Owl Trainer - Daniel Walthers
Currently being trained under the watchful eye of Daniel Walthers, Sturgis is being raised at Winding Woods Ranch in Commerce, Ga. Walthers has extensive experience training birds as he raised, trained and introduced the first live mascots "Rise" and "Conquer", for the Baltimore Ravens in 2008 and 2009.
A native of Willmar, Min., Walthers has had a life-long passion for birds as he began working with parrots at the age of nine. He has even shared that love affair with his family as his wife of 27 years, Teresa, and two children, Christina (15) and Matthew (13), are involved with animals.
In addition to raising, training and selling various types of birds, Walthers also works with the American Saddlebred Show horses. He breeds, trains, boards and sells the horses that are from all over the world that are boarded in his barn that sits on the family's 36-acre Winding Woods Ranch in Commerce, Ga.
Utilizing the Natural Horsemanship training techniques, Walthers stable of horses include the high-spirited American Saddlebreds, Warm Blood Dressage and Quarter Trail horses.
Well respected in the pet industry, Walthers works with veterinarian zoos, rehabilitation facilities, various animal trainers, breeders and customers from all over the continental United States. Over the past decades, he has manufactured and sold modular flights that were shipped all over the world to breeders, hobbyist, boarding facilities and rehabilitation centers. He also invented the original heated perch.
And now Walthers is tasked with training, Sturgis, the live mascot of Kennesaw State.
