Jungle Terry entertains with animal friends

Jungle Terry and his animal friends return to Fair

The Lake County Fair is in full swing once again after taking a year off due to the pandemic, and Terry Sullivan, better known locally as Jungle Terry, has also returned with his family-friendly educational animal show.

The Jungle Terry show, a favorite among children who clamor to get a look at Sullivan’s animals, features many different exotics — from a fluffy ferret to a sinister-looking scorpion. On July 27, Sullivan also brought along an albino African pygmy hedgehog, a tortoise, python, pigeon and several others.

The children in attendance were allowed to pet most of the animals, while Sullivan educated them on where the species was from, what was unique about them and how some of the rescued animals ended up in his care.

He explained to the audience that his animals used to be handled and raised by his own children when he started Jungle Terry over 30 years ago. These days they are raised by his grandchildren — so the animals in his care are always very comfortable around young children.

“I don’t want you to be afraid,” Sullivan told the kids. “It doesn’t matter — hairy, scary, spiny, slimy, stinky or creepy— they’re all good.”

Sullivan, an Ashtabula

“I don’t want you to be afraid. It doesn’t matter — hairy, scary, spiny, slimy, stinky or creepy— they’re all good.” —Terry Sullivan, better known as Jungle Terry, told the kids

resident, said he has been bringing his animal show to the Lake County Fair for at least the past decade, and after it was cancelled in 2020, he was happy to be back this year. The resurgence of events has kept Sullivan and his animal companions quite busy as of late, he explained, as they are often booked to perform multiple times a day.

“I’m glad to be back, it feels good,” he said.

While being off for a year, Sullivan added a few new faces to his animal crew.

“Just last year I got the ferret, and I got the milk snake, Tigger,” he said. “The skunk and chicken have been with me for a while, but the fan-tailed pigeon is new too. So I’ve added a few different ones, I try to add only a couple every year. You’ve got to still have all your usuals.”

Sullivan said that his consistent fan favorites are his python and tortoise, who are also the largest of his animals that he brought to the fairgrounds. Audience members were invited to help lift and carry the python, to the delight of many kids who had never gotten to touch a snake before — let alone one that was several feet long.

“Those are always our best, they can sit with them, they feel comfortable with them,” Sullivan said.

Local fair visitors Sheena Crawford and her son Carson agreed — Carson said his favorite part of the Jungle Terry show was getting to meet and touch the python, aptly named Stretchy.

“We loved it,” the Crawfords agreed.

They come to enjoy the fair festivities every year.

The Lake County Fair runs through Aug. 1, with more Jungle Terry shows throughout the week. For a full schedule of performances, visit https://lakecountyfair.org/jungleterry/

PHOTOS BY SHEENA HOLLAND DOLAN — THE NEWS-HERALD Another animal children were excited to pet was a brown skunk — which had been surgically de-scented.

Terry Sullivan, better known as Jungle Terry, lets children in the audience pet his African pygmy hedgehog, Snowball, at his exotic animal show.

Audience members got to do a meet-and-greet with Stretchy the python out on the grass after the show.