My dear friend and mentor Jim Dunlap, Curator of The Holifield Outdoor Learning Center in Plano, has lost an animal that I knew very well. She was an 18 foot Burmese Python named Katy. For three decades, she brought wonder into the lives of countless kids who were lucky enough to be in a school district that visited the center, or that Plano ISD sent Jim and company out to visit. She was a big old sweetheart, but she was getting weaker and hadn’t eaten without help in quite a while. It’s a very sad loss that made the news locally, as so many people remembered her across the area. My deepest sympathies go out to Jim and his excellent crew. Countless animals literally owe their lives to them.