Another “AHA” Moment with the Barn Owls

At this point in time I have to ask myself what have I gotten myself into and is this the path I want to be on. For the first time that I can remember the general public at large was becoming involved and fascinated with wildlife, most popular was the Barn Owls. My first impression of this whole experience coming from my perspective as a Wildlife/Conservation/Research/Tree Hugger place was “What a Wonderful educational opportunity”.

I loved watching the owls in this intimate manner but also loved the people who were the hosts and the ones watching. I loved providing answers to the many questions asked, after all being an educator and answering such questions for years it was a part of me to just whip out the answer and when I didn’t have one I went out and found it. What a fascinating journey and along the way I met a whole lot of wonderful people.

Somewhere something went horribly wrong though, instead of it being a happy ever after adventure to be shared by all there were divisions, fights, jealousy, ego’s, all the elements that make us human was very evident in watching the chat rooms and Social Streams. At times I have to say it was like my own personal “Soap Operas” full of entertainment. Every day the drama unfolded, allies formed, lines drawn, circles closed, and almost downright cult behavior evolved. I watched as people began to get comfortable with each other and with the developing friendships they began sharing the intimate details of their lives. How interesting that people are willing to put so much out into public forum, I kept wondering are they doing this on purpose or is it just human nature to share and care.

I am the first to admit that I am really not a “people” person, most people who deal with wildlife and animals, especially the rescue end aren’t people persons, we tend to identify more with the animals and most of the times prefer the company of animals to people. I know it is weird but to understand animals in our position you have to have a different perspective. But here I was seeing people interact with one another one day then the next day be feuding enemies busy making allies to forge their fort of protection and alliances. How tragic that something so wonderful had been brought down by human nature. But at the same time something good was coming out of it also.

In my world I was not aware of a new trend called “Barn Owls for Rodent Control”. This was something that had been evolving in the late 1990’s by agricultural research in their search for safe rodent control in food crops without chemicals. I have to say that this is a wonderful idea and am greatly impressed by how many agricultural business’ have utilized and taken advantage of Mother Nature’s natural means of checks and balances. Most assuredly this benefited not only the farms but it also benefited the Barn Owls and there can be nothing but good coming out of this partnership. That is until I had an “Aha” moment one day while viewing the “Google Earth” surroundings of some owl nest boxes set in suburban neighborhoods.

I will be very honest and say that I was absolutely shocked, speechless and stunned by what I saw. These were subdivisions that had been cleared of trees and then developed with tract homes. I had just fled an area where I had lived for almost 30 years, a beautiful tropical area flush with green and wildlife. Over the last 2 decades I watched in horror as the wildlife and wild places that I held dear and protected were just trashed. Bull dozed down, flattened, filled, shaped, molded, paved and development replaced the wild green places, spaces and trees. I am grateful that this city had a mayor at the time who realized how important the tree canopy was and implemented a campaign to protect the ones the city had and to replace many that were lost.

I had an “Aha Moment” in the late 1990’s when driving out of the city towards home I noticed that there was a remarkable difference in temperature as I drove out of town towards the treed country. Noticing this notable change I did a study myself that showed once I left the areas of heavy roads, strip malls, business and entered the rural area there was at least a 10 degree difference in temperature. I did a half hearted campaign and attempted to talk to some developers about the methods they used in creating their subdivisions and tried to reason with them to save the old trees, most times my voice fell on deaf ears. Frustrated I gave up because it all ways came to the bottom line of “cost effectiveness” and profit, it was very disappointing and saddened me to realize that it was useless to continue.

Some thing I learned sadly over time is that when it comes to the all mighty dollar, humans can become a greedy nasty vicious conniving back stabbing animal unlike anything in the wild animal kingdom. I learned the hard way with my first nonprofit corporation when I took a apprentice of mine and made her a partner to help build the business. She was to do the rehabilitation; I was going to go forth and educate to make a difference in the world. I had learned that the only way to support the work we did rehabilitating and educating was to become a “business” so we could solicit and take donations.

During this period of developing and growing the corporation my husband, a PhD Research Scientist in Human Factors and a whole lot of other stuff I don’t understand had the opportunity to do some research at the Little Rock Air Base in Arkansas. Thinking what a wonderful opportunity this was for him to further his career and seeing that I could do a lot of good and expand our wildlife rehab and education business via “chapters” I set out on this adventure with a positive attitude and much vigor. What transpired in Arkansas is another story I will save but what happened when I returned 8 months later was that my partner in whom I trusted my corporation no longer saw me as a “Partner” but as a threat, especially when money was involved. To make a looong story short I had that corporation stolen from me in an illegal board meeting that ended up being a coup in her favor. That was fine with me, I didn’t fight it because I didn’t like the direction she had chosen or the rumors I was hearing regarding the way she was handling rehabilitation, volunteers, donations and knew it was for the best that I separate myself.

I created another corporation, set another board in place and filed my 501c3 paper work and began my new life filled with educational goals. Now anyone in the animal business knows it can be a cut throat thing when it comes to money. We have to rely on donations to feed, shelter, provide veterinary care, and all the other expenses that pertain to keeping permanently injured wildlife for education. I was soon presented with an opportunity to manage a wildlife theme park and thought how wonderful it would be to have a great home base to bring in schools, have a place to house my animals and not worry about the expenses so I took the job and my corporation and this park partnered in education.

All went well until the person I was working for who held the contract with this park to provide the shows decided he wanted to sell. Well I saw this as an opportunity to grow so I had been talking with a couple of men who I had met that were affiliated in some way with Universal Studios and the film industry. Now these 2 men had come to my aid during a very difficult time and struggle so I had no way to know they really could not be trusted and in fact were con artists. But being the trusting person I am we partnered up and bought out the show contract and from that moment on my life was hell. To make a long story real short I left, but not before having a “Aha Moment”. First, learning that when money became involved people become vicious control freak fear mongers and second was that the animals was really nothing more than a “commodity” and business.

What a lesson I learned from those experiences but perhaps the most valuable one I learned was that I didn’t need any one but myself to be successful. For so long I thought I needed others to be with me to achieve my goals and that is not the case. With all my knowledge and experience I am a whole person that has a lot to offer others and at times others don’t see it that way. Instead of seeing me as someone who cares passionately for my causes I am viewed as a threat as my former partner did. That is really sad and a huge loss not just to the people that I attempted to help but to the wildlife that would of benefited to the help I wanted to provide.

Another thing I have all ways known to be true is that when one door closes God will open another bigger one. I have closed the door behind me with the Barn owls knowing that there are people there that will take care of it and continue on to do what is best for them. At this time I am not sure which door to go through. I have not mentioned it before but I will now, I am also an Ordained Minister and my message has been “Environmental Spirituality”. This is something that I developed over the years regarding human’s responsibility to the world God created and to the beautiful creatures of creation. I felt so strong about the message of “Environmental Spirituality” that I decided how wonderful it would be to go to churches and bring the message of how we are all part of the web of life.

I am also a “Chaplain” a member of the National Chaplain Corp and specialize in natural and environmental disasters. Right now with what is going on in the Gulf of Mexico perhaps that is the direction that God wants me to go since I feel a great pull that way. I will just wait and listen for the inner spirit to guide me on what is to be I’m sure another wonderful learning life adventure.

Meanwhile, Peace and Blessings
© 2010