Daniel Hamilton, Student dies while pursuing passion for reptiles, volunteering, Cayman Islands (Via Herp Digest)

Daniel Hamilton, Student dies while pursuing passion for reptiles, volunteering, Cayman Islands

June 8, 2011, BY KIRSTEN GIBSON Summer Reporter Purdue Exponent

A 21-year-old Purdue student, who had a life-long passion for reptiles, died on Friday while on a volunteer trip to the Cayman Islands with the Blue Iguana Recovery Program. Hamilton, senior in the College of Agriculture, died from hyperthermia, or heat stroke. He was found in the thick bush in Grand Cayman where he was taken by paramedics to a hospital but later died. He was from Hebron, Ind.

The resonating message from family and friends close to Hamilton was that his passion has always been reptiles and wildlife.

Rod Williams, an associate professor of wildlife science, helped Hamilton share his love for reptiles through one of Williams' classes called nature of service learning. Hamilton was able to go to a local elementary school and present to children a lesson on wildlife and the environment.

"In my interactions with Daniel, he had two passions. He had a passion for herpetology (study of reptiles and amphibians) and a passion for teaching people about natural resources and the environment, especially if it involved amphibians and reptiles," Williams said.

Hamilton's brother and a Purdue alumnus, John Hamilton, said his brother, even from a young age, would indulge in his love for animals, especially reptiles.

"I don't remember a time when he didn't like dinosaurs or reptiles," John said. "He always had a way with them, it was nice to see someone so in tune with those creatures."

His mother, father, two sisters and brother all got to spend time with Hamilton before his trip to the Cayman Islands. John said those moments have stayed vivid in his mind.
"It was nice to be talking with him in person, to have him with us," John said. "Those moments are very precious to us."
John remembers Hamilton as always being a fun and honest person.

"He was a very fair and genuine person," John said. "He lived life honestly."

His exuberance for life made an impression on a family friend and roommate, Christina Morse, a recent graduate from the College of Liberal Arts. She said Hamilton was always positive and he made sure a situation never got boring by cracking jokes.

"He was very much about making jokes and making people laugh," Morse said. "He always wanted the best for people."

Hamilton died around the creatures he loved the most. Morse said he was doing what he truly loved and believed in.

"He was one of the few students that went to Purdue to do something he absolutely loved instead of doing something to get a job one day," Morse said.

John regarded Hamilton the same way.

"His passion was his life," John said.

The funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at the St. Andrews Episcopal Church, 505 Bullseye Lake Road, in Valparaiso, Ind. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the Blue Iguana Recovery Program.

Knoxville Zoo's herpetology director, bog turtle advocate dies (Via Herp Digest)

Knoxville Zoo's herpetology director, bog turtle advocate dies
by Amy Mcrary, 5/10/11, knownews.com

Bern Tryon, the Knoxville Zoo director of herpetology and a champion for East Tennessee's endangered bog turtles, died Friday after a battle with cancer.

Tryon, 64, was Tennessee's best authority on bog turtles, which he studied and helped to save for 25 years. His dedication to the animals included developing a zoo program that hatches and later releases the turtles in native East Tennessee habitats. The conservation awards he earned for his work included one from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"Bog turtle conservation in Tennessee is without a doubt his legacy. I don't know if it would be at all without him," said zoo Curator of Herpetology Phil Colclough.

A biology graduate of Gardner-Webb University, Tryon began his zoo career in 1971. He worked in herpetology departments at zoos in Atlanta, Fort Worth, Texas, and Houston before coming to Knoxville in 1984.

Some of Tryon's ashes will be scattered at a bog turtle site in upper East Tennessee, said Colclough. The rest will be spread this fall in an area of South Carolina he visited to search for snakes annually over the last 42 years.

Police: Murder victim Lizard Man witness

Date Published: June 20, 2009
Police: Murder victim Lizard Man witness
By RANDY BURNS
Item Staff Writer
rburns@theitem.com

http://www.theitem.com/article/20090620/ITNEWS01/706209982


Police have made no arrests in the case of a 37-year-old Sumter man shot to death Wednesday.

Christopher Davis was killed shortly before 11 p.m. in an incident at his home at 5230 DuBose Siding Road. Investigators say Davis was targeted in a drug-related incident.

"We've had several leads, but nothing has panned out so far," said Capt. James Turner of the Sumter County Sheriff's Office.

Davis, a Lee County native, recently moved to Sumter County, Lee County officials said. Davis became an international celebrity at the age of 16 when he reported the first sighting of the legendary Lizard Man of Lee County.

Former Lee County Sheriff Liston Truesdale said there would be no Lizard Man without Davis.

"In July 1988, Chris was the first witness interviewed as seeing the Lizard Man," Truesdale said. "And what impressed me was that he told the same story every time. And he had to tell the story over and over again to the media and others. If you're lying, you can't tell the same story twice."

Everybody wanted to hear the Lizard Man story from the eyewitness, Truesdale said.

Davis served as a grand marshal at a festival parade and signed T-shirts at a mall in Myrtle Beach, he said.

"At that time, he was super, nice kid," he said. "You know, I bet he told the story more than 100 times every week for several weeks."

Truesdale said he believes the media attention and publicity became too much for him.

"He could have made a mint from this," Truesdale said. "A lot of people don't know that he was scheduled to go to the Oprah (Winfrey) Show, but he canceled it. I think finally he just had enough."

Davis' death marked the fourth homicide in Sumter County jurisdiction in 2009. There have been five in the city of Sumter jurisdiction.

Sumter County Sheriff Anthony Dennis said the county saw nine homicides within his jurisdiction in 2008.

Dennis, in office since 2004, said the number of homicides during his tenure has varied from two or three a year to five to seven to the nine people killed last year.

Funeral services for Davis will be held at 1 p.m. Monday at the New Haven United Methodist Church in Bishopville.

If anyone has information on the shooting, call the Sumter County Sheriff's Office at (803) 436- 2700 or Crime Stoppers at (803) 436-2718. Callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward.

Contact Staff Writer Randy Burns at rburns@theitem.com or (803) 491-4533.