'Pets 101!' to feature Chandler location

by Weldon B. Johnson - Dec. 3, 2011 06:01 AM
The Arizona Republic

Local fans of the Animal Planet television program, "Pets 101!" might notice some familiar scenes and faces on Dec. 10 episodes of the show.

Lisa Limbert, a Gilbert resident who rehabilitates mammals and birds, will appear on the two episodes of the program to be broadcast that night. Limbert and three of the 59 animals in her care were filmed for the show at Chandler's Environmental Education Center.

On the 8 p.m. episode, Limbert will be featured with her brush-tail bettong as well as a cuscus named Brisbane for a segment titled "Australian Invaders." The bettong and cuscus are Australian marsupials.

In the 9 p.m. show Limbert takes part in a segment, "South American Invaders," along with her Patagonian cavy named Quinn. The cavy is a large rodent native to Argentina and other parts of South America.

"Animal Planet is used to reaching out to people in the animal world," Limbert said. "I'm part of the zoo community as well. There are some things that I raise that are very rare that the zoos want to get their hands on. It's not that hard for people to get my name."

Limbert is licensed through the Arizona Game and Fish Department to care for 59 different types of animals. She serves as a wildlife rehabilitator with East Valley Wildlife, a network of individuals licensed to take care of animals.

She regularly uses the animals in her care for educational purposes through the Chandler and Gilbert parks and recreation programs. When she was contacted by producers at the Animal Planet network last May, she arranged to conduct sessions of her "Meet the Creature" classes at the Environmental Education Center.

"We're very excited about it," said P.J. Conover, assistant naturalist at the Environmental Education Center. "It's wonderful working with Lisa because of the type of opportunities she can bring to Chandler."

Limbert said she wanted to stress that even though the show is called "Pets 101!", she would not recommend keeping animals such as the ones featured as pets. She is trained and licensed to handle such creatures and said it requires significant work to care for them properly. The animals at her home are not dangerous - she said the largest mammal in her collection is a beaver - but they aren't the average pets.

"They really wanted to feature the cuscus; there aren't many of them in this country," Limbert said. "But to call it a pet is ludicrous. I told them if they wanted to film my animals they had to do it in the context that I use them. I'm proud of my collection, but I do not recommend these animals as pets. I'm hopeful that when the show airs, they'll come off in the context I recommend, but I have no control over that."

Source: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/12/01/20111201chandler-pets-101-location.html

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