Destination: North Florida Wildlife Center brings the tropics to North Florida

Two Black-and-White Ruffed Lemurs, sporting snowy neck collars of insanely-soft fur and yellow eyes, are nibbling fruits from their breakfast bowl.

“I want to warn you,” Ryan Reines, director of the North Florida Wildlife Center tells guests in advance. “This is totally normal vocalization, when they get excited.”

As if on cue, voracious growling and shrieking commence.

“We call it the ‘demon scream’,” Reines explains.

Within seconds, the two settle down and return to feeding.

Einstein, a Longtail Hornbill.

The frugivores serve as ‘species ambassadors’ for the habitat restoration projects in their native Madagascar.

The lemur’s names are in the native Malagasy language - ‘Saka’ (cat) and ‘Akondro’ (banana).

According to Reines, Saka and Akondro are the most critically endangered animals at the center; with only a handful left in the wild, Black-and-White Ruffed Lemurs are just a step away from extinction.

Another rare brown lemur - ‘Tiana’ (meaning princess) - also resides at the center’s Lemur Forest.

Currently, the North Florida Wildlife Center is only utilizing about one-sixth of its 11 acres, but major construction is underway for added habitats and structures.

To showcase the unique ‘critters’ housed in this back-country nature facility in the ‘wilds’ of Jefferson County, Florida, Reines has a symbiotic relationship with a local lumber center: he purchases building supplies from the lumber center, constructs the new shelters, seeks sponsorships, and uses the sponsor’s donor dollars to pay off the lumber bill.

Reines shows off one of the center’s new exhibit signs and newfangled exhibits.

“We are hoping to have the wildlife center open to the public by the end of the year, where it will be like a zoo. People [will be able] to be able to walk around, unescorted. No reservations required, except for the three encounters.”

These encounters, for an additional fee, will offer a chance to interact with those fluffy lemurs, kangaroo joeys, or birds in a future walk-through aviary.

“We are eliminating caged bars; our beautiful habitats will have plants and we will only have small-mesh windows,” Reines explains.

With a degree in Environmental Science from Florida State University, and minors in Zoology and Primatology, Reines admits his first love is actually ornithology.

“Yep, I’m a bird freak,” he admits as he steps inside the compound with Séze, a Bar-Pouched Wreathed Hornbill whose name intimates ‘blue flower’ in Na’vi, the fictional language from the 2009 film, Avatar.

Séze snatches a blueberry from Reines’ hand, causing the gular sac at her throat to quiver.

“This female will eventually get a bright-blue pouch, as she ages…whereas, males get gold pouches.”

These Old-World tropical birds are threatened in the wild by deforestation and hunting for their meat.

Marlu, a red kangaroo joey.

Staring nearby are Olympia, a 20-year-old Griffon Vulture, weighing in at 20 pounds, with a nine foot wingspan (she’s the youngest of the three remaining Griffons in the United States), and hand-raised Eon, an African Augur Hawk.

But Ryan’s real pride-and-joy is his Great Blue Turaco female, Bomba; with her azure feathers, orange-and-yellow beak, and a frilly, almost-purple crest, Bomba represents the largest and rarest of the turaco species.

Reines’ center is the only facility on the planet with a ‘free-flying’ Great Blue Turaco.

Soon to join their feathered friends are the piscivorous (fish-eating) seabirds, presently flapping happily at the center’s ‘Pelican Hill’

“North Florida Wildlife Center is not a rescue center,” Reines stresses, although he has taken in a few birds that needed a permanent home after being recovered by actual bird rescues.

A few such permanent residents are a Great Blue Heron that was hit by a car in New York, three Brown Pelicans from the Gulf Coast (one born without an eye and two injured by Hurricane Michael), and an American White Pelican named Sebastian, from Illinois, that was struck by a vehicle hard enough to sheer off its wing.

“When we got him, the wing had already healed. Can you imagine the pain he had to endure? Having a wing ‘naturally’ amputated, not surgically? No pain meds or antibiotics?” Reines cringes. “That bird’s tougher than us.”

The heron will join the Brown Pelicans in their new beach-themed home at the center – complete with bamboo walls, natural palms, and sand, while Sebastian will be housed next-door, and given daily walks to delight guests and stretch his legs.

Nearby, Rheas – which are relatives to the emu and ostrich – will populate another sector, alongside a beaver habitat.

The Animal Care Building, besides offices and kitchens, where volunteers work in shifts prepping food, houses other avifauna, like the pair of Grey-headed Swamphens, capable of walking across floating vegetation with their long toes, and Zuri, a burgeoning Violet Turaco in training.

“This one’s being re-DNA’d,” Reines admits. “We thought it was a male, but he’s exhibiting some female characteristics.”

Then there’s Einstein, a 16-year-old Longtail Hornbill, with a fuzzy, milky-colored crown, greyish/black-and-cream bill, and patterned tail plumes.

In the macropod pen, Reines’ personal pet pig ‘Lunchbox’ nudges the guests with his nose, an indication of his desire to be petted.

The other mammals at the center are a red kangaroo joey named Marlu (the name of its species in aborigine), a Black Tailed Wallaby named Hervey, and a newcomer to the center, a beaver named Teddy.

Lucky guests may also get to meet Coda, Reines’ dog, who patrols the grounds like a sentinel.

The center is open to guests through special tours, and to increasing educational opportunities in North Florida.

For more information about the local center, visit “North Florida Wildlife Center” on Facebook - or stop in to the center itself for a visit - it’s worth the hour drive.

North Florida Wildlife Center - 1386 Cook Road, Lamont, Florida, 32336 Telephone: (850) 347-0921 Facebook: North Florida Wildlife Center Hours: Thursday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Vickie Lillo - Gadsden County News Service

Ryan Reines, director of the North Florida Wildlife Center, is pictured with one of his center’s birds, a Great Blue Turaco named Bomba.

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Destination: North Florida Wildlife Center brings the tropics to North Florida

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Introducing the benefits of literacy and business-planning to third graders

Gadsden County Public Library welcomes three new library staff members

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