How to find the wine chiller where snakes are hibernating
I've written stories about Rob Carmichael before -- he's a curator at the Wildlife Discovery Nature Center in Lake Forest and enamored with reptiles, amphibians, hawks and other wildlife. He's often scouting for critters and helping other biologists with their work. As such, his voice mail is often clogged with messages with no room for more.
So once in a while, I send him an email -- How's it going? What's new?
Well, he replied, there was a Reptile Rampage happening at the Discovery Center for kids and adults to learn more about snakes. OK. A calendar item.
Oh, and by the way, another very interesting project involves the decommissioning of the Zion Nuclear Plant. Snakes were hibernating underground underneath old railroad tracks that were going to be removed. And then, this gem:
[NOTE TO JOURNALISM STUDENTS: SENTENCES SUCH AS THE FOLLOWING WILL ALWAYS CONTAIN A STORY. -- EDs.]
"We received special permission to be on the site when the RR ties were being removed and currently have around 250 snakes being hibernated at the discovery center. We even purchased a special wine chiller to act as an artificial hibernating den," Carmichael wrote.