Owls Spark Visit from Movie Director, Actress
In advance of the movie "Hoot," Pioneer Middle School got a visit from that West Coast HollywoodApril 16, 2006
By YVONNE CAREY
The Miami Herald
Two little birds living on the Pioneer Middle School campus gave the students a chance to meet a Hollywood moviemaker and film star last week during a special assembly.
Director Wil Shriner and actress Brie Larson of Hoot, an upcoming movie based on Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen's book, visited to support the Cooper City school's recent refurbishment of a burrowing owl habitat in front of the school.
Larson, who plays one of the teen heroes who save the owls, said shooting the film in South Florida gave her a new perspective on life.
"L.A. is very different from Florida. There's no grass. Our beaches are full of trash," Larson said. "But we don't know any different because we grow up there and we think it's that way everywhere. But here, it's beautiful, and you all should appreciate it and prevent from losing what you have."
The film portrays the struggle between wildlife and development, a classic theme in Hiaasen's books, this one geared to a younger audience.
Shriner, who attended the University of Florida with Hiaasen but never knew him there, said part of the lesson is also to stand up for what you believe.
"Part of the reason I love Hiaasen is because he is an investigative reporter. And investigative reporters keep everyone in check," Shriner said.
The school was picked as one of only 10 in the nation for a visit because of protecting their resident owls. Protecting something means caring about it, so students were asked to name their owls in a contest.
Brandi Widle, 12, won movie tickets, a Hoot T-shirt and the Complete Book of Owls for her submission: Salt and Pepper.
Greta Mealey, director of the Wildlife Center and Falcon Batchelor Bird of Prey Center, stressed the importance of supporting wildlife, regardless of whether it's endangered.
"The burrowing owl is very adaptable," Mealey said. "It has been adapting for years. They can survive with people, in and around yards and parking lots, but now development is geared to zero lot lines, leaving absolutely no space for their nests. It doesn't give them the opportunity to coexist. They are now labeled a `species of special concern.'"
Pioneer Middle School vows to continue looking out for Salt, Pepper and a new little feathery fellow on campus, just discovered after the visit from Hollywood.
Pioneer Middle School teacher Jerilyn Habernicht, in charge of refurbishing the owls' nesting site, said the improvements were made a month ago with an environmental grant from the Wheelabrator company.
"We put in a perch so they can watch for predators, a rock garden, a butterfly garden, Fakahatchee grass to lure lizards for food and sturdier barricades with clearer markers around the site," Habernicht said. "We also extended the area so people couldn't park right next to the nesting site."
