03/01/2026
Hello, everyone!
What a hectic new year it's been! Our event schedule is absolutely bursting at the seams this year, meaning we are BOOKED! That's a great problem to have! Our events are typically booked out 3 months in advance, meaning when we schedule an appearance somewhere, our volunteers are dedicating their time to our organization to teach you about the animals that come into our care and the interesting facts that have us all ogling over how fascinating herpetology is!
We wanted to address an expectation we have for you, the audience, when Archie's Angels makes an appearance at an event.
Education has always been the center of what we do, the basis of our operations. With that in mind, we try to share that experience with you through table displays, models, and specimens.
It was brought to our attention that not once, but twice, today at Scaled Up Expo, we had two different parties try to swipe our Toad Dissection specimen! This, along with all the other specimens at our table, was purchased with rescue funds.
Where do those rescue funds come from?
Donor dollars.
Where do donor dollars come from?
You.
That's right - donor dollars come from the public, those who have given their hard-earned money to us so that we can give back to the community. It doesn't fund salaries.
When you try to steal from our table or booth, you are directly stealing money from the pockets of donors.
We understand it might be tempting to touch these items, but we have a designated "touch table" if that's something you want to interact with. Specimens like our toad and our skulls are labeled with "DO NOT TOUCH" signs, yet we have seen an increase at expos where attendees are completely ignoring this because they think a volunteer is not looking. Specimens have ended up broken and scratched because of this.
With all due respect, please do not steal from a charity - or anyone, for that matter. Obey the signs. They're not optional. They are there for a reason.
It is a privilege to showcase these models to you and it's something we love to do, but instances like this will forfeit the opportunity to learn from them because we are about to remove them entirely if this keeps up. Scaled Up Expo has been wonderful enough to donate a table to us to showcase models like this so we can share our education & knowledge with you. This does not affect our attendance to this event and in no way do we blame them. Scaled Up does not tolerate any form of theft and monitors this activity via camera systems.
This is not our regular type of post, but if we do not address it, the problem will continue.
Thank you for reading.
Scaled Up Expos
