Ed Clark, Virginia Wildlife Activist, Wins Rare Life Award

RICHMOND, Va., Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Eagle Rare Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey has named Edward E. Clark, Jr. of Waynesboro, Virginia, as the grand prize winner of the 2012 Rare Life Award.  Eagle Rare will donate $20,000 to the Wildlife Center of Virginia, where Clark is president and co-founder, in his honor.

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The Wildlife Center of Virginia, founded in an empty barn in 1982, was originally established to care for local wildlife.  In just 30 years, the Center has grown into one of the world's leading teaching and research hospitals for wildlife and conservation medicine.  Over the years, the Center has cared for more than 60,000 injured or orphaned animals, reached millions of people with its educational programs, and trained students and professionals from veterinary schools in the United States, Canada, and more than 40 other countries.

During the Gulf oil spill, Clark was part of an interdisciplinary damage assessment team assembled by the Humane Society of the United States that was asked to view the area affected by the spill and make recommendations.

Additionally, Clark and his team have spent more than seven years developing and deploying a sophisticated online database, called WILD-ONe, which links care centers across North America and helps them collect, compile, and analyze patient records to detect and report health issues as they emerge.

Throughout his life, Clark has inspired and enabled millions of people to become involved in protecting wildlife around the world.  It is because of his courage, leadership, survival, devotion, character and heroism that Ed Clark is the grand prize winner of the 2012 Rare Life Award.

Eagle Rare will also donate $2,000 to the charities of choice of the six runners up, making the company's total contribution to this contest $32,000.

The six 2012 runners up are:

• Dick Hoyt, Character Award: Holland, MA (The Hoyt Foundation)
• Dr. Peter Sharpe, Devotion Award: Avalon, CA (Institute for Wildlife Studies)
• Sarah Yourman, Leadership Award: Fairlawn, NJ (Boomer Esiason Foundation)
• Rachel Reynolds, Courage Award: Ashland, VA (CJ's Thumbs Up Foundation)
• Eric Johnson, Heroism Award: Louisville, KY (Supporting Heroes)
• John Ulsh, Survival Award: Carlisle, PA (Carlisle Area YMCA)

The Rare Life Award is an annual recognition program created to honor individuals who exhibit courage, leadership, survival, devotion, character and heroism.  Candidates are nominated by friends, family and colleagues.  Their stories and photos are posted online at www.eaglerarelife.com, where visitors vote on these inspirational stories.

For more information on the Rare Life Award or Eagle Rare Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, visit www.eaglerarelife.com.

About Eagle Rare Bourbon
Eagle Rare Single Barrel Bourbon Whiskey is part of the award-winning Buffalo Trace Distillery, a family-owned company based in Frankfort, Kentucky.  The distillery's rich distilling tradition dates back to 1787 and includes such legends as E.H. Taylor, Jr., George T. Stagg, Albert B. Blanton, Orville Schupp, and Elmer T. Lee.  Eagle Rare Bourbon is a ten-year-old single barrel bourbon that has won multiple awards, including five double gold medals from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.  To learn more about the Rare Life Award Program visit www.eaglerarelife.com.

SOURCE Buffalo Trace Distillery