For Munroe-Meyer Institute staff member Noah Zeitner, July 15 was far from his first “Wildlife Encounter” at Camp Munroe.
Zeitner, an adaptive therapy specialist in the MMI Department of Recreational Therapy, recently returned to MMI full-time after working as a teacher. But before that, he’d been both a volunteer and a part-time staff member for Camp Munroe, MMI’s summer camp for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Dressed in a colorful shirt, he looked on as Kip Smith of Wildlife Encounters of Nebraska displayed various animals to a cheering, and sometimes wary, audience of MMI campers, volunteers and staff members. Smith himself has been doing the Wildlife Encounters presentation at Camp Munroe for longer than he can remember, he said.
Sprinkling animal facts into his discussion of the various non-human guests, Smith let excited campers pet a baby kangaroo, feel the scales of an alligator, hold a python and stroke the fur of a fennec fox.
He even put a tarantula on a few brave heads.
“This is one of the most engaging entertainments that we bring in,” Zeitner said. “It is fun, because you never know exactly what animal he’s going to pop out from behind the wall with. It’s always nice to see something like the snake — you’re not going to see that just wandering around Nebraska. And the kids, just seeing the looks on their faces every time he brings out a different animal.”
During his presentation, Smith asked his crowd:
“Should I do a cute one or a scary one next?”
“Scary one!” was the shouted response.
But when Smith popped back out from behind a backdrop with Charlotte, a tarantula, only a few brave campers and staff allowed him to place her gently on their heads.
Finn, a big-eared fennec fox, and Meatball, an armadillo, received many pets as Smith moved about the MMI gymnasium, holding the animals and instructing campers on the best way to gently pet them.
And the stars of the show were Ella, a baby kangaroo, and Tripod, a three-legged alligator who, Smith said, has been coming to Camp Munroe for at least a decade.
Tripod, Smith admits, is his own personal favorite.
“He’s been with us for so long,” he said. “Everywhere we go, kids recognize him, they know him. Now we’re starting to see people who have gotten into like veterinary careers, who tell us, ‘Tripod came to my school in sixth grade.’”
Camp Munroe also is one of Smith’s favorites.
“The kids here are always fantastic,” he said. “They are eager to learn about and meet the animals. Just to see their faces … it was constant laughing, just pure enjoyment. So, it’s a really fun group to come out to.”
Smith seemed especially impressed by camper Jahmir Blankman, who sat at the front, asked questions, and almost matched Smith animal fact for animal fact.
“He knew his stuff,” Smith said.
Ironically, it was a desire to avoid animals that first brought Zeitner to MMI.
“My mom told me that I had to either walk dogs at the Humane Society or spend a week volunteering at a summer camp,” he said. “And after the first day at Camp Munroe, I went home and said, “I can do more than a week, right?’ From there, I volunteered and was a part timer. Figuring out what direction I wanted to work in within the special needs community helped me, first with teaching, and then, when a full-time position opened back up here, it brought me back home.”
