On Wednesday, April 18, Nickel City Reptiles and Exotics visited Niagara University for it’s annual Ridgefest to give students an educational experience with wildlife. NU’s Club for Animal Rights, Education and Sustainability and other students protested this event because they felt that Musial’s touring showcase was exploiting the animals when they were supposed to be rehabilitated in a sanctuary.

Musial began his presentation by throwing up his middle fingers and saying, “I have never received such a warm welcome by a group of students saying I’m number one … ”

As the beginning kept going, he continued, “This is what I do for a living, but not only do I do this for a living but I put my money where my mouth is. You know nothing about animals rights, until you go to Africa. Nobody loves animals more than me. Everyone’s gonna have haters, if you wanna come at me, come at me. But you know what? Put your money where your mouth is.”

Commenting on the protesters after the event, Musial said that, “I thought it was awesome, it was one heck of a welcoming committee. What I need to tell people is to not judge a book by a cover. Know the facts before they react.”

“Animals are not ours to use for food, for clothing, for entertainment or for any other purpose,” said Ben Schian, co-founder of NU CARES. “This is because animals are individuals, not things – someone not something. The continuous references to these animals, many being babies, as ‘it’ or ‘things’ would suggest that the presenter doesn’t see animals as individuals, but rather as props that he can use for his show.”

“The beginning of the event was inappropriate, going off on how our animals rights club didn’t know anything about animals [unless they’ve traveled the world].” said Jess Michalski, co-founder of NU CARES. “Animals aren’t ours to use in any extent. When we bring them in tonight they’re not local animals, they’re exotic. The point we’re trying to make is that bringing them onto campus and when students leave, what did they learn? Okay, so you saw a monkey, you saw a big frog, you saw a snake, did that change the way you conserve nature?”

NU offers both Animal Ethics and Critical Animal Studies classes on campus. “These classes are meant to educate about issues regarding animals, and for him to say that you can’t know about animal rights until you’ve done what he’s done, is to completely discredit all the work that these professors have put into their fields over the years.” said Schian. While not everyone gets the opportunity to go to another country to study animals, they can still study them on a local level.

“I think he come across as an educator and an entertainer so that was his choice as far as the balance,” said Bill Newton, Assistant Director of Campus Activities. “It’s my job sometimes to weed through that, to understand if this show is going to be appropriate for our university. Sometimes I don’t know that until I really get to see someone’s show like that. For somebody like him, every show is different, so I think he was trying to get the audience’s attention and also educate them at the same time, so it’s just a matter of opinion as to did he do that or not.”

“Now to my understanding, there were some things said that weren’t nearly as polished as they could’ve been,”  said Dean of Students, Jason Jakubowski. “I think that when we have educational type programs, there needs to be a higher intellectual standard tied to events like this, given the sensitivity of it. Going forward, when we have these types of programs on campus, I’ll be part of the negotiation process to make sure that our presenters are polished, that they understand who their audience is and that there is this forum for question and answer. Every student affairs event that is educational in nature, we’re going to build into the contract that there is dialogue. It was not the institution [that shut down the Q&A], that’s not something we would do. It may have been because it started late, but I plan on reconnecting with Jeff to find out more details as to why those questions weren’t answered.”

“Exotic animals do not belong in Buffalo and they do not belong in a classroom at Niagara University especially in the context of having an animal rights club on campus. We will not let this slide without showing our concerns and using our voices for the voiceless animals.” said Michalski.

“I’ll try to work with club representatives moving forward, especially in the near future especially when it involves programs that involve animals,”  said Newton.

“There’s a variety of students and administration that goes into choosing what our programs are,” said Jakubowski. “Going forward, if we have events that involve animals, we want to make sure that those animals are being transported and kept here, while they’re here, with a great deal of care. I think we’re due the responsibility to the animals and, of course, to the students.”

With two days of planning, NU CARES has made institutional changes because of their passion for animal liberation.