Birds of prey, reptiles, monkeys and other animals will be gathered under one roof Sunday for Wild Fest at Lockport Township High School East.
A fundraiser for student scholarships as well as animal rescue programs, the event in its third year will feature animals from the Big Run Wolf Ranch in Lockport, Jim Nesci’s Cold Blooded Creatures in Homer Glen, Area 51 Exotics in Brookfield, Incredible Bats in New Lenox and others. A wolf, coyote, porcupine, woodchuck, owls, hawk, eagle and falcon will be on hand along with Bubba, the most famous alligator from Illinois and beyond.
The successor to the original Bubba, who died almost a decade ago, is more than 8 feet long and weighs about 200 pounds, sits on command and gives a ride to one or two lucky kids, said Nesci, a reptile expert.
This “Bubba is more of a phenomenon than the first,” he said, adding the gator recently appeared in the NOVA/National Geographic documentary “Bigger Than T. Rex” and enjoys visiting nursing homes and kids with special needs.
Nesci will give presentations at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. with Bubba plus a smaller alligator named Lucky, who was rescued from a DuPage water treatment facility, a monitor lizard and a tortoise.
“Everything we do is up close and hands on,” he said. “The key of the program is to show another side of animals people don’t get to see. The more people like animals, the better chance they have on the planet.”
Elizabeth Kleist, who runs Area 51 Exotics with her husband, Mike, will share her passion for animals in hopes to educate, inspire and maybe even improve survival rates.
“Education is so important,” she said. “We have to instill that everything is cute and cuddly as a baby, but it grows up and needs to be cared for.”
She will be bringing Lucian, a 10-month-old black-capped capuchin; Einstein, a federally endangered cotton-top tamarin, a squirrel-sized monkey; Rajah, a small-spotted genet, a mammal similar to a mongoose that was bottle fed for its first seven months before graduating to cat food; Rizzo, a savannah monitor; and Milky, a chocolate-colored skunk.
“We allow interaction with our animals as long as the animals and patrons are on their best behavior,” Kleist said.
Wild Fest attendees will learn about the animals’ backgrounds, lifespans and habits, such as how Lucian and Einstein require the most interaction to be tame.
“The primates have 100 percent human contact with us in our home,” she said as Lucian sat with her 3-year-old daughter and quickly unplugged her headset. “Lucian will be with us the next 45 to 50 years. It’s like having a 2-year-old the rest of your life.”
Also at Wild Fest, Incredible Bats will have two Egyptian fruit bats and two African straw-colored bats.
“Throughout the day we will take bats out of the display cages for photos,” said Dan Peterson, bat naturalist and Incredible Bats co-owner. “There will be very limited touching allowed.”
The schedule also includes presentations by Big Run Wolf Ranch at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. and Save Our American Raptors from Earlville, Ill., at 12:30 p.m.
In addition to petting opportunities and educational programs, Wild Fest, presented by the Lockport Township High School District 205 Foundation, also will include a canine demonstration, vendors and concessions.
Wild Fest details
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday
Where: Lockport Township High School East Campus gymnasium, 1333 E. Seventh St., Lockport
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Admission: $8; $5 for kids under 13 and high school and college students
Information: 815-588-8121, 815-588-0044, lths.org or bigrunwolfranch.org