HELENA — With tarantulas, pythons, and chinchillas, one Helena business brings exotic animals to your events.
"[To] spark the love and joy of animals. I mean, we share this world with them, and I think it's important to educate everybody that this world is theirs as well as ours," said Animal Tracks Outreach Founder and Animal Educator Christina Wetherall.
She started Animal Tracks Outreach in 2019. What began as a few chinchillas and reptiles has now grown to around 45 animals.
"It kinda changes monthly. It's hard to keep track of everybody," Wetherall said.
She studied through an Exotic Animal Training and Management Program at Moorpark College in California, but her love of animals started much earlier.
"I was four, and I think [I was at] a zoo in Tennessee, and I fell in love with the hippos. And it just kind of...went downhill from there. So yeah, I'm the crazy animal lady that I am now," she said.
Wetherall cannot say no to helping animals; about 90 percent of her animals have been rescued.
She said, "Finding animals off of Facebook, Craigslist, people that can't take care of the animals anymore or have realized 'oh my god, I have this exotic animal, and I don't know how to care for it.'"
While she says they are maxed out on animals, she would be willing to make room for one.
"We would love to get a skunk, but I have to get a wildlife license before I do that," she said.
Wetherall checks in with the animals several times daily, cleaning and feeding them their individualized diets.
Animal Tracks Outreach welcomes requests for any events, and they are willing to travel as far as Bozeman.
If you'd like to get "edzoocated," you can hire them for your events here.
