Chester Moore, author of “The Wildlife Journalist” blog has received the prestigious Mossy Oak Outdoor Legacy Award.
Presented last Saturday at the annual conference of the Texas Outdoor Writer’s Association, the award recognizes Moore for his work with children and wildlife.
“It’s such an honor to receive this award. Whether I am blogging at ‘The Wildlife Journalist’, broadcasting live on the radio or out granting a child’s exotic animal encounter through our ‘Wild Wishes’ program, I am always looking at things through the filter of how we can inspire young people and take better care of our natural resources,” Moore said.
“This award inspires me to push harder and go further down this path.”
Moore has won more than 100 awards for writing, photography, radio and conservation.
He was named a “Hero of Conservation” by Field & Stream magazine and his nonprofit project “Kingdom Zoo” won nonprofit of the year in 2016 from the Greater Orange Area Chamber of Commerce.
Category Archives: Kingdom Zoo
Playing Jim Fowler
Growing up I always thought television talk shows were boring.
Johnny Carson made me laugh when I talked my parents into letting me stay up late enough to watch but his guests did not impress me as a youngster.
That is unless that guest was Jim Fowler.
Fowler, the co-host of my favorite television program growing up “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom” was a frequent guest on “The Tonight Show” and brought wildlife to the masses for decades via his relationship with Carson.
As I walked onto a stage in front of 3,000 kids at the Global VBS at Cornerstone Church last summer, I felt like I was getting to play Jim Fowler.
The program is called “Cheeto Talk” and it is a late night television talk style show but hosted by a puppet operated by my friend Pastor Brett Own of San Antonio, TX.
During the course of an hour we brought out all kinds of animals for Cheeto to interact with and we had an absolutely great time.
From “Reverend Sweets” one of the guests almost having a legitimate panic attack over our rosehair tarantula to the kids collective “awww” when they saw our short tail opossum it was tons of fun.
The highlight for me was having the Kingdom Zoo kids bring out the animals and interacting with the crowd.
During the last segment Rachel brought out “Rowdy” our coatimundi who was only 10 weeks old at the time. He behaved well in front of the huge crowd and commanded their attention.
At the end Pastor Owen asked me to close in prayer and at this point “Rowdy” climbed on top of my head.
Not that there is much competition in this category but I have a feeling I hold the record for the only prayer with a coatimundi on one’s head while leading a prayer.
And I got to play Jim Fowler for an hour. I hope the performance would make him proud.
Click here to watch Cheeto Talk with special guest Chester Moore.
Chester Moore, Jr.
Follow the nose…
There was something about those 1980s Fruit Loops commercials.
The debonair sounding “Toucan Sam” was and is a memorable icon of pop culture and was what initially got me interested in toucans.
After seeing them on my cereal box in the mornings I started looking them up in the personal wildlife book library I had accumulated and found them fascinating.
Fast forward to 1999 and I found myself in the rainforest of Venezuela and five feet away from this white-throated toucan on the shores of the massive Lake Guri.
I was mesmerized as I snapped this photo.
The unique design and beautiful contrast of light and dark was in my opinion the most beautiful bird I had ever seen.
Sure, cardinals and red-headed woodpeckers had more standard beauty but there was something special about the toucan-all toucans.
When we founded Kingdom Zoo in 2012 me and my wife Lisa knew we wanted at toucan.
We searched high and low to no avail so we did what we should have done to begin with. We prayed.
We also gave away plush toucans to needy children in the community as a way of showing Christ’s love but also believing that he who gives us given unto.
We recently had the opportunity to purchase a gorgeous male green aracari toucan. We named him “Papaya”.
This friendly and very active bird had his official debut last weekend at the Kingdom Zoo: Wildlife Center and seeing people’s reactions was special.
Most have never seen a toucan up close, only on the cereal box or perhaps in a distance enclosure at a zoo. Our micro zoo provides close interactions with animals and “Papaya” has become our number one bird ambassador.
He is a true treasure and I could not be happier.
Dreams do come true. Sometimes they come after profound revelation. Sometimes they are passed down from family members.
And sometimes they can even be founded gazing at a cereal box excited about the sugary snack inside.
And don’t give me any flack about GMOs and refined sugars. You know you were eating them too.
Chester Moore, Jr.
Helping Holy Land Deer
Fallow deer are one of the most beautiful creatures on the planet.
With coats ranging from chocolate brown to snow white and with the bucks sporting heavy, palmated antlers, they are an extremely striking animal.
Did you know that fallow deer are native to Israel and much of the Middle East?
The endangered Persian Fallow Deer (Dama dama mesopotamica) is the indigenous variety and I was happy to find out that the Tisch Family Zoological Gardens in Jerusalem (Jerusalem Biblical Zoo) is involved in a captive breeding and wild restoration program of these majestic creatures.
A conservation program to achieve lasting conservation of the and its habitat. This is a long-term conservation program aimed at re-establishing this species in the Nahal Soreq area of its former range (near Jerusalem in southern Israel) from a breeding core at the Tisch Family Zoological Gardens in Jerusalem.
In Israel there were approximately 200 individuals in the north of the country (Nahal Kziv area) by 2005 and today this is the world’s largest stable wild group. In addition, a wild group of around 45 individuals now exists in the south of the country (Nahal Soreq area). Captive populations also exist in Israel – 65 individuals at the Tisch Family Zoological Gardens in Jerusalem and around 150 in the Hai Bar Carmel Mountain Reserve in central Israel.
Here at Kingdom Zoo, we will do a series of articles on this unique project, but there’s more. We will be donating a portion of our donations to help restore these animals that undoubtedly lived in the Garden of Eden to God’s chosen land.
We are collecting change for the Persian Fallow Deer. All of the funds from the change collected, will be given to the Tisch Famiy Zoological Gardens, earmarked for their fallow deer project.
You can also help with this project. Click here to donate.
Look for more on this unique conservation initiative as we updates from Israel.
Chester Moore, Jr.