Nancy Umphres Interview, Part 1 of 2

DT: My name is David Todd. I'm here for the Conservation History Association of Texas. It's February 24th, 2006. And we're in Zapata, Texas, and have the good fortune to be visiting with Nancy Umphres who has been a wildlife rehabilitator, and has taught environmental education, and has been involved in-in advocacy for conservation. And we're hoping that she can sort of fill us in on some of-of her life and interests. Thanks very much.

00:01:56 - 2369 NU: Welcome-well, thanks for coming.

DT: Right. I thought we might start by asking you about your childhood, and whether there might have been some early experiences that led to your interest in the outdoors, and wildlife conservation. Any of those kinds of themes.

00:02:14 - 2369 NU: Yeah. Well, my parents were both-my father had been in the military, of course during World War II, and when he came back to the States, I think he was a little bit upset by the situation, you know, that was-it-what was happening in the country. So they decided they'd kind of chuck in the working nine-to-five and travel. And what they

00:02:34 - 2369 did was they'd build homes and then sell them, and then we'd travel, camping, on the money that, you know, until it-we got low again. And then they'd stop and build another home. And so we traveled extensively in Mexico. Baja, Mexico, Central America, and then the Bahamas. And they ended up in the Bahamas on their dream boat. So it was-but we did it camping. You know, we were always out. Like the trips to Baja. In those days it would take, you know, two weeks to get down to a nice ocean-side

00:03:07 - 2369 camping spot. You might pass one car in ten days. So it was ten miles an hour, you know. Camper, haul your own water, haul your own gas. So it-I wa-was exposed very early to wildlife, camping, being out under the stars, that type of thing.

DT: Did you have any particular jobs that you were given by your family to take care of when you were out camping?

00:03:37 - 2369 NU: Yeah. We-everything that-I always said it was like being in the French Foreign Legion. I could've joined. I knew you had to be-you had your one cup of water in the morning you had to do everything with. And it was packing up the campsite, you know, just getting everything organized. Getting-my mother and I collected rocks. The truck used to go down further and further. It infuriated my father because we'd fill up the truck with all the different rocks we fo-found in different locations.

DT: Did-did you collect any animals or-or other kinds of-of remains around the campsites?

00:04:10 - 2369 NU: Well, I always made friends with all the local dogs. My friends used to say I was like a dog catcher. I always run with the, you know-make-feed the starving dogs, and that type of thing. And then at night you could watch the-you know, the rodents and the coyotes. You would listen to-the coyotes would come right up to the camp because they didn't-you know, they didn't see people in those days. Very few people traveled in that part of Mexico in those days. The first trip we did was by boat, and it was from San Diego. We were trying to make it to the tip of Baja. And that was-I was three. Of

00:04:43 - 2369 course, I got sick, so we had to cancel that trip. About half way down, they had to come back by-by truck. Truck the-first s-that's the first sailboat they built. And that was their-it was a small sailboat. And it was my sister and I and my parents.

DT: Well, I guess living out of a-a trailer, or out of boat...

00:05:03 - 2369

NU: Camper, yeah.

DT: ...would-would teach you how to live very simply, and without a lot of the usual gear and equipment that you might have it you were settled in a single home.

00:05:16 - 2369 NU: Yeah.

DT: Is that the case? 00:05:18 - 2369

NU: Yeah. It was very minimal, you know. You were allowed to s-just a certain amount of clothes, certain amount of toys, because I was a kid. And Baja, I think it was the first time I really saw what the effect of over-population, or over-let's say over-hunting, over-fishing. In those days, you used to go-when you come into the village you'd-and my sister-I was talking to my sister about it this morning, because they traveled when she was young also. She's eleven years older than me. She remembers that you could-you'd see a few turtle shells, but not miles and miles of them. And by the time I was probably six, seven, eight, you'd go for miles and miles before you'd get

00:05:58 - 2369 to the little villages, of just turtle shells. Just hundreds, thousands of turtle shells. You'd get into the village and they'd just be packed. You know, they were just hunting them without any-there was no control, no protection. And I think that's one of my earliest memories, is seeing all those turtles stacked, dying, you know, just-and passing the miles and miles of sh-empty shells.

