FLETCHER, N.C. (Sept. 9) — The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission on Sept. 5 opened its mountain state fair exhibit featuring a mobile aquarium, a safari trailer showcasing wildlife mounts, and a menagerie of wildlife posters depicting game and nongame animals found in North Carolina. The mountain state fair is open to the public Sept. 5-14, 2003, at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center in Fletcher, N.C.

Visitors to the Commission's exhibit can see samples of the various wildlife posters the Commission has developed for its WILD Store. A mobile aquarium in the center of the tent features twin 300-gallon fish tanks, with bass, bluegill and longnose gar in one tank and brook, brown and rainbow trout in the other tank.

Biologists and education specialists are staffing tables from where they can answer questions, talk about wildlife, or give away an assortment of free items such as sample issues of Wildlife in North Carolina, fish ID booklets, wildlife profile summaries, boating safety pamphlets, commemorative turtle rulers, or the official fair button which features an Eastern box turtle this year.

"When the Commission began planning for the mountain state fair and the state fair in Raleigh, we decided to create buttons and rulers featuring turtles to remind North Carolinians of the importance of the new turtle law that protects our basking turtles from commercial harvest," said Brad Deen, Commission public information officer. "Even though we sent news releases to newspapers and TV stations earlier this year about the new turtle law, the turtle buttons and rulers give us an additional opportunity to get out the word about our state's turtles."

Visitors exiting the Commission's tent can walk up a ramp into the Enforcement Division's Sensory Safari exhibit, a mobile trailer that encourages conservation of our natural wildlife, promotes hunter education, and enables visitors to see and touch mounts of some game and nongame species found in North Carolina.

"The Sensory Safari encourages people to learn about their local environment by listening to the sounds of local birds, viewing deer and bear mounts, and handling pelts of some of the more common local mammals," said Capt. Mike Bogdanowicz. "It's important for the public to know that wildlife officers not only enforce fishing and hunting regulations, but also educate hunters and anglers, as well as promote safety."

More Information
The Commission's exhibit at the mountain state fair is located at exhibit site 29 on Military Way Road. See online map: http://www.ncagr.com/markets/fairs/mtnfair/sitemap.htm

Daily schedules of the mountain state fair are available online at http://www.ncagr.com/markets/fairs/mtnfair/index.htm, or call (828) 687-1414. The fairgrounds are located between Asheville and Hendersonville at the Agriculture Center in Fletcher, N.C. Take exit 9 from Interstate 26 and look for the fairgrounds across from the Asheville airport.

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