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Local zoologist grows roadside zoo to a modern zoo

By Staff | Oct 14, 2016

BARB BARRETT/The Luminary Native to Muncy and born in Clarkstown, Clyde Peeling has mastered his boyhood dream of starting a zoo. At the James V. Brown Library on Friday, October 7, he recaptured his accomplishments and reviewed his book "Reptiland: How a Boyhood Dream became a Modern Zoo" which he wrote in 2014. In the forefront on the podium is a guest gekko who came along with him.

WILLIAMSPORT – Clyde Peeling is an enigma. Most people would not take live reptiles on road trips across the country to traveling zoos, but Clyde Peeling, who was born in rural Clarkstown, PA wanted to make his dream come true.

Now that he is much older, and looking back at what he started with Reptiland, a popular feature attraction in Allenwood, he describes his unique experiences in a book, ‘Reptiland: How a Boyhood dream became a Modern Zoo.’ As he spoke to a well attended audience at the James V. Brown Library on Friday, October 7, Clyde Peeling recaptured some of these challenging but whimsical times that brought him to where he is today.

He was a “Muncy boy,” he said. In school, Clyde remembers his guidance counselor as he looked at his report card in his senior year. “How are you going to make a living?” he asked. Clyde’s response told him, “I’m going to build a reptile zoo!” And the counselor replied, “No, what are you really going to do?”

It was in 1964 when Clyde Peeling opened Reptiland, and was told by many it was “the worst location,” as most of the zoos are located in more populous places. Despite that, he managed to keep his dream alive. As a young boy, Peeling enjoyed the road side zoos and loved the animals. He started with a reptile garden in his parent’s yard.

A tornado in the 80’s caused some destruction, but he kept going with Reptiland. “It was only open from Memorial Day through Labor Day,” said Peeling.

During the rest of the year in the 60s, 70s and 80s, he spent doing lectures on the road working with agencies through California and Philadelphia. “I did 460 lectures a year, traveling with reptiles.” It was incedible, there was never a fatality. He kept them in special boxes with hot water bottles to keep them warm. “I had to keep them alive somehow. Finding food was a problem. I was buying hundreds of baby chicks,” he said and would look for hotels near chicken hatcheries.

Peeling related a time when he received a phone call at 3 a.m. from the front desk at a hotel in Salt Lake City who told him that, “his neighbor thinks he hears chickens in your room!” Putting alligators in bathtubs and keeping them alive in the winter were just a few things he had to encounter.

With a chuckle, Peeling told the story of an almost escaped python. The snake was halfway through an air vent, and when Clyde could not move the reptile with his bare hands because it was so hard and tensed up from being stuck, Clyde made a lasso from a curtain cord and managed to pull the python back into the room.

Peeling did over 5,000 lectures across the United States to schools and universities.

In the mid 80s Reptiland became accredited with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and to this day has maintained its membership.

Clyde’s sons, Chad and Elliot now run the business at its original location on Rt. 15 in Allenwood. They have set up traveling exhibitions featuring live reptiles. According to Clyde, they built the first model for $110,000 for the Liberty Science Center in New Jersey. “It was Frogs: A Chorus of Color,” Clyde added. “Now we have ‘Scoop on Poop’ and we just added one on crocodiles which is at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.”

There are 6 traveling exhibits which is now the biggest part of the business for Reptiland with a well equipped staff to take care of the reptiles.

“There have been growing pains along the way,” concluded Peeling who now spends much of his time with conservation efforts. “We have a growing population now, and a fragmented planet with islands,” he said. Animals with the lowest genetic diversity are now going extinct. “Zoos are like islands,” Peeling said who is trying to save populations of animals. Peeling is delving himself into studies and research on animals and genetics working with the Population Management Center hosted through the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

He serves on the Wildlife Conservation and Management Committee and other committees of the American Zoological Association. Breeding eggs and managing sustainable populations of reptiles, Peeling said, “Where do you find the wild? There are few places untouched by humans.”

