Steve Featherstone moved his family up to Bonfield last fall.
But his family is not a traditional one.
Yes, it’s a large family that includes three 18-year-olds and a 26-year-old.
Fernando, is an 18-year-old Green Wing Macau, Tug Boat, is an 18-year-old Red Foot Tortoise, and last but not least is a 12-foot long Green Anaconda named Julius Squeezer.
Featherstone has uprooted his zoo business from Hamilton and moved it to the South shore of Lake Nosbonsing where he has started a new business simpley called Reptile Adventure Camp.
He’s transformed his property into a reptile game farm with the animals all kept in comfortable and secure living areas in a large garage type facility.
“I brought the animals that I have had for a long time so I have a King Snake that’s 26 years old and most people don’t even realize they can live that long - I got him when I was in high school,” said Featherstone.
“We used to camp and holiday a lot in the Huntsville and North Bay area, we liked the hunting and kayaking so our goal was to start working 20 and 30 hour weeks and not 120 and spending time with things we enjoy doing while we are still young enough to do it.”
Featherstone has been in operation since November of 2016 and has done close to 100 shows for various groups from school age kids to those at retirement homes in the area.
His goal at many of these shows is to get the uncomfortable viewers, more comfortable and understanding of reptiles.
“There’s a lot of misconceptions unfortunately with these animals and a lot of our goal with our shows is talking about their different defence mechanisms and adaptations and the way they try and survive and just stay out of people’s way,” he explained.
“They don’t really want anything to do with us and that’s what a lot of people don’t understand about these guys.”
However, Featherstone has been doing more than just nature shows since me moved here.
In fact, since his arrival he says he’s helped out on 19 different animal rescues, including taking in a four-foot long caiman that had outgrown its enclosure at a home in Mattawa.
So much like back in Hamilton, Featherstone has become a welcome resource for the OSPCA.
“There are not a lot of resources for people out this way from what we’ve found so as soon as people found out we were here we were getting a lot of calls from public surrenders from their family to our family saying ‘I’ve got this animal and it’s too big,’” he said.
He says running shows is actually a means to pay the rent for his scaly friends.
“So the idea behind doing the programs again is two-fold, it’s so the animals can kind of pay for themselves and we can provide for them, and second just to keep me involved,” he said.
“I enjoy doing the presentations and I enjoy meeting people and being involved that way.”
Featherstone is still in the midst of renovations of his large animal enclosure but this summer he will be offering some events on the South Shore road property.
He’s inviting the public to the Reptile Camp on June 17th as part the Bonfield Community Day festivities.
