Wildlife Conservation Day Attracts Mississippi College Students

A baby gator named Governor, a few live snakes and plenty of information about Mississippi wildlife drew hundreds of Mississippi College students.

“It was just a little guy,” said sophomore Bethany Roberson of Collierville, Tennessee after holding the small gator for the first time as MC hosted Wildlife Conservation Day.

There really was nothing to worry about Wednesday as MC students touched the gator and the non-poisonous snakes. Released for a few minutes from their cages, the visitors were under the watchful eye of staffers with the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science in Jackson.

The event was a fun day for Corey Wright, a staffer with the museum who served as the chief handler for the outdoor critters. Getting to tell students about Mississippi wildlife, he said, “was a blessing.”

Freshman Zach Salter of Bay St. Louis joined those lined up to get an up-close look at the tiny gator. “I like alligators, but not the big ones, of course,” he said. “The little one was cute.”

Officials with Mississippi wildlife conservation agencies and organizations like Ducks Unlimited helped educate the campus community about the state’s natural resources and promote conservation.

The early April program on the Clinton campus was a homecoming of sorts for 2005 MC graduate Amanda Mills. The daughter of a former MC head football coach, Mills hosts “Mississippi Outdoors,” a  twice weekly TV show geared to Mississippi wildlife and outdoors enthusiasts.  Catching action on spring turkey hunts, youth waterfowl camps or catfish fishing trips, the show airs on Mississippi Public Broadcasting stations on Thursday and Saturdays.

Students with MC’s new bass fishing and clay shooting clubs were out in full force to meet with agency officials to discuss a slew of wildlife topics.

“Mississippi College students are passionate about it,” said Andrea “Andi” Cooper, a regional biologist with Ducks Unlimited in Ridgeland. “It’s very important that we catch people at this age – those who are able to do something about conservation.”

The MC activity “was real helpful,” said Jim Turcotte, vice president for enrollment management and student affairs. “It is holding the interest of students.”

Turcotte was the MC leader who helped get the bass fishing and clay shooting clubs off the ground last fall, and serves as an advisor to the student organizations.