DT: And were they capturing these turtles for-for food...

00:06:26 - 2369 NU: Yeah.

DT: ...or for shells? 00:06:27 - 2369 NU: For food. For food. The shells were just thrown. But the-it was just the food. It was a popular delicacy. And it-just uncontrolled hunting. Of course, they almost became extinct due to that. Now they're coming back with protection. Mexico is actually protecting the different egg sites and doing a lot of, you know, research to make sure they don't go. But you can see why they almost did. I mean it was just horrifying.

DT: Were these Green Turtles, or Ridleys, or what kind were they?

00:06:57 - 2369

NU:Yeah. Any kind they could get. It was just about everything.

DT: How would they catch them?

00:07:01 - 2369 NU: I don't even remember. I suppose it was the head fisherman going out all the time. Spears, a lot of them had the-the spears. Nets. You know, they were pretty prevalent then. You'd see them just-they'd get them while they were floating on the surface.

DT: You said that some of your early travels also exposed you to over-hunting, and over-population. Could you talk about that?

00:07:25 - 2369 NU: Well, one of the worst places I think I've seen is-is Haiti. My sister and I were teaching in the Dominican Republic, and we went for a-it was like a-you know, the teachers all got together and went for a trip to Haiti, and we saw the tourist side of Haiti. And we thought, God, this would be a wonderful place to live, because the art was incredible. The people are incredible. So we went back. You know, this was in 1976, because we got stuck there, with very little money, and we-because we couldn't get a flight back because it was during the bicentennial. And so we saw the true Haiti. And

00:07:59 - 2369 that just-you know, no-no controls. When you fly over it, all the lumber has been wiped out, you know, from different com-countries coming in. No-no protection on anything. And the poverty is just horrendous. I can't even imagine what it's like now. Of course, that's when it was under Baby Doc. And Papa Doc had-had passed away and it was under Baby Doc. But just seeing the uncontrolled lumber, very few wa-you know, nothing left in the wildlife, basically. And the-the poverty. It was just-it really opened your eyes.

Because most people I think-that you meet around here, they're-

00:08:41 - 2369 you know, where th-where have they gone in their life? Probably Las Vegas and Disneyworld. I mean they just don't see what can happen in these countries that have no protection. And they don't understand why we have environmental laws. You know, the good ol' boy mentality, "I should be able to do with my land whatever I want." But you can see what happens when there's no controls.

DT: Can you talk about some of the-the-the population issues that you just touched on? You talked about the poverty and the overuse of the resources there, but I think you suggested that it might also be that some of the families are-are too large. The population rate (?).

00:09:23 - 2369 NU: Yeah. The population-over-population is one of the major concerns. I mean if we don't do something, it's-it's ultimately going to be our extinction. I think the only thing you-which of course you can't get this across, especially to the religious right, but you really should only be allowed to reproduce yourself. I had kids when I was teaching school that came from families of twenty-two, eighteen, fourteen. They're just average. These are the kids I had in ISS, you know, the In-School Suspension that were having, you know, problems with drugs, with their attitude. And it's just-it's be-the population has increased. I think Al Gore had a special on it the other day. And it-and if we don't do something it's just-you know, population control is the main-one of the main issues, other than, of course, global warming. But-the problem is no one's doing anything about it. I think Al Gore's one of the first politicians I've heard even mention it.

DT: Well I guess it's a sensitive issue because it brings up sort of xenophobic problems with immigration or interfering with people's reproductive rights. And...

00:10:41 - 2369

NU: Yeah. It's funny. They can do it with their drugs, but they can't do it with reality. I mean we've got to do something. That's why I got really involved in environmental issues, is because it's-it's just the survival of our species. I mean it's common sense. We can't handle the growth. I mean you guys came from Laredo this morning. They can't handle the growth from NAFTA. They can't handle the traffic. And the poverty level is in-is increasing rather than decreasing. Along the border, they can't handle the pollution. That's the base-you know, it just-what can you do?

