Box turtle Winkin, a resident of Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge in Medford, was part of the presentation at Moorestown Friends Meetinghouse.
Families with children of all ages gathered at the Moorestown Friends Meetinghouse on Nov. 20 for “Fur, Feathers, and Scales,” an event presented by Ally Reagle, wildlife rehabilitation hospital shift supervisor and educator at Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge.
Cedar Run is a 171-acre nonprofit wildlife refuge, rehabilitation hospital and nature center in Medford. Its mission is to serve as a community resource on protecting and enhancing healthy ecosystems.
“Fur, Feathers, and Scales” was held courtesy of the Friends Enrichment Program of Moorestown Friends Meeting, a Quaker-based volunteer program that provides scholarships and life-enhancing activities to disadvantaged township kids.
Before a backdrop of animal furs, bird feathers, turtle shells and snake skins, Reagle spoke about how the refuge takes in more than 7,700 wild native creatures a year. Most end up at Cedar Run because they’re found injured, orphaned, abandoned or displaced due to human activity.
The goal of the refuge is for the animals to be rehabilitated and released back into the wild; those who can’t be end up as permanent Cedar Run residents and help educate the public about local wildlife.
The wildlife event’s first subject was Winkin, a box turtle illegally stolen from the wild to be someone’s pet in 1985. He was kept in zoos before he found a permanent home at Cedar Run, and because of poor nutrition in captivity, he suffers from metabolic bone disease and is non-releasable back into the wild.
Next up was Remy, a black rat snake who spent most of the refuge presentation wrapped around Reagle’s arm. It’s what snakes do to stay warm, she noted, since they’re cold-blooded and unable to regulate their own body heat.
The final subject was Clementine, an Eastern screech owl who found her way to Cedar Run after being hit by a car in 2021. The resulting injuries caused permanent brain trauma, making Clementine another refuge resident who can’t go back to the wild.
Human participants in the presentation were encouraged to examine the fur, feathers and scales and speak with Reagle about what they learned.
”I really loved Clementine, the owl,” said Melissa Marecki, a fifth grader at Upper Elementary School. “She even posed for a picture for me.”
For Friends Enrichment Program founder Monique Begg, the presentation brought back memories of walking the grounds at Cedar Run in the early ’70s with her late husband, Edwin, and Cedar Run founder Elizabeth “Betty” Woodford in search of the Pine Barrens tree frog.
“With Elizabeth Woodford as our teacher, we learned as much as we could about the New Jersey Pine Barrens,” Begg recalled.
The Friends’ program will present “Imagine That!” – a free group theatrical improv performance – at the Meetinghouse on Thursday, Dec. 18, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. It will feature actor, educator and director Georgeann Catanella and will give participants the chance to explore and connect with others through group improv games.
To learn more about Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge, visit https://www.cedarrun.org.
To learn more about the Friends, visit https://moorestownfriendsmeeting.org/friends-enrichment-program-fep/.
