Beech Tree News Network

Our tiny but mighty library has been very busy this summer hosting their weekly children's programs.  This week’s program was heavily attended with Librarian Kathy Lawrence stopping the head count at 225 as children and their care givers continued to pack the conference room.

Tychsen Williams is one of five handlers at The Kentucky Reptile Zoo in Slade, Kentucky.  During this exhibition he introduced the children to snakes, turtles, a baby alligator rescued from an illegal owner, and his side kick the Northern Blue Tongue Skink named Lola.

Boasting one of the largest venomous snake collections in the world, The Kentucky Reptile Museum can be found tucked away in Slade, Kentucky.  Not only is the facility a tourist attraction for reptile lovers to visit, it is one of the main venom extraction facilities in the world.  Mr. Williams discussed the importance of having venom available to the research and medical communities.  Aside from the common anti-venoms that is used in response to snake bites, venom is being used in the following research fields:

• Several vemons have great anti-viral properties for healing.
• A drug called Ancrod is administered to some individuals when having a stroke.  This drug carries venom from the Malayn Pit Viper.
• Diluted Russell Viper Venom is used to test for lupus anticoagulants.
• A protein found in our local species of Copperhead venom is found to slow down and, in some instances, block new growth of tumors in breast cancer.
• The venom from the Black Mamba is being used to understand and research a possible cure for Alzheimer’s and Parkinsons Disease.

One by one, the handler took each animal out of its crate and began to speak about its origins, habitat, and any special characteristics they may have. After showing each animal, time was given for questions from the audience.  Some children and even adults wouldn’t have had these up-close experiences without the library scheduling and paying for these educational programs for our county.

Always remember, libraries are not just thought of as places to acquire books and periodicals anymore.  They have become a gathering location for those in the county who have a desire to sit in on educational talks such as this one, meet with their prospective clubs, a planning house for youth school projects, and they are always on hand to help fill out state and federal government paperwork for various forms of aide. Several forms now must be completed online.  Let us not forgot the internet issue in our county…several people arrive daily just to use their free wi-fi because years is a long time to wait for the internet in respective parts of our county and people need it.

As I said in the beginning our county library is tiny but mighty, so stay tuned and grab a schedule from the circulation desk to stay up to date on all the educational programs they are offering.