Moniteau High School club is for the rare animals and humans
CHERRY TWP — Some classrooms have a class pet. Moniteau Jr./Sr. High School has about 25 of them.
And the pets raised by students in Moniteau’s Creepers and Crawlers club don’t all just need to be taken for walks and fed every day — some of them need to shed their skin, spend hours under a heat lamp every day or chew on cardboard to file their teeth down. Because, in addition to the dogs the high school students train to provide schoolwide support, club members also care for snakes, rodents, lizards, a bird and a tortoise.
For more than 15 years, Creepers and Crawlers has been a school club, led by faculty adviser Adele Palagallo. Anyone in the school can join the club, even if they have no experience taking care of nonmammal pets, and many have signed up because of the allure of these animals.
“It’s an outlet for kids who really love animals, and it gives them a chance to come together and learn about the animals,” Palagallo said. “They might need a little pick-me-up, a place for them to belong, a reason for them to stay out of trouble.”
Most of the animals are kept in enclosures in Palagallo’s classroom, where she also teaches biology, ecology, zoology and animal science; some are kept in hallway enclosures, which garner attention from many people who pass by, she said.
Through weekly meetings of the club, Palagallo teaches the students about each animal, how to care for them, and what to feed them and how often. Breaks during the school year mean some of the animals need someone to take them home for a while, which Palagallo also prepares members of the club to do.
“Any time you work with animals, animals bite, you could get peed on, you’re going to get pooped on — it’s part of the territory,” Palagallo said. “We’re not going to set someone up with something they’re not comfortable with. There’s always communication.”
Creepers and Crawlers is led this year by twin sisters Aurora and Emma Campbell, who are now in 12th grade and have been in the club since their freshman year. The two are co-presidents of the club, while 12th grade student Alexis Vogel is vice president.
The sisters Campbell each said they had never dealt with animals like lizards or birds when they first joined the club years ago, but the opportunity to work with these creatures at school was too good to pass up. They said they now have interesting pets of their own at home, but they also take some of the school animals home with them over breaks.
“During Christmas break, all the animals go home,” Emma said. “Thanksgiving break, everybody but the snakes go home, because we’ll feed them when we come back.
Palagallo said she has seen the twins’ personal growth since they first joined the club — going from introverted quiet students to knowledgeable leaders of the group.
She said the club has always been a bastion for students who don’t necessarily fit into other clubs, sports or extracurricular activities at the school. Some students just feel more comfortable in an environment filled with animals.
“Maybe they’re not really athletic, maybe they’re not really artistic and they don’t belong in any other club, but they want to do something, and this is a good place for them,” Palagallo said.
With the end of their high school years approaching, Aurora and Emma each said they will miss the animals once they graduate from the school. Aurora said she has become fond of the school’s tarantulas, which she learned more about through Creepers and Crawlers.
“Tarantulas are native to pretty much everywhere, except Antarctica. I think all these guys are Central America,” Aurora said.
Even though the two will miss the school’s animals, they each said they plan to go into biology education post-high school, having been partially inspired by the club to pursue careers in the field.
“I want to be a vet tech,” Aurora said.
“I’m going to go to school for biological science and hopefully work at a zoo,” Emma said.
All around Palagallo’s classroom are enclosures of different types. The glass ones are mostly filled with plants and foliage, all laid onto a dirt surface and lit by a heat lamp — the reptile houses. There are a few cages made mostly of bars with straw-covered floors and climbing racks, which are for rodents, like rats; and there are some small, dark glass enclosures, which house tarantulas.
There also is a pen where the three dogs hang out, when not being tended to by the students; and in the back of the room is a pen with a mulch-covered ground, which houses a 30-year-old sulcata tortoise named Henry.
The tortoise is a favorite of many club members — and many of the school’s students.
“He eats about 4 pounds of food a day,” Emma said.
The club also moved a few enclosures into the hallway near Palagallo’s classroom, so students, teachers and visitors alike can see some of the animals.
“Each of the animals, we have identification, fun facts about them,” Palagallo said. “A lot of the cages that these guys put together are bioactive, so you’ll see a lot of live plants in there, trying to make it as natural as possible.”
Once an animal in the “zoo” dies, the club preserves its body in a jar and keeps it on a shelf in Palagallo’s classroom. Palagallo said this is a memorial to the animals the school has lost, but preserving their bodies can also teach students lessons about biology and preservation.
The animals the club cares for arrived at Moniteau through many different avenues. Some of the animals came from pet stores that couldn’t take in anything besides dogs and cats; some were donated to the school; and some are rescues from sanctuaries or from animal welfare agencies.
According to Palagallo, the club gets “donations” of animals from people of the community, and the club also accepts monetary donations, which are all put toward care for the animals and supplies.
Palagallo added that the club was started and continually supported by a Moniteau High School student, Caleb Kiely, who died in June 2023. Kiely not only came up with the name for the club, but started an annual fundraiser to gather donations for the club, which Palagallo said still takes place each year, and now honors Kiely and his contributions to the school.
“He had a huge passion for animals,” Palagallo said of Kiely. “We do a big event in April that he started 15 years ago, but now we do it in his honor as well.”
