PUBLIC INVITED TO FREE TALK TONIGHT: SHOW FEATURES RARE BIRDS IN PERRYVILLE

PERRYVILLE -- Spending the first six years of his life living near the jungles of South America taught Walter Crawford to love animals and nature.

And it taught him that people who love and appreciate the wonders of nature will work to protect them.

Now, decades after he left the jungles, Crawford is the founder of the Raptor Rehabilitation and Propagation Project. In his work, he travels the United States acquainting people with rare and endangered birds.

Crawford will bring Bald Eagles, falcons, owls, parrots and hawks to Perryville Junior High School tonight at 7. His presentation, in the gymnasium, is free and open to the public.

"We bring the public into close contact with creatures they've only read about," said Crawford, speaking of his flock.

"They are tools to educate the public."

Ten to 12 birds will be a part of the presentation. But they make up only a fraction of the number of birds Crawford keeps at his five research centers, three near St. Louis, one in Florida and one in South America.

One of the birds in tonight's presentation will be the rare Thick-billed parrot, Crawford said.

"There are only five left in the world," he said of the species, which make their home in the mountains of Arizona. A breeding project will hopefully lead to offspring that can be released back into the wild, he said.

"We can make a difference," he said. "But it seems that for every thing we accomplish, there are 10 more things we need to do."

Crawford and his family left South America and arrived in the United States in time for him to start first grade in Ste. Genevieve. His father had worked for an oil company up until that time, he said.

"I still consider myself a native of Ste. Genevieve," he said. "And it's nice to be coming to Southeast Missouri to do a show."

After high school, Crawford lived in Cape Girardeau during the late 1960s and early 1970s while attending Southeast Missouri State University. He calls the university and Cape Girardeau "the best-kept secret in Missouri. I still regard Cape as one of my favorite towns."

He graduated from Southeast, and after completing a master's degree at the University of Mississippi, he took a job with the St. Louis Zoo.

It was during that time when he founded the Tyson Research Center near Eureka and began the Raptor Rehabilitation and Propagation Project, which has received numerous awards. His work on a doctorate degree was put on hold as Crawford immersed himself in the center.

During tonight's presentation, "a lot of the birds will be flying," Crawford said. He encourages spectators to bring cameras.

"We want them to go away with a better understanding of how the entire ecosystem works," he said, adding that even people often mistakenly think that not every part of the system is of vital.

"Sometimes people think certain species are expendable," he said. "But it's like the difference between trying to put out a fire in a burning house and running in and trying to save a few precious things.

"If you run in and save only a few things, you've lost everything else. Saving the whole house is like saving the entire ecosystem."

Crawford is bringing with him the Southern Bald Eagle, the rarest of Bald Eagles. He said there are less than 1,500 in North America.

Most of the birds have been raised in captivity and were trained for educational shows.

He said the concern for rare birds plays hand in hand with concern for the environment.

"If we aren't concerned with them, humans are going to be the next to suffer," he said. "Our generation was never told to be concerned with the environment when we were growing up like today's generation is.

"But we don't want our kids to look back and say `you guys really botched it.' They deserve to grow up with clean air and water, and we're not giving them that."

Crawford is looking forward to the opening of a planned $10 million environmental center near St. Louis in the next three years. He said the center will be open to the public seven days a week and will focus on education.

"The more we are educated about the environment and rare species, the more we will be concerned with their preservation," he said.