AURELIUS - Wide-eyed children camped out on the floor of the Fingerlakes Mall with their parents for an educational wildlife show Saturday afternoon, part of the weekend "Outdoor Show" at the Fingerlakes Mall.

The estimated 200 people who gathered for the first of "Bwana Jim's Wildlife Shows" Saturday spilled over from the limited food court seating to the floor as Jim Moulton introduced his audience to the wild reality of snapping turtles, alligators, rattlesnakes and Fennec foxes from Africa.

"It was educational and funny," said Amy Dougherty, who watched the show with a frequent smile. Dougherty, brought her son, Aidan, 6, to see the show.

Further down in the mall, falconer Mark Westman gave a show, "Talons! A Birds-of-Prey Experience," to demonstrate the behavior of Peregrine falcons, red-tailed hawks and the European eagle owl, the largest owl in the world. Several outdoors retailers were also set up at the Outdoor Show.

Most of the animals used in the "Bwana Jim" show were either once injured or were "people's throwaway pets," said Moulton. People abandon their exotic pets, such as boa constrictors, alligators, wallabies and macaws, when they "find out they're boring and that they can kill you," he said.

Moulton said he hopes his show educates people about the high maintenance exotic pets need. If his show doesn't steer people away from buying wild animals as pets, he said he wants to encourage them to prepare themselves by asking thorough questions at the pet store about how big their pet will get and what kind of care they will need.

Moulton, after leaving the alligator wrestling trade, began giving wildlife shows in 1979. He and his wife, Linda, also run a wildlife and nature center in western Pennsylvania where they take in the exotic mammals, reptiles and birds that zoos won't take in.

One of the juvenile alligators that Moulton used in his show was an unwanted pet from Albany. He also brought a barn owl with a vision problem and a baby opossum that he and his wife raised after its mother was killed.

Moulton also aims to educate audience members about handling encounters with some of the wildlife wonders in North America.

Tips included spraying a garden hose at unwanted snakes on their properties instead of shooting or chopping them up. "Snakes are actually an important part of the ecology," he said, noting they are a food source for larger predators and they keep down the population of rodent pests that cause damage to property.

Rattlesnakes are more scared of humans than humans are scared of them, he said, so to avoid being bitten by a rattlesnake, people should give rattlesnakes a berth of 7 or 8 feet. In order to avoid water-loving, black-skinned cottonmouths while fishing or boating down south, Moulton said to steer clear of their hang-outs in high grass and "stay where you can see your feet."

The audience gave a few aborted screeches when Moulton whipped out an alligator snapping turtle, the largest turtle in North America.

Moulton explained that the alligator snapping turtle hangs out at the bottoms of swamps and bayous in the southeast United States. This species of turtle has a pink worm-like lure in the bottom of its mouth, which they wiggle to lure unsuspecting fish. The turtles swallow their prey whole, bones and all.

"It's like a Flintstone garbage disposal," said Moulton, who punctuated his factoids and soundbites with his own amused laughter.

"You don't want to hear the word, 'whoops,' in a snake show," said Moulton as he pretended that a snake was missing from its plastic carrier.

Moulton also joked that people wouldn't need coffee in the morning to wake up if they used alarm clocks that sounded like the rattle of a rattlesnake.

Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net