McNeal Elementary visits with the wild side

Kara Kimes turned to a class of McNeal Elementary students before she opened the large, black bin holding a mysterious creature. 

This next animal was her favorite, she said.

“But, you can’t scream,” Kimes, a Sarasota Jungle Gardens zookeeper, said. “Say it for me —“ 

And the first-grade class repeated for her, “we won’t scream.”

The students held in their screams, although a few gasps did escape them, as Kimes lifted a giant, nearly 5-foot black-throated monitor named Captain Blackbeard from his container and set him on the ground. He blinked his orange eyes and flicked his long grey tongue out at students. A few shrunk away with terrified delight as he swayed their way, and Kimes explained how he was smelling the students with his tongue. She reassured them, although he was a predatory animal, humans were not on his menu.

Kimes, daughter of McNeal’s science teacher Kathy Kimes and niece of first-grade teacher Karen Washington, brought both feathered, furry and scaly creatures into the classroom for students to touch and observe Wednesday, May 4.