Naturalist Scott Shupe began his professional career in the 1970’s at the famed Ross Allen Reptile Institute and Venom Laboratory in Silver Springs, FL where he worked extensively with venomous snakes both as a venom extractor and curator. He later he worked at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, FL. In the early 1980’s he worked under contract with Reptile Gardens in Rapid City, SD where he trained wild raptors and conducted the Birds of Prey Show. From 1992 to 2002 he partnered with the Knight & Hale Game Call Company in Cadiz, KY and served as director of The Woods & Wetlands Wildlife Center, a private zoo/nature center. He is the founder and original owner of the Natural History Educational Company, an organization of professional naturalists that provided live-animal wildlife education programs to thousands of schools and libraries throughout the United States for nearly thirty years. From 2005 to 2017 he enjoyed an association with the Kentucky Reptile Zoo and Venom Laboratory in Slade, Kentucky, traveling to schools and libraries with his World of Reptiles program.

He has served as a host and narrator for wildlife related television programming (In the Wild-Outdoor Channel), produced educational life science videos, and has appeared as a guest naturalist on a number of public television programs and satellite networks. He has been recognized for his contributions to conservation education by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, named naturalist of the year by the Kentucky Society of Naturalists, awarded the Jesse Stuart Media Award by the Kentucky School Library Association on two occasions and received the Environmental Stewardship Award from the Kentucky Environmental Quality Commission. From 1987 to 2018 he contracted annually with the Kentucky Department of Parks to provide naturalist programming in state parks across Kentucky.

He has written for outdoor and nature periodicals and scientific journals and his wildlife photographs have appeared in dozens of nature magazines and books. He has recently completed a contract with Skyhorse Publishing (NY) producing a series of state wildlife encyclopedias and has authored for that publisher wildlife encyclopedias for the states of Kentucky, Ohio, New York, Illinois, Florida, Indiana and Texas. His previous publications include U.S. Guide to Venomous Snakes and their Mimics; Venomous Snakes of the World, A Handbook for Use by U.S. Amphibious Forces; and the North American Bird ID Checklist.

A free-lance naturalist with over forty years experience in a wide array of nature interpretation, wildlife oriented tourism, education, zoological exhibits administration, writing and wildlife photography & videography.  He has recently completed contractual associations with the Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee,  Reptile Gardens, Inc., Audubon of Kansas and the international travel company, Road Scholar.  His website, “ShupeWild.com” is intended to serve primarily a repository for his thousands of wildlife photographs which are available to researchers, scientists, naturalists, educators, media outlets and publishers upon request.

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