By Caroline Zakhari

Central Cobbler Rose Hare won first place in a recent photo contest for her photo “Looking Out,” featuring Hendrix, a raptor at the Raptor Center of the Black Hills. The Raptor Center put on the photo contest for four different schools: Central, Rapid City Christian, Stevens, and St. Thomas Moore. Each student who wanted to participate could send in two entries and the photos they took had to feature one of the Raptor Center’s many raptors.

Hare also won third place for her photo “Close up” featuring Phoenix.

Second place was taken by Cassie Hand with her photo of Phoenix called “Soaring Phoenix.”

The Cobblers had two honorable mentions, one of them being taken by Kristin Huether and the other by Cassie Hand. These students all worked very hard and although the kids who entered but didn’t win still got to do something amazing.

The Raptor Center of the Black Hills is a not-for-profit organization protecting and caring for South Dakota wildlife. In addition to the 125- 150 programs they put on to teach people about the different raptors that reside in the Black Hills, they rehabilitate any raptors that come to them injured, and these are the birds students captured with their cameras.

All of these raptors are permanently injured physically or mentally, making it so they can’t be in the wild anymore. There is Hendrix, an American Kestrel; Icarus, a Great Horned Owl; Little Red Riding Hoot and Big Bad Wolf, Eastern Screech Owls; Phoenix, a Ferruginous Hawk; and Elis, a Red-tailed Hawk.

The Raptor Center took them in and takes care of them and give each and every raptor a life it never would have dreamed of.