2008 Woodie Awards
Close encounters
JSU field school staff member Renee Morrison gives children first-hand experience with animals
Audrey Hykes
Issue date: 2/16/06 Section: News
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Or maybe there's an emu, which looks like a small ostrich, running around lost. After lassoing it by the leg, what should you do?
What if you happen to see a falcon swoop down into rush hour traffic to catch a mouse, and a truck hits it? The falcon falls to the side of the road, wings spread and barely moving. It's still alive, injured badly, and needs help before it dies. Who do you contact to help this bird, since it would be extremely dangerous, not to mention illegal, to attempt to help the bird yourself?
Renee Morrison, coordinator of the Jacksonville State University Field Schools, gets these kinds of calls all the time. Well, except the dinosaur was not a real dinosaur, but an escaped tegu, a giant lizard.
Morrison says that the field schools provide many educational demonstrations and shows for children from K-12 and the general public. One of their most well known projects is the live animal program.
"It's not a rehab and rescue program, so to speak," said Morrison, "but it is a collection of live animals that have either been born in captivity, or are wild animals that have been injured and can't be released into the wild because they can't function on their own anymore."
With these animals, the program is able to provide educational demonstrations for about 30,000 people every year.
Morrison says the animals are especially influential for the young children. Many of them don't know much about animals or they have the wrong impression about certain species, such as the snakes and birds of prey. The program gives the kids an up-close-and-personal encounter with these wonderful animals.
"You can talk about a snake, or an eagle, but if you have a live bird of prey that they're able to actually look at and make eye contact with, it brings the message to a closer place in their heart," says Morrison. This way, the animals continue to serve an important role since they are no longer able to function in the natural world.
The field schools work with other organizations to do rescue and rehabilitation work including the Alabama Museum of Natural History, Alabama State Parks, the United States Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Alabama Wildlife Center at Oak Mountain and other partners.