Local zoologist grows roadside zoo to a modern zoo

By Staff | Oct 14, 2016

BARB BARRETT/The Luminary Native to Muncy and born in Clarkstown, Clyde Peeling has mastered his boyhood dream of starting a zoo. At the James V. Brown Library on Friday, October 7, he recaptured his accomplishments and reviewed his book "Reptiland: How a Boyhood Dream became a Modern Zoo" which he wrote in 2014. In the forefront on the podium is a guest gekko who came along with him.

WILLIAMSPORT – Clyde Peeling is an enigma. Most people would not take live reptiles on road trips across the country to traveling zoos, but Clyde Peeling, who was born in rural Clarkstown, PA wanted to make his dream come true.

Now that he is much older, and looking back at what he started with Reptiland, a popular feature attraction in Allenwood, he describes his unique experiences in a book, ‘Reptiland: How a Boyhood dream became a Modern Zoo.’ As he spoke to a well attended audience at the James V. Brown Library on Friday, October 7, Clyde Peeling recaptured some of these challenging but whimsical times that brought him to where he is today.

He was a “Muncy boy,” he said. In school, Clyde remembers his guidance counselor as he looked at his report card in his senior year. “How are you going to make a living?” he asked. Clyde’s response told him, “I’m going to build a reptile zoo!” And the counselor replied, “No, what are you really going to do?”

It was in 1964 when Clyde Peeling opened Reptiland, and was told by many it was “the worst location,” as most of the zoos are located in more populous places. Despite that, he managed to keep his dream alive. As a young boy, Peeling enjoyed the road side zoos and loved the animals. He started with a reptile garden in his parent’s yard.

A tornado in the 80’s caused some destruction, but he kept going with Reptiland. “It was only open from Memorial Day through Labor Day,” said Peeling.

During the rest of the year in the 60s, 70s and 80s, he spent doing lectures on the road working with agencies through California and Philadelphia. “I did 460 lectures a year, traveling with reptiles.” It was incedible, there was never a fatality. He kept them in special boxes with hot water bottles to keep them warm. “I had to keep them alive somehow. Finding food was a problem. I was buying hundreds of baby chicks,” he said and would look for hotels near chicken hatcheries.

Peeling related a time when he received a phone call at 3 a.m. from the front desk at a hotel in Salt Lake City who told him that, “his neighbor thinks he hears chickens in your room!” Putting alligators in bathtubs and keeping them alive in the winter were just a few things he had to encounter.

With a chuckle, Peeling told the story of an almost escaped python. The snake was halfway through an air vent, and when Clyde could not move the reptile with his bare hands because it was so hard and tensed up from being stuck, Clyde made a lasso from a curtain cord and managed to pull the python back into the room.

Peeling did over 5,000 lectures across the United States to schools and universities.

In the mid 80s Reptiland became accredited with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and to this day has maintained its membership.

Clyde’s sons, Chad and Elliot now run the business at its original location on Rt. 15 in Allenwood. They have set up traveling exhibitions featuring live reptiles. According to Clyde, they built the first model for $110,000 for the Liberty Science Center in New Jersey. “It was Frogs: A Chorus of Color,” Clyde added. “Now we have ‘Scoop on Poop’ and we just added one on crocodiles which is at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.”

There are 6 traveling exhibits which is now the biggest part of the business for Reptiland with a well equipped staff to take care of the reptiles.

“There have been growing pains along the way,” concluded Peeling who now spends much of his time with conservation efforts. “We have a growing population now, and a fragmented planet with islands,” he said. Animals with the lowest genetic diversity are now going extinct. “Zoos are like islands,” Peeling said who is trying to save populations of animals. Peeling is delving himself into studies and research on animals and genetics working with the Population Management Center hosted through the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

He serves on the Wildlife Conservation and Management Committee and other committees of the American Zoological Association. Breeding eggs and managing sustainable populations of reptiles, Peeling said, “Where do you find the wild? There are few places untouched by humans.”