One of the First Rescues

I ran the Charm City Reptile and Amphibian Rescue for 14 years (no longer in operation). 

In the Beginning

This was my first time picking up animals. I stopped doing that after a few years. People surrendering animals brought them to me, or, in the most extreme cases, I would send a volunteer. In the beginning, there were no volunteers.

I was already a member of the Maryland Herpetological Society, more familiarly known as the Herp Society. They wanted to start a rescue service. There was a spreadsheet of names of people who wanted to adopt certain animals. They also maintained a list of people who wanted to surrender animals. It could never work. 

First of all, the people who want to surrender animals usually want to do it immediately. And they rarely have animals that people want to adopt. So the Herp Society decided to give up that idea.

On My Own 

I volunteered to coordinate everything and keep the animals until homes could be found for them. There was a list of people who wanted to help out, but none of them could ever help when I asked them. And I asked them frequently. That list got scrapped quickly.

Originally, I had to start doing rescue pretty much on my own. But an ever-evolving staff eventually became a great group.

My First Call

When I first started, a phone call came in about picking up snakes. I can’t even remember what kind of snakes the people had. Maybe one was a California king. Another was a tri-color, maybe a Nelson’s or Sinaloan milk snake? I could look back at my records, but then that would be cheating. (They are called milk snakes because it was originally thought they were found in barns because they wanted to drink milk. In reality, they were looking for rodents, which are commonly found in barns.)

The woman lived in Glen Burnie, or near there. She described the house as having “yam colored” trim when giving me directions. Too good to just say orange? I didn’t get it. She used the words “yam colored” several times in the conversation. Okay, I get it! It’s got yam colored trim! And, can I just mention the fact that yam colored, orange or tangerine are all weird colors for a house! Yeah, it was just the trim on the house, but it still sounded weird to me.

I loaded up a couple of containers in my car and headed out toward Glen Burnie, hoping I didn’t get lost. There were no GPS devices in those days. I had to rely on a good, old-fashioned map. I headed down the road…

Damn if that house didn’t have yam colored trim! I have to say, that was the perfect description. 

Donations and Barter

That was also back before we required a surrender donation. I was innocent back then! People think that the bills are magically paid or that “the government” gives rescues money. Not true at all. The only way we ever got money was to beg for it! I must admit, I’ve become quite a good beggar over the years.

I was also not above the barter system to get what we needed done. Mostly, though, it was just asking for help. I have a really hard time asking for help for myself. Asking for the animals is easy. Most people don’t have a love for our scaly friends. They would rather give money, supplies, etc. for dog and cat rescues. Luckily, the public is becoming more and more aware of the need for assistance to exotic pet rescues. Frogs and turtles are lucky. They’re cute! Most people think so anyway. I’m very thankful that people’s attitudes are changing for the reptiles.

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Read more by Holli Friedland.