Creepy Crawlies I Used to Fear (and Now Defend)

Halloween is the one time of year when owls, bats, snakes, spiders, ravens, and vultures get cast as the scary animals. I used to think they’d earned their reputation. Nine years of volunteering with wildlife later, they’re some of my favorite creatures. So with Halloween right around the corner, I’m coming to the defense of animals deemed the spookiest.

The Muscle I Didn't Know I Was Building

I started volunteering at Liberty Wildlife because I was afraid of birds. Not a mild discomfort, a real fear, the kind I'll happily blame on Alfred Hitchcock and nobody else. Nine years later, that fear is gone, and somewhere along the way it took my fear of reptiles, insects, and arachnids down with it. I've told that story before. What I didn't realize until recently is that facing that fear did something else entirely, something that had nothing to do with birds at all.