The Accidental Rescue Org: Holifield Science Learning Center

Making a difference in the life of a dog or cat or horse isn't easy work for any rescue group, but how much more difficult is it to garner support for animals that can't muster a soulful expression or that trigger the natural flight instinct in would-be benefactors?

When the Holifield Science Learning Center -- part of the Independent School District in Plano, Texas -- opened the doors of its Living Materials Center in 1989, its mission statement wasn't to function as a rescue org for unwanted animals. However, with nearby zoos and rescues overwhelmed, it quickly became the go-to spot for surrendering reptiles that had grown too big for their habitats or simply grown out of favor.

Now I've always loved lizards, especially big lizards. So when I decided a vegetarian iguana would fit my lifestyle, my sister-in-law pointed me to Holifield as a possibility for picking up a rescue. When I learned that a large percentage of iguanas are given up because they quickly outgrow the 30- or 55-gallon aquarium they're originally -- and inevitably -- kept in, I knew my first iguana would not be a baby and that I'd have to build a suitable habitat before even looking at adoptees. Only when the 4-foot wide by 7-foot long by 6-foot high cage was ready did I head over to Holifield to see who was available.

What surprised me most was the eclectic nature of homeless reptiles that wound up in the comfy habitats occupying a large backroom in the main learning center. Aside from a variety of colorful lizards, there were corn snakes and boas and even a small alligator! There were about a dozen iguanas waiting to be rehomed. A couple of the males were heavy-boned, heavy-jowled and obviously very strong. The largest of the males would have been especially impressive if he'd still had his tail intact. In fact, three of the iguanas were missing tails, probably due to trauma. Iguanas have a special defensive mechanism that allows their tails to break easily away from their bodies at need; the tails may or may not grow back depending on where the tail breaks, age of the iguana, and other factors.

 

While I was trying to decide which of the igs snoozing on branches in their cage would come home with me, one of the animal care workers brought in three carriers with another six iguanas that had been abandoned that morning. Whatever dent I thought my rescue was going to make in the number of homeless lizards at Holifield, it was clear that dent wasn't going to be large.

In the end, I chose a two-year-old juvenile, probably female, who appeared healthy and energetic.

There was no adoption fee. Possibly for a smaller, more desirable lizard there would have been. I left as generous a donation as I could, put the lizard in a box in my car trunk and brought her home. That was almost 9 years ago, and Fafnir is with me still.

There are so many people engaged in and efforts around rescue work for dogs and cats and equines -- even for Big Cats and elephants -- that it's sometimes easy to forget that mammals aren't the only creatures being neglected, abused or simply abandoned when they're no longer convenient to have around. I'm forever grateful that the good folk at the Holifield Science Learning Center not only provide an up-close-and-natural animal experience for school-age children, but that they also care enough to provide shelter for the reptiles surrendered to them and then to look for good homes for their rescues on the other side. Because without them, I wouldn't have this adorable face to greet me every morning:

From Our Farm to Yours ...

Here at Rainbow's End, we have our own version of the chorus to "The 12 Days of Christmas."

12 snakes a-sleeping

At least we hope these guys are hibernating now!

11 novels selling

Other new titles can be found at Steel Magnolia Press

10 blog posts waiting

With 3 blogs to contribute to, I always seem to be behind in my posts!

Confessions of an Animal Junkie

Dare To Dream / Be Thrilled

Where Imagination Blooms

#2 on New Year's resolutions is to get ahead and stay ahead in 2012.

9 hens not laying

The flock is older now, and winter is a poor season for eggs anyway.
But who cares as long as the girls are all healthy?

8 'keets a-singing

Well, OK, there's a zebra finch in there, too.

7 roosters crowing

Generally crowing at 4:00 am

6 dogs 'n cats a-fighting

Well, maybe we're exaggerating the fighting part a little.
From left: Loki, Angel, Ginger and Orion, the cat.
Not pictured: Callie and Magic (both cats)

5 po-o-nies


Pic on right (from left to right): Bella, Ricky, Bonnie, Cody, Lyssa

4 Pekin ducks

There's also the boy mallard, but his character was cut during the edit.

3 silly guineas

Best alarms for alerting us to coyotes and stray cats ever.
The guinea at the top is a pearl, the other is a lavendar.
Both of them, and the third, are boys.

2 goats a'buttin'

And they do use those horns - especially Lucy on the right (that's Rowdy, her son, on the left).

And an iguana in a pear tree

Technically Fafnir is in a crabapple tree here, but there IS a pear tree right next to this one that she also hangs out in.

Wishing you and your beasties a holiday full of peace and love and, most importantly, warm beds and warm laps for all.

Fafnir the Iguana

This post was originally published April 16, 2010.

By request, I'm leading the introductions to the menagerie off with my iguana. My little beauty is likely a female, nearly 5-feet long from snout tip to tail tip, and about 9 years old (iguanas live about 10-12 years). Her name comes from Norse mythology: Fafnir was a dragon slain by the hero Siegfried (aka Sigurd).

Like many of my beasties, Fafnir was a rescue. She came from the Holifield Science Learning Center, a part of the Plano Independent School District, which somehow became known as a dumping ground for reptiles people no longer wanted. Those small, bright green iguanas pet stores sell grow rapidly. When they outgrow the aquariums folk invariably try to raise them in, they are often let loose or given away. The lucky ones in North Texas make it to Holifield.

Like me, Fafnir is a vegetarian. Unlike me, her meals are quite healthy and consist mainly of greens, chopped fresh veggies and chopped fruit, with the occasional handful of processed chicken feed. She's a fairly sedate and gentle lizard, and quite tolerant of other animals. Over the years, she's shared her cage with baby chicks, ducks and rabbits, as well as adult chickens, parakeets and ducks needing medication or cage rest due to illness or injury. On warm days, she enjoys going out on a cat leash and climbing trees. Well, she enjoys the trees; the leash not so much, sometimes throwing herself into alligator death rolls when it's first put on her until she remembers it's not going to hurt her.

The death rolls are about her only trick. Unless you consider basking for hours on end a trick. Or shedding her skin like a snake does 3 or 4 times a year. And except for having to chop fresh food for her daily and trimming her claws occasionally, she's a pretty easy keeper.

Please don't get a juvenile iguana unless you plan to build it a decent-sized habitat and keep its environment around 80+ degrees Fahrenheit. I used 2x4s, 1x2s, ½-inch hardware cloth and peg board (for added ventilation) to build Fafnir's cage, which is about 7-feet long, 4-feet wide and 6-1/2-feet tall. I gave it a raised plywood floor that I covered with sheet vinyl, two shelves for basking, and a hammock for sleeping. In the early days, it even had a fountain, floor plants and hanging baskets. When I started using the cage to house young, sick and injured animals, the pretty decorations had to go. I miss them, but I don't think Fafnir does.