Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The Southeastern Wildlife Exposition February 17-19-A Wild Great Time

Often, with our busy day to day lives manufactured to ensure our own survival, we are regrettably distracted from giving due gratitude to the seemingly lesser things of this often very cold, cruel world, and if I may add without hesitation, it would be a colder, crueler world if these lesser things didn't exist at all. They have no clue as to why they do what they do, they just do. Only we, who are the crowning achievement of a master plan, have been endowed with the capacity to comprehend and understand their impact on our world. Only we have been gifted with the aptitude to appreciate the awe and spendor they unknowingly grace our lives with. They sustain us. They entertain us. They enrich us. They inspire us.

The Southeastern Wildlife Exposition is one of those rare occassions afforded to us where we can pay tribute to the wildlife we coexist with on this beautiful blue jem in space we call Earth. Our natural environment has been under merciless siege for many years and wildlife habitats have been shrinking at alarming rates. One of the Expostions lofty goals is to increase our awareness of the natural gifts which are increasingly taken for granted with hopes of resulting in a new environmental morality. It focuses attention on local, regional and global issues presented in a forum which brings these issues "home" and personalizes them, with the hope that one day attention to conservation and environmental issues will be common place. Its other mission is to have a positive impact on the local and statewide economies through increased tourism. This is all achieved through art, exhibits, lectures, school programs, and financial giving.

The Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, now in its 30th year, will host over 100 of the worlds finest wildlife artists, and that includes 23 local artists. There will be nearly 300 exhibitors. Marion Square Park will present a Birds of Prey Flight Demo each day. The Busch Wildlife Sanctuary Show will be featured at the Gaillard Auditorium offering audiences the chance to see some amazing creatures and learn about their habits. There will be an Auction following Quick Draw and Speed Sculp at Charleston Place February 17, 5:00 PM. Complete list of events here.

Jack Hanna will be in attendance for a special treat. Jack Hanna has been educating people across the nation about animals for years. He has been a regular on the David Letterman Show and Larry King Live. Other shows include The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Hollywood Squares, The Maury Show, Entertainment Tonight, FOX News and CNN programs, and various other news programs (as a wildlife correspondent). The Columbus Zoo in Ohio is his home base. He has transformed the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium into a state-of-the-art park  with the additions of Zoombezi Bay (waterpark), Jungle Jack’s Landing, and the Safari Golf Club. The zoo's newest expansion is the Polar Frontier region featuring brown bears, arctic fox and twin polar bears. Two shows at the Gaillard Auditorium February 17, 11:00 AM and February 18, 1:00 PM.

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