Westie, a 20-year-old turtle who “loved crickets and attention,” and Luna, a 5-year-old ball python who taught kids to appreciate snakes, were among dozens of animal casualties in the early morning fire that destroyed a shopping center in Nederland Thursday.

Wild Bear Nature Center was one of more than a dozen businesses in the shopping center that was reported burning by a Boulder County Sheriff’s deputy just before 4 a.m. Thursday.

Other scorched businesses included Very Nice Brewing Company, Mountain Man Outdoor Store, Tadasana Mountain Yoga and Kaleidoscope Arts Gallery.

No injuries to people have been reported.

Wild Bear animal caretaker Samantha Tindall told The Denver Gazette that the nature center lost animals that it used to teach kids.

Tindall and her team are devastated by the loss, she said.

“I loved these animals more than anything,” Tindall told The Denver Gazette Friday. “They were incredible creature teachers and I am so honored to have seen them educate so many people, including myself.”

Westie was a western painted turtle in her mid-twenties, Tindall said, adding that Westie had been with Wild Bear the longest of all their animals.

The turtle “loved crickets and attention,” Tindall said.

“She liked it when people rubbed their hands on the glass like they were petting her,” Tindall said. “She ate all of the goldfish in her tank except one … she meant a lot to a lot of people.”

Luna the ball python, five years old, had been with Wild Bear for six months, Tindall said.

“She was such a sweet girl and liked to curl up in peoples’ hair,” Tindall said. “She helped people see snakes in a new light.”

Wild Bear was also home to Sal and Sally, two western tiger salamanders who were most often found “snuggled up together under their water dish,” Tindall said.

Other animals lost to the fire include about 65 Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches that taught kids about arthropod anatomy and a vinegaroon named Vinny, she said.

Wild Bear was founded in Nederland in 1995 to teach kids and adults to explore the outdoors creatively, according to the organization’s website.

Wild Bear started a fundraiser after the fire to support their nature center and it has raised almost $62,000 since.

“While no one was harmed, the loss is profound — including the loss of our ambassador animals and impacting our programs, exhibits, and the thousands of children and families we serve each year,” the nature center’s fundraising page says.

Meanwhile, the center has been in the process of building a new nature center along the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway, according to its website.