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Outreach  Wildlife Programs Educate and Entertain!

Our lively and fascinating programs include a selection of birds of prey, reptiles, amphibians and giant bugs!  Classroom, assembly and festival booth programs are available, tailored to the age and interests of the audience. We add a unique and memorable component to professional conferences and corporate meetings. 
Highly evolved predator/prey relations, raptors as environmental indicators, venomous vs. non-venomous snakes, and tremendous adaptations in the animal kingdom are presented while hawks and owls fly over your heads and snakes make their way into your arms, if not your hearts!  There is always considerable audience participation as we offer opportunities to get up close and personal with eagles, pythons, giant owls, falcons, huge cockroaches, lizards, and a team of other engaging wildlife. 
We fly in auditoriums, theaters, ballrooms, restaurants, at stadiums and on golf courses.  We make great ice breakers for social gatherings, business meetings and fund raising events. 
 
Add something WILD to your next event!

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Outreach Programs Available:

Reptile Program:  Experience the thrill of seeing, touching, and listening to interesting facts about snakes and other reptiles.  Observe the reptile experts as they handle both native and exotic reptiles.  Participate in a hands-on reptile encounter!  You can also witness various creepy crawlers, such as giant roaches and centipedes. Program lasts approximately 45 minutes – 1 hour.

Bird Program (Flight Show):  Be wowed by the high-speed action of a raptor flight demonstration.  Experienced falconers fly several species of birds of prey, and explain the various adaptations that make this group of birds so intriguing.  As birds swoop over your heads, there is much to learn from this delightful program!  Program lasts approximately 45 minutes – 1 hour.

Reptile & Bird Program:  Enjoy a combination of the above two programs.  Take pleasure in the experience of a lifetime as you experience various reptiles, creepy crawlers, and birds of prey! Program lasts approximately 45 minutes – 1 hour.

Booth Setup/ Display:   Employees from the Center for Wildlife Education bring a menagerie of wildlife animals to display in a booth-type setup.  These animals include snakes, creepy crawlers, and various species of birds.   Employees are available to answer questions and to assist visitors in handling the snakes and creepy crawlers!  No programs are given, but the “booth” is open to the public throughout the specified time.  This setup is popular at festivals and fairs.

Summer Library Programs:  Employees from the Center for Wildlife Education will bring a menagerie of animals, fun creepy crawlers and bugs to your library.  A 45 minute - 1 hour educational and fun wildlife program including reptiles, raptors, creepy crawlers, and bugs will WOW your reading camp kids!!! The theme for the 2008 summer reading program is "Catch the Reading Bug". 

Special Photo Opportunities:  Private educational viewings for artists and photographers.  For a donation, it is possible to arrange a special educational photographing of the birds used in our education programs.  The sessions can be held on-site or at an off-site location.  The program birds are trained to the glove, and some to the perch, and are handled only by qualified staff of the Wildlife Center.  Photos shoot sessions are limited to a minimum of one hour and a maximum of two hours and photographers must stay at least six feet away from the birds.  The availability of a particular species cannot be guaranteed, but we will do our best to accommodate your requests.  At all times, the welfare of the birds is our primary consideration and if a bird appears to be unduly stressed, it will be withdrawn from view.  Contact Scott Courdin, Wildlife Curator, at 912-478-0831 for a list of species available for photos.

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Program Costs:

 

Reptile Program:  $750

Bird Program (Flight Show):  $1,000

Reptile and Bird Program:  $1,000

Summer Library Programs: $100

Student-led Wildlife Programs: $100

Booth Setup:  $100 per hour

Photo Sessions: 

     Individual sessions - $100 per hour, minimum one-hour session, maximum two-hour session.

     Group sessions - $200 per hour per group of up to 5 people, minimum one-hour session, maximum two-hour session.

 

(An additional $65 is charged per hour for roundtrip travel to all outreach programs.  This is to cover the expenses of automobile, fuel, mileage, staff, food, travel time, etc.)

* Note that non-profit organizations receive a 25% discount.

** Fees are reduced when programs are combined on the same visit.  The second program is half price.  For example, to have a second bird program at the same location, the additional cost would be 50% of “Bird Program” cost.   (Example: 3 bird programs would be $1000 + $500 + $500 = $2,000)

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Outreach Program Presenters:

Wildlife Curator - Scott Courdin
Scott Courdin supervises all the raptors of the Center for Wildlife Education's exhibits and flighted demonstrations, as well as the reptiles, amphibians, fish, mammals, and invertebrates of the Center's collection. Scott is an accomplished wildlife rehabilitator, falconer and environmental educationalist. Scott serves as a member of the Georgia National Guard with the 2nd Battalion, 121st infantry.  He was deployed to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom III & IV.  Scott holds a A.A. in General Science from Georgia Military College, and a B.A. in Anthropology from Georgia Southern University.   Scott has been employed at the Wildlife Center since it's opening in 1997.

Education Program Coordinator - Krista Weatherford
Krista Weatherford is originally from Dallas, TX. She graduated from Brigham Young University in 1998 with a BS degree in Conservation Biology with an emphasis in Wildlife. As an undergraduate, she completed two summer internships trapping and tagging black bear in the Book Cliffs of eastern Utah. After graduation, she completed an internship caring for black rhinoceroses at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose, TX. She moved to Statesboro, GA to accept an animal keeper position with Otter Conservation, Inc. Krista was employed by The Center for Wildlife Education from September 2000 to August 2004 as the Education Coordinator. In 2006, she returned to the Center for Wildlife Education as the Education Coordinator following two years as a stay-at-home mom. Krista is married to Rick Weatherford, Georgia Southern graduate and past Wildlife Center volunteer. They have two very fun and active children, Hannah and Kaitlyn.