Exotic animal show at College of DuPage

College of DuPage freshman Megan Francia spent part of her day on campus with a monkey on her back - literally.

Mindy, a 4-year-old white-headed capuchin monkey, was the star attraction of an exotic animal show the college's Student Activities Program Board put together Wednesday.

"I was just walking past to my car when I spotted the crowd and I thought there was free food," Francia said. "I'm not disappointed that it wasn't food. I got to hold a monkey."

Besides Mindy, Bill Hoffman's Chicago-based Animal Rentals company brought out an armadillo, a chinchilla, an alligator, a tortoise, a tarantula, a hairless rat, a Madagascar hissing cockroach, a hedgehog, a possum and a massive Burmese python that was easily the show's second -biggest attraction.

"We do these events to get all the students together," said COD freshman Joshua Clinkenbeard, a member of the student activities group. "This event has been successful in the past at doing that."

The animals were outside the Student Resource Center at the college's Glen Ellyn campus for four hours and the crowd grew as the day went on. The activities group members said these types of events are important because COD is mainly a commuter campus and students have fewer opportunities to socialize with each other than at four-year colleges.

"I had a feeling it would get busier around noon when everyone would be coming this way for lunch," said Jasmine Woolfork, another activities group member.

Hoffman said most people can't stay away if they hear about the animals. It's an opportunity to interact with a creature that may never come around again, he said. But he added that Mindy always steals the show.

"I used to think it was me they were coming to see, but it never works that way," Hoffman joked. "Mindy's always the star because people are drawn to her the most since she's the closest thing here to ourselves."

Besides carrying Mindy, students were able to drape the python around their necks, hold the chinchilla and pet the possum. Hoffman said few people ever ask to handle the cockroaches, but he doesn't think they mind being left alone.