By By MICHELE GERLACH – Publisher
Turtle Point Environmental Science Center Director Shirley West wants your animals.
Your mounted animals, that is.
The Escambia County Board of Education last week awarded a bid to Hines Construction to expand the center, doubling its size. West said the project will add a business office and three new exhibits, including wetlands, forestry and Alabama fossils, and almost double the size of the Flomaton facility, which was designed to provide opportunities for local students and citizens to study the ecology of Big Escambia Creek, the Conecuh River Basin, and surrounding wetlands. Grade-level activities at the center are correlated with the Alabama course of student in science and are hands-on.
The new exhibits will be three-dimensional, interactive diorama exhibits. Museum designer Jan Mize is designing and building them and West is seeking help collecting the items she'll need for them.
Turtle Point would prefer that the animals already be mounted. However, she said, &#8220if you accidentally run over something or it flies into your sliding glass door, put it in the freezer and we'll take that, as well.”
Some of the animals are endangered, and West encourages people to be mindful of that.
West's &#8220wish list” includes the following: