Community Partner Support from Cobb EMC

When it comes to the Chattahoochee Nature Center’s (CNC) Wildlife Department, the saying “it takes a village” could not be truer. Each year, CNC rehabilitates over 375 native Georgia birds of prey. These raptors come to the Center most often because of human contact – hit by a car, shot, or sickened by eating a rat that has been poisoned. CNC does not receive state or federal funding and annual costs are close to $30,000 to feed these birds. As a result, CNC seeks private funding and looks to the community for support to provide this service.

Today, Chattahoochee Nature Center is celebrating one of our outstanding community partners, Cobb EMC. For the past 3 years, Cobb EMC has sponsored the care of our resident Red-Tailed Hawks as well as provided local students with the opportunity to experience hands-on, outdoor, environmental education programs at CNC. 

Mark Justice, Director, Education & Community Relations with Cobb EMC shared, “Cobb EMC’s commitment to our members includes a focus on the environment. We are honored to partner with CNC because of their unwavering dedication to wildlife and conservation education.”

CNC’s Wildlife Department treats and rehabilitates more than 750 animals each year, returning approximately 63% of raptors and 95% of reptiles of those surviving the first 24 hours back to the wild.  Since its inception in 2016, CNC’s wildlife clinic has treated more than 2000 raptors providing world-class treatment. CNC receives no state or federal funding for wildlife rehabilitation. We could not provide this service without the community partners such as Cobb EMC that care about our environment and the habitat of our animals.

“Humans are directly and indirectly responsible for nearly all the raptors we treat and care for. We feel it is our moral and ethical obligation to care for them” said Kathryn Dudeck, Wildlife Director at CNC.  Raptors most often sustain injuries in urban and suburban areas, most commonly in collisions with automobiles. We work to educate the community not to throw things out of cars, even biodegradable items such as apples. These items attract rodents to roadsides where raptors hunt and can be hit.

Cobb EMC’s funding has provided food, housing, and vet costs for our injured, non-releasable Red-Tailed Hawk for the past three years. We could not do this work without their support. 

We are thankful for Cobb EMC’s interest and commitment to CNC, the community, and Georgia’s environment through their sustainability projects seen at https://cobbemc.com/sustainability.