Duane Foster with a few of his animals.
DENBIGH, Clarendon— A cellular petting zoo was a massive hit with patrons at the Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show. While solely the courageous petted the snakes and iguana, many loved photograph ops with the colorful birds, fluffy rabbits, and different animals that regarded a lot much less daunting.
According to Duane Foster from Exotic Pet Exhibits, this has been considered one of their greatest experiences at Denbigh.
“Persons have stated this has been probably the most thrilling tents they’ve been to and this declare was evident by the group that gathered across the tent as individuals regarded on and others took possibilities taking photographs with the animals. We have all the time been at the Denbigh present however by no means took this many animals. This 12 months we teamed up with 4-H and so we’re sharing their area,” he stated.
“Coming to Denbigh has been nice, particularly to see the love that persons are displaying us and the way they arrive to work together with our animals and the way mild they’re. It exhibits that there are good folks round that admire this stuff that nature has given us,” he added.
As somebody who has personally benefited from the therapeutic results of partaking with animals when he was going by difficult occasions, Foster was keen to point out them off to all who visited the sales space.
“The animals ended up taking part in a nice function in my life. Looking after them helped me to recover from stress, anger, helped with self-control and trauma. Mi inform folks enuh to know and admire an animal, you may admire any human being. Remember, animals have the selection of leaving when you allow them to go, however they all the time come again, whereas human beings in your circle have information and understanding and so they use you. So it is a pleasure for me to have these animals,” he stated.
A patron at the present, who gave his identify as Owen, visited the petting zoo along with his 11-year-old daughter, was clearly impressed.
“It’s a good look. My daughter wished to see what was occurring so we came visiting right here. She solely pet one of many canines however will not pet the opposite animals as she is a little afraid,” he stated.
Foster is aware of how essential it’s for youngsters to study to understand animals at an early age, like he did.
“I used to be introduced up with a lot of animals, however my grandmother had a lot of macaws and I had a pal, Gavin Hayles, who had a number of doves. A bond developed between us after which we determined to go massive and unique. Then the group began to develop increasingly more so we purchased extra animals and introduced them into Jamaica,” he stated of his journey to launching Exotic Pets Exhibits.
All their animals had been legally imported and their assortment doesn’t embody species which can be protected or endemic to Jamaica, he burdened.
“We deal with a big selection of pets, resembling macaws, yellow-naped Amazon, love birds, budgies, and quails and a number of other kinds of pheasants, canines, rabbits, hamsters, snakes, amongst others,” stated Foster.
Outside of Denbigh, the flexibleness of a cellular petting zoo permits the group to do photograph shoots, birthday events, and different actions and occasions which have the capability to accommodate pets.
“We use them for rehabilitation functions, so if you happen to’re a pet lover you may come and spend time with our animals. We additionally go to varsities in rural areas that can’t afford to return to the zoo in Kingston or Portmore. We carry the animals to them and make them have a blast for the day,” stated Foster.
Duane Foster displaying a patron the best way to pet the snake.
Some of the unique birds on show at Denbigh.
A member of the Exotic Pet Exhibits group seems to be on as a little woman pets the love birds.