First Friday Lecture Features Live Birds From Raptor Rehab
Hot Springs, Arkansas – National Park College (NPC) First Friday Lunch and Lecture Series featured live birds with Rodney Paul, director of Raptor Rehab of Central Arkansas (RRCA). The event was held Friday, November 3 at noon in Lab Sciences 118 and was sponsored by the NPC Math and Sciences Division and Frito Lay.
Paul and his volunteer Tina Miller brought live birds including a vulture, great horned
owl, red-tailed hawk, peregrine falcon,and a barn owl. He discussed how the facility
cares for and releases injured birds of prey and shared how each of the visiting birds
were brought to the facility. Paul works full time in the aerospace industry and says
volunteers play a large role in the organization.
RRCA is the largest facility of its kind in Arkansas and one of only three that is
allowed to take in bald eagles and golden eagles. They work closely with the Arkansas
Game and Fish Commission recovering various birds of prey. RRCA has successfully released
over 1200 birds of prey back to their natural habitat.
RRCA began in 2003 with a mission to provide quality care and rehabilitation for
ill, injured or orphaned birds of prey with the goal of their release back into the
wild. RRCA holds a raptor rehabilitation and education license from the United States
Fish and Wildlife Services. Their facility has over 3000 square feet of flight pens
that are built to very strict specifications.
Pictured is RRCA volunteer Tina Miller with Hope the red-tailed hawk.
