 By:
GREG WILKERSON, Staff Writer
August 16, 2003
PIGEON
FORGE - Dollywood-based American Eagle Foundation will be featured
on
an upcoming episode of Animal Planet's "That's My Baby."
"This is
an opportunity for the Foundation to tell the story of our breeding program,"
said Al Cecere, AEF president. "We've taped quite a few behind-the-scenes
activities at the breeding center."
The episode will
take viewers through the birth and release of one of the center's bald
eaglets, Screaming Eagle. Its parents, Liberty and Justice, have bred
bald eagles for the foundation for more than a decade.
"They breed
every year," Cecere said. "They've produced quite a few young
for us."
The episode shows
how the foundation's staff care for the eggs from before they hatch to
the eagle's release over Douglas Lake.
"It will
be a whole half-hour episode," Cecere said. "Typically they
run a number of times once they're on, so it's great exposure for the
Eagle Foundation and Dollywood."
Most of the episode
will focus on the breeding and educational aspects of the AEF, with scenes
from the breeding center, hack tower and programs at Dollywood.
"Typically
we don't do stories that involve birds," said Tiller Russell, associate
producer at Animal Planet. "Normally we do mammals."
Russell said it
is easier to make a personal connection with the drama involved in baby
mammals than birds, but that the situation here was interesting enough
to justify an episode.
"We've been
wanting to do the story for about a year," he said. "It just
sounded like a very interesting and unique story."
The
new season for "That's My Baby," starts next month, so Russell
said it won't be long before it airs, and it will air often.
"It will
rerun a bunch," he said. "Twenty to 30 times. (That's My Baby)
is one of the top rated shows that Animal Planet has."
©The Mountain Press 2003
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