DT: Well, one of the things that you've clearly tried to do is help some of the wildlife that have been affected by the growth in the human population, and I guess some of the conflicts with people. And I understand that you're training was as-as a veterinary assistant at the McAllen Animal Hospital. Can you tell about how that might have introduced you to protecting and caring for animals?

00:12:00 - 2369 NU: This was in McAllen, yeah, in the early '70s. I've-I think I became interest-I wanted to be a-a veterinary technician. And-but because we were moving to Zapata, in those days, they didn't have a veterinarian in this area. I switched to education.

But seeing the-when we first moved to the valley it was like California was in the early years when they still had the orange groves and all the good farming land. And we left because of the-the growth in that area too. You know, I mean they're putting up subdivisions in some of the most fertile farmland in the country. And it's the same thing

00:12:39 - 2369 with the wildlife. There's no habitat left. You've got the jaguarundi, the ocelot. It's a subtropical climate, so you've got all these unique animals that are only found in that part of this country, that people come-you know, birders come from all over the world. And there's so little natural area left.

Now, a few people fought for it like you-we were talking about Cindy Chapman, trying to protect the little park areas that are there.

But right now there's a whole thing on-to start gambling, and-on the island-on Padre Island. And casinos, getting rid of the wetlands. It's just-it's this lack of planning, and

00:13:20 - 2369 lack of respect for anything natural. It's just-it's the-I guess what you see is just the greed and not thinking of the future, and no planning. I mean you see that in Laredo. There was really no planning to their growth. They can't handle it. As we were talking about Nuevo Laredo. Right now it's-it's-it's anarchy. They can't control the violence. They can't colet-control the corruption.

DT: Well, you know, given all the problems that are related to people's culture and civilization, and you know, the impact on the natural environment, how did you choose being interested in wildlife care, and being the veterinary assistant, or the...

00:14:10 - 2369 NU: I guess I always done it. You know, since a kid, I'd-was that type. I'd always brought everything injured home. And of course, we were traveling a lot, so you couldn't do much. But it was one of those things that you-I was always interested in. And I'd lived in-we lived for four years in the jungles of Belize when I was a teenager. And I did a lot of rehabilitation there.

DT: What sort of animals would you care for? What kind of injuries would you see?

00:14:35 - 2369 NU: One was a kinkajou. Somebody'd caught it. One of the hunters had caught it as a baby. We raised it. It's a-like a honey bear. The-the big eyes, kind of-they look a little bit like a bush baby. There was squirrels, different animals that, you know, the hunters would either find orphaned, we'd raise. Lots of parrots. Lots of-they'd rob the nests.

And that continued on into the Dominican Republic. Every time somebody would find an injured animal, they'd bring it to me. And we'd have owls-barn owls, and Great Blue Herons, and-you know, the house was always full of one-you know, the bathtub would have a Great Blue Heron in it. And we worked with the San Anton-Santo Domingo Zoo then, and we would release the-either release the ones that could be releasable, or we would donate the ones to the zoo that couldn't be released.

And in Colombia I used to hit all the pet stores. And-and they were pretty ghastly. So I'd

00:15:33 - 2369 rescue-this was in Bogotá. My sister and I taught school there. And I would bring home monkeys, parrots, doves, things that were sick, you know, that I'd find in these awful pet stores.

DT: And so you were mostly caring for wild animals rather than domestic pets.

00:15:54 - 2369 NU: Purple Gallinule found in the middle of the city, you know, which is the birds with the big long toes. And then we'd try to get them re-release them out-take a trip out and release them out, or find zoos that they could go to. You know, a hand-raised monkey can't go back to the wild. And just different areas.

DT: And so you worked with both zoos and veterinarians? Is that the typical pattern?

