America’s most famous animal man will be in Atlanta on Friday to raise money for a hospital created just for wild animals.

CELEBS WORKING FOR WILD ANIMALS

By Mark Davis

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published 1/16/08

America’s most famous animal man will be in Atlanta on Friday to raise money for a hospital created just for wild animals.

Jack Hanna, host of the TV show “Jack Hanna’s Into The Wild,” will help raise money for the nonprofit Georgia Rehabilitation of Wildlife Hospital.  The facility called GROW, is designed solely for wild creatures, not pets – a first in Georgia.

The fund-raiser, called the Jack Hanna Celebrity Gala will feature cocktails, dinner and a live/silent auction.  It takes place at the Georgia Aquarium Oceans Ballroom from 6-10 p.m.

Other guests include country music stars Clint Black, Lisa Hartman Black, Doug Stone and Mark Wills.  Jason Coley will perform.

“Georgia is overdue for a facility that exists to treat injured, sick or orphaned wildlife,” Hanna said.

“As the population [in Georgia] increases, a lot of these animals have nowhere to go,” Hanna said.  “This is a very critical need, the way the state is growing.”

The hospital will be built in south Fulton County and should cost about $3.5 million.  Organizers are working with the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine to provide veterinary care.

Veterinarians who specialize in wildlife care will determine whether animals are suitable for release back into their natural habitat.  Those that can be returned to the wild will be turned over to licensed wildlife rehabilitation specialists throughout the state to get them back to their natural surroundings.

“Other states have facilities for wild creatures,” said Stephen Hernandez-Divers, a veterinarian at UGA.

“If I tell you that a lot of other states have a wildlife hospital, and we don’t, it tells you that we are falling behind the curve,” said Hernandez-Divers, who is heading GROW’s steering committee.  “We have an obligation to care for these animals.”