The Center for Wildlife Education and the Lamar Q Ball, Jr. Raptor Center
The Center for Wildlife Education and Lamar Q Ball, Jr. Raptor Center opened in October 1997. Since then, it has blossomed as one of the leading environmental education facilities in Georgia.
It grew from the vision of Mr. Harry Mathews, who desired to see a bald eagle on the campus of Georgia Southern University. (Georgia Southern University’s mascot is the Eagle.) The vision captured the imagination of former University President Nicholas Henry who immediately embraced the project. A donation from Mr. Mathews and the Statesboro Telephone Company funded a feasibility study. With the permission of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the University developed a plan for housing an eagle. Through the support of numerous individuals, the project was launched. The Honorable Lindsey Thomas, at that time the 1st District Congressman, helped secure an early grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation requiring private matching funds to support the project for its first three years. A $1 million grant from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation broadened the mission to include the Center for Wildlife Education. When additional funds were needed to complete the project, the advisory board led a solicitation for pledges, which resulted in our generous species and facility sponsorships and life memberships. The Center was completed and open to the public in October 1997.
The Center seeks to stimulate an appreciation of the impact of wildlife and wilderness on the quality of human existence. The Center appreciates its Advisory Board, founding contributors, sponsors, and life members whose foresight, faith and generosity have created an environmental and wildlife education experience unique in the southeastern United States.
Five beautiful acres in the heart of the Georgia Southern University campus is the setting for The Center for Wildlife Education and the Lamar Q Ball, Jr. Raptor Center. The main features include a self-guided nature walk through six habitat displays, housing eleven species of live birds of prey. These habitats, including a wetlands area, an old-growth forest, and a mountain display, provide an opportunity to view our native raptors in their natural environment. An elevated walkway allows visitors an unobstructed and up-close encounter with a Bald Eagle nest, complete with a Glory, the University mascot!
Recent additions to the facility include the Children’s Discovery Trail, with 17 exploratory stations and a “Fly in Perch” full size eagles nest, and the Ecology Pavilion, available for hands-on-programs, rainy-day flight demonstrations, and group picnics.
If you are interested in high-speed action, plan to visit the flighted raptor demonstration held in the 120-seat amphitheater. Experienced falconers will fly several species of birds of prey while explaining the various adaptations which make this group of birds so intriguing.
Indoors at the $2.3 million Center, visitors will have the opportunity to experience a very special hands-on exhibit. Test your naturalist skills by visiting the “Down to Earth Encounter” sponsored by the Georgia Power Company. Filled with colorful photographs and descriptions of the actual animals in the exhibit, our field guide makes it simple to locate and identify the 50+ animals (more than half of them LIVE) inhabiting the exhibit.
Also indoors you will find the reptile program, conducted in a state of the art Lecture Hall. Watch as one of the Center's trained professionals gives you a look at a some of the exotic and native reptiles and amphibians, including an awesome twelve-foot Burmese Python. You can even hold one or more of the Center's inhabitants if you catch reptile fever!