00:16:20 - 2369 NU: Yeah. In-in Colombia it was mainly with different zoos. Some of the kids that we worked for would take on some of the-you know, that were staying when we left would take some of the animals. We actually brought my parrot-I had a parrot I brought back. I had her for years. But most of them we tried to place in zoos or release them. My sister collected street children because in Bo-Bogotá at the time-this was early '70s, and I can imagine what it's like now, but the children were just left to fend for themselves, so many of them in the streets. So her thing was trying to get these kids into

00:17:00 - 2369 orphanages. I mean they had a special vehicle that picked up dead children every morning. This was a-you know, a very e-I'm sure it's worse now. So we would take the kids in and then try to place them. Or she would. So our house was always full of street kids, and it was so-sort of like wild animals. But it-we had an orphanage we worked with around the corner also. You know, it's...

DT: Well, did you and your sister see a connection between the orphaned kids, the street kids, and these wild animals that had, for one reason or another, gotten abused or abandoned?

00:17:37 - 2369 NU: Yeah. It was just brought in or-like the children, they-mothers couldn't han-most of their mothers were prostitutes. And these kids would actually live on their own. I mean they would-three-they'd take care of their siblings, but they lived in the streets. And the animals were brought in from their-not unnatural habitat, and put up for sale, and neglected. You know, it was just sort of a mutual thing, I guess, with the...

And then the extreme-there was extreme poverty, but there was also extreme wealth. We had-we taught at an American school. I-I did mostly tutoring, but she taught at an American school there. And some of these people had gold-plated piping. I mean, you know, and the kids ca-arrived in ch-with chauffeurs to come to the house to be tutored. It-it's just the two extremes again, which you're seeing more and more, especially with NAFTA.

DT: It seems like you've had episodes in your life in Mexico and Belize and Dominican Republic, but in the mid '70s you returned to the States. And you worked in McAllen Animal Hospital.

00:18:50 - 2369

NU: Yeah.

DT: And eventually, as I understand, settled here in Zapata?

00:18:56 - 2369 NU: My husband's from here. And he always wanted to come back and start his own oil and gas business. A gauging service. So that was his dream to come back and start a business. He liked the area, I like the area.

And there was such a need for-the same thing happened when we came here. People started bringing me their injured animals. Word gets around. I worked with the local library doing programs, and art classes, and-and so it just started up again. And my sister said, well, there's a group in the valley called Bird Rescue, and it was established by Cindy Chapman. And she said you should join them and see if, you know, you could get-of course, you have to get a license, you have to be federally and state licensed. So that's how I kind of started it. My husband was interested in it. He was al-he's always been interested in wildlife, and especially the raptors, hawks, and owls. So I was trained by Cindy Chapman and Judy Bartells.

DT: What did they show you?

00:19:51 - 2369 NU: They-they gave me-you know, I'd call them when I had, you know, splinting, basics. We didn't have a veterinarian here then. We had to go to Laredo. And the very few veterinarians there would even, you know, at that time help you out. Now I've got a quite a good group, and we have our own veterinarian that works here in Zapata that volunteers all his time. But, yeah, they taught me just the basic rehabilitation, which I knew a lot of, but, you know, a lot more on medication. We had training sessions. We

00:20:23 - 2369 went to seminars. And I did this for about two years.

And in '89-I kept getting mammals in, so I wanted to add mammals. But they didn't. They wanted to stick strictly to birds. It's about all they could handle. Now they'd get a thousand birds a-a year. And so I branched off, and we started the Zapata County Nature Conservation Society. And that was the park project, was one of our main interests that were going to do, is have a rehab center here, right next to the library here in Zapata. There's this very small

00:21:01 - 2369 park. I would say it's probably not even two acres. But it had a pond, it had a very nice, natural habitat. And we thought what a great place for a nature center. Education-we could do everything there. And then we-that's where we ran into problems.

DT: What-what sort of problems did you run into? And what time was this? What year was this?

