Quote Originally Posted by blackcrystal22 View Post
Is there any type of permit out there that could prevent such lawsuits from occurring?

What do the educational groups do to avoid such a case when they go to shows and such with their animals? I assume they don't make everyone sign a release.
We don't do anything. We do have the owners of the animals sign a form stating that they know what the rules are (always keep control of your animal, don't let people pet it on the head etc...) But we have thousands of people coming to our 'hands on' shows that touch and pet our snakes and lizards and turtles (but not the amphibians since it's bad for the amphibians, not because it's bad for the people)

My Mom was a second grade teacher and had a corn snake as a classroom pet for many many years until she retired. The snake was one of the first ones that I hatched when I started captive breeding. She never had to have the kids sign any kind of release form and just about every kid in the school handled that snake at one time or another.