Move 'Em Out

Today, the Howard Street location of California Academy of Sciences closes. Soon after, it embarks on the forbidding activity of transporting a museum's worth of pythons, penguins, poison dart frogs, electric eels, spiders, and thousands of other critters across the city to their new home in a grass-roof luxury high-rise next to the de Young. But due to city regulations and Gary Larson copyright law, the organizers can't just fling open the back of a U-Haul and say, "Pile in, boys! The python's driving!" They need stuff, both to help the critters travel and then settle into their new digs, and at today's Great Migration Celebration, they want you to give it to them. They need butterfly nets, orchid bark, and feeding tongs; swim rings, whiffle balls, and watering wands; pet crates, glue guns, and square shovels; Sphagnum moss, clamp lamps, and one Japanese saw. Also on the list is a Kenmore 12-gallon humidifier. Most important, in our eyes, is a new "Boomer Ball for Diego, the green sea turtle." Bringing a needed object gets you into today's celebration for free (check the site for the full list of items and where to get them), and festivities include talks about the moving process, slideshows, arts and crafts, and other family friendly activities throughout the day, capping with a closing ceremony at 4 p.m.
Sun., Jan. 6, 10 a.m., 2008