majority of the children said the lemur.
Wild Things Zoofari Inc. is privately owned and operated by Cortina-Pineda, she has spent most of her life working with and owning animals. She said she didn’t get the same satisfaction working at a nine-to-five job Monday through Friday, but instead her happiness came from the ability to work with animals full time, her passion in life.
Cortina-Pineda feels that “there is not enough support to help conserve and protect the precious wildlife, which continues to deteriorate due to our own destructive habits.”
The main goal of Wild Things Zoofari is to “educate people with animal encounters so they can observe how precious they are.” Seeing them on TV has less of an impact than being able to touch them.
Cortina-Pineda is a member of the Association of Professional Wildlife Educators and the Feline Conservation Federation. She is also United States Department of Agriculture and Texas Parks & Wildlife licensed and insured.
During this year’s summer reading program, Thursday afternoon shows like this one will have two presentations and the library has instituted a free ticket system. Parents and/or guardians must pick up tickets at the library the morning of the event. Tickets will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis. This is being done this year in order to avoid long lines, with some being turned away as the meeting room has a capacity of only 150.
Sign-up is still ongoing for the reading program. Information about the show dates and times can be found on the library’s calendar online at the City of Copperas Cove website, or by calling the library at 254-547-3826.