Biographical Info

Today, the organization’s science education programs serve over 27,000 students a year in formal education settings. The ¾ mile Raptor Trail and Edna S. Moretti Environmental Education Center welcomes over 35,000 visitors a year. The Jim Arthur Raptor Medical Center treats 900-1,000 birds a year, releasing almost 70% back into the wild. Supporters can release a raptor, adopt a bird, make a charitable donation, purchase a membership or sponsor a capital improvement project.

Birds have captured the creative imagination of humans for thousands of years. You find examples of this in art, science, and culture all over the world. The bird-human interaction inspired a mythical Icarus to fly, printmaking by John James Audubon, Chinese kite-makers, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, Leonardo DaVinci’s aeronautical designs, NASCAR’s aerodynamic calculations, the successful flight of Orville and Wilbur Wright, trips to the moon and, in popular culture, Harry Potter’s Owl mailmen and the Guardians of Ga’ Hoole. Carolina Raptor Center seeks to make connections with these inspirations in order to create wonder for visitors of all ages. Our exhibits meet visitors through concepts that they understand in order to activate them to protect the natural world in new and creative ways. Our programs spark creativity in children and adults to take these connections and engage in science, art and cultural change to better the world around us.

Carolina Raptor Center has its origins in fixing the results of a negative bird/human interaction. Birds come to our hospital broken and sick because they have been hit by cars, flown into windows, ingested lead or some other poison, shot by hunters, hit electrical lines or gotten tangled in fishing line or barbed wire, among other things. As a conservator of raptors, it is our responsibility to encourage the protection of these animals, to preserve their habitats, and to lessen the impact of human populations on raptors. This will take creative thinking, public education and consensus building that grows out of our mission to conserve raptor populations for future generations.