MILLWOOD - Clad in his signature khaki safari outfit, television personality "Jungle Jack" Hanna and a few of his animal friends, entertained a sold- out crowd at the Jackson County Armed Forces Reserve Center on Thursday.
After an introduction by WVU President E. Gordon Gee, whom Hanna has known since Gee was Ohio State University president and Hanna was heading the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Hanna spent the next hour introducing the audience to a variety of animals, including a snow leopard, two-toed sloth, seriema, Canadian lynx, African porcupine, penguin and cheetah in between showing clips from his show "Into the Wild with Jack Hanna" and selections from his 102 appearances on the "Late Show with David Letterman."
"It's a pleasure to come here and see what you're doing in the animal world," Hanna said.
Hanna had visited students at Ripley High School earlier in the day.
"The school here was absolutely one of the neatest schools I've been to, number one, and number two, the kids, and I'm not just saying this because I'm here, the kids were unbelievable," Hanna said.
"There's nobody better to bring into an area when dealing with the animal welfare world than Jack Hanna," said Jane Winters, Parkersburg Area Community Foundation Manager of Regional Affiliates, of which the Jackson County Community Foundation is an affiliate.
Hanna's appearance was part of the foundation's Community Celebration. The Dickirson Corporation of Ripley underwrote the event.
A portion ($10) of the proceeds from each ticket sale for the celebration, of which 530 were sold, and money raised by the evening's silent auction went toward The Jackson County Animal Welfare Challenge, a combined effort between the Jackson County Community Foundation, Jackson County Commission, local animal rescue groups and community members to build a new animal shelter and establish a new animal welfare fund.
"We all have that common goal," Winters said. "The shelter is a home base for everybody."
Through the Jackson County Animal Welfare Challenge, the Jackson County Community Foundation hopes to raise $50,000 to build a new animal shelter and establish a new animal welfare fund. The Jackson County Commission has agreed to match the funds raised, dollar for dollar, up to $50,000.
"As I told the other people here, they should be very proud of this; the county commission should be very, very proud of this," Hanna said. "Your town will change in many ways for the good, you'll see that."
Winters said that about $27,000 had been raised prior to Hanna's visit, and they hoped to net $15,000 from the event.
Once the $100,000 is raised, $75,000 will go toward the architectural planning and design of the shelter. The other $25,000 will be put into the fund, which will be distributed to animal rescue groups in the form of grants.
"By helping the animal world, you're helping the people world just as much, trust me," Hanna said.
Winters said that the County Commission has also pledged $900,000 for construction, and a groundbreaking is tentatively planned for spring 2016. The new shelter will be built on the same land as the current one, but there will be no displacement of animals. "The old site will still function as the new site is being built," Winters said.
Reach Dawn Nolan at dawn.nolan@wvgazette.com, 304-348-1230 or follow @DawnNolanWV on Twitter.