Bonnie and Richard Keller of Bristow are the founders of Reptile Rescue, Inc., a nonprofit organization which shelters, cares for and adopts out reptiles, such as turtles and tortoises, lizards and snakes, as pets.
“I grew up with reptiles in the wild in Central Virginia, catching snakes and lizards- what any kid does who has any interest,” Bonnie Keller said.
When she moved to New Hampshire, Keller began a reptile club as a way to make friends, but once she got the club going, she found people came to her when they could no longer care for their animals.
According to Keller there are many reasons people can no longer keep their reptiles. Sometimes the pet belonged to a child who had since gone off to college; sometimes a new significant other does not feel comfortable living with the animal; but often times in Northern Virginia, she sees military families and diplomats who need to relocate abroad and cannot take their pets with them.
Today Reptile Rescue, Inc. is one of the most successful reptile rescues in the state, even though Keller receives no state or federal money and funds the rescue strictly through donations.
“It’s all volunteer. My husband and I run it," Keller said.
Carol Cable is their one regular volunteer. Cable drives out to Bristow from Front Royal once or more a week because of her love of reptiles. "Other volunteers periodically,” Keller said.
People sometimes bring their reptiles directly to the rescue, but often times the Kellers will receive them from the Prince William County Animal Control. Keller is grateful Animal Control sees her as a resource, since many other counties in Virginia will euthanize reptiles rather than trying to find them new homes.
Often reptile owners even mistreat and abandon their animals.
“We do get abandoned critter. We have one that we took in last week from Prince William Animal Control. He was found in a dumpster. The mentality was, ‘it’s just a lizard.’” Keller said.
But for those who get to know reptiles, they reveal their individual personalities. Keller asserts that most people do not think of reptiles that way, because they have been training to think of them as something frightening.
“In our society people are trained to be afraid of them. It goes back basically to religion the snake in the tree, temping Eve. There are other countries where that is not the way they think. A lot of the media feeds into it with the snakes that chase people,” Keller said.
Because she knows how reptiles can be mistreated, Keller is careful about whom she allows to adopt her reptiles, having them fill out forms and participating in an informal interview before the adoption is finalized.
“We’re not (a pet store). We want to make sure they are taken care of,” Keller said.
Besides rescuing animals, Keller is also an activist for animal welfare, which differs significantly from an animal rights activist.
Whereas animal rights activists primarily promote animals living free in the wild, animal welfare involves ensuring that animals find loving homes with responsible individuals and have access to food and health care.
Anyone looking to adopt a pet or donate to Reptile Rescue, Inc, can visit their website, call the Kellers at 540-605-5640 between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., or visit them on Facebook.
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