Wild Wonders weekend draws 1,500 visitors!

Laura Young
ECB Publishing, Inc.

“Whoa!”
“Look! It's up there!”
“This is the best birthday ever!”
“Cool!”
These remarks and lots more like them expressed the awe and excitement that visitors to the North Florida Wildlife Center (NFWC) felt during the Wild Wonders weekend on Jan. 27-28. Reduced admission fees for the special event brought record-setting numbers of visitors in a steady stream from the first moment the gates opened on Saturday. Within less than an hour, parking had been extended to the edges of Cook Road leading up to the center. By midday on Saturday about 400 people had already arrived, and by Sunday afternoon the staff had checked in nearly 1,500 visitors!
The weekend extravaganza celebrated the completion of the center's new education pavilion, and visitors during the Wild Wonders weekend were among the first to enjoy all that this new area makes possible. The construction project was supported by the Tallahassee-based Avant Huston Financial Group, with lumber donated by Ealdwode Supply, LLC, a local building materials store located in the Jefferson County Industrial Park.
A full schedule of special presentations began with a ribbon cutting in the pavilion, followed by opportunities for insightful keeper talks, goat feedings, animal encounters and other interactive experiences throughout each day. Keepers gave talks on various NFWC residents, including the grey foxes, the king vulture, the black palm cockatoo, the sea-eagle, the griffon vulture and the barn owl. Self-guided tours allowed visitors to wander at their leisure through the site to see other animals who have found a safe haven at NFWC, including lemurs, two-toed sloth, giant anteater, fruit bats, red kangaroo, hedgehog, pelicans, Marabou stork, cranes, snake eagle, buzzards, great-horned owl, barn owl, palm cockatoo, hornbills, turtles, skinks, corn snake, Malayan leaf frog, Atlantic mudskipper, Philippine leaf insect, giant prickly stick insect and Emperor scorpion. For an additional fee, encounters inside the habitats were available with the sloth, two of the lemurs, the kangaroo, a tropical bird and the giant anteater.
Between the habitat zone and the surrounding woods, extra activity areas were set up just for the special weekend. A creative corner offered face painting, coloring activities and rock painting. The Ice Box food truck was there selling dozens of flavors of shaved ice, and the Zap Zap Thai Kitchen was on site cooking up a generous, hot lunch menu. Local artisans also had booths showcasing their creations, and Gulf Specimen Marine Lab & Aquarium brought touch tanks for additional experiences with live animals.
Like visitors who come to the NFWC on any day, the Wild Wonders participants had a one-of-a-kind experience with the wildlife that gave a new perspective on conservation issues across the planet. NFWC Executive Director Ryan Reines says the animal residents did wonderfully handling the increased human presence on the weekend. Some even thrived on it! He is ecstatic about the success of the weekend and appreciates what it means for the center.
“Increased attendance, exposure and funding means that the NFWC will be developing and expanding further for our visitors, and for our animals,” says Reines. “We look forward to continuing to host monthly and seasonal events for visitors, to keep the community engaged in all that there is to do, see and experience here at the Wildlife Center.”
In the future, visitors can look forward to more parking space, a revamped gift shop, accessibility ramps to the buildings and new exhibits and habitats. Now that the education pavilion is open, the staff also are busy putting together a world-class bird show to complement its animal encounter program.
Proceeds from the center's tours, encounters and special programs provide significant experiences for visitors locally; they also have a crucial role in helping wildlife around the world. For example, the NFWC is partnered with Sia - the Comanche Nation Ethno-Ornithological Initiative, Planet Indonesia, Vulpro, Anteaters & Highways, Green Again Madagascar, St. Marks Monarch Milkweed Initiative, National Geographic Photo Ark and Florida State University.
The NFWC is located at 1386 Cook Rd. in Lamont. To plan your first visit or a return trip, visit NorthFloridaWildlife.org. The non-profit center is continuously expanding, accepting new residents and putting sponsors' contributions to good use in caring for the wildlife and supporting conservation efforts near and far.