Grace Olive Wiley - Mission, Methods, and Controversy

Mission, Methods, and Controversy

Wiley brought much attention while working in Minneapolis, even appearing in national publications like Time and Life. At the time, it was very unusual for a woman to be a curator of reptiles, and Wiley earned a reputation as a "woman without fear." Taking advantage of her fame, Wiley strove to change the public's negative perception of snakes, arguing, “The fear of snakes is cultivated. We are not born with it. Children love snakes as naturally as they love dogs and cats. Don’t be afraid of a reptile’s tongue. The only animal that can hurt you with its tongue is the human being.”

Wiley argued that even venomous snakes were harmless if properly trained. She boasted that she had tamed over 300 venomous snakes in her lifetime, and she routinely handled rattlesnakes, cobras, copperheads, and mambas with her bare hands, eschewing any special instruments like hooks or snake tongs. She also left snakes' cages open for long periods of time and permitted venomous species to crawl throughout her workspace.

Though Wiley did not receive any serious snakebites during her time at the Minneapolis Library, her habits gradually brought her into conflict with many of her colleagues, who feared for Wiley's and their own safety. After a series of disputes, Wiley was finally pressured to leave the Minneapolis Library in 1933. Wiley quickly found new work as a curator of reptiles at the Brookfield Zoo, which opened in the western suburbs of Chicago in 1934, and she brought the library's collection of 236 reptiles and amphibians with her. Unfortunately, her casual snake-handling methods did not endear her to zoo staff members there, either, and after she had allowed 19 snakes to escape from their cages in 1935, she was fired by zoo director Robert Bean.