00:21:26 - 2369 NU: This was the early '90s when we started. And it was-it was one of the few pap-places in the whole country where the White Collared Seed Eater, which is a very small little bird, nests. People come from all over the world to see this bird. It's only seen in very rare areas. The park in town was one of them. There's an-large area in San Ignacio also, the little town you came through on your way here. So I thought, perfect, this is just perfect. We got a group of people together. We started working with the local government preparing packets to show how beneficial environmental tourism is,

00:22:06 - 2369 the money it brings. We have it here. We had everything. It was there. All we had to do was protect it. First problem we had was with the water department, which is right next to the park. It was run by Adrian Ramirez. He still runs it. And he-he stepped in and said that we couldn't do this, but he couldn't really say why. There was really no reason to it. But he brought the water and cou-let's see, what was it-the Water Boundary Commissioner-into our rehab center, which was in our backyard at the time. And he

00:22:44 - 2369 came on without permission and told the Water and Boundary Commission man to open the cages and let the injured birds out, that I wasn't licensed. Well, he got a little suspicious. He thought something was going wrong. So he-he refused. And they left, and they ran into one of the game wardens-just luck. He was driving by this area. And he stopped him and asked if I was licensed. And he said, yeah, of course she's licensed.

00:23:07 - 2369 She's been licensed ever since she started here. And he called me later. He was w-out of Weslaco, I think it was, and said this man's got it in for you. I don't know why, but he-you know, that was our first problem we had. He went to the judge and he told the judge that we were-and that was Judge Flores at that time, very nice man, to the type that we're s-you know, has a ranch here, understands the environment. But he went to Judge Flores and told him we were in-only into this for personal gain, you know.

00:23:43 - 2369 And-and so-it's caused all sorts of problems. I demanded he go and explain to the judge that he-you know, that all this was something that he was making up. It's-it gets-it was very complicated, but he did go in, and then finally back off. But that was just the first problem we had. We had Earth Day celebration there, and they flooded the park the day we had the-we had a band there, we were celebrating Earth Day, and the Water Department chose that day to-to clean their filters, you know. Flooded the entire park. The band was being electrocuted by their equipment. You know, this type of thing.

00:24:26 - 2369 So we finally decided we'd back off from the park, even though we'd-we'd put up all the fences. We'd raised money for fencing. We had raised money-people in town were really for this. We'd raised money for plants. Plants were stolen, the fences were destroyed, usually by young men driving drunk. All our volunteers were harassed that were working there. And what we found out, the main problem was this park was used for drug dealing. And I think that was one problem. That's why our-our volunteers were harassed. And my husband finally said, you know, you just got to quit this. It's just

00:25:07 - 2369 not going to happen. It's just a-you're beating your head against a wall. And this has gone on ever since. They s-during-what was it, 1998, the-they had a birding group coming here from the valley. People from all over the world to see the White Collared Seed Eater. It was nesting season. And it was Earth Day also. Con-I get a call, and they're bulldozing. They-the Los Ebinos Golf Course, which was run by Rinato Ramirez, which is also a-one of the main bank managers in town, bulldozed the area in

00:25:45 - 2369 front of the birders during the height of the season. And it-it-it just-all it was was one little area that could be protected. I mean he just did-there's no common sense to that. And you could say, okay, he didn't know any better, but he did know better. The-there were signs all over town, you know. "Welcome to Zapata, Home of the White Collared Seed Eater."

DT: So what do you attribute it to? That-that kind of attitude, or...

00:26:14 - 2369 NU: I don't know. You know, my husband and I were talking about that. It-he knew better because I'd walked the same area with him a few years before and had said this is an area that needs protecting. Nothing has been done. They said they were bulldozing it for the golf course. Nothing's been done to this day. That was in 1998. It-of course they went in and re-dug the pond, and completely destroyed the habitat. So it never will come back now. I think he just felt like doing it that day, and didn't really care. I don't

00:26:46 - 2369 know if there was some vendetta to someone-to the judge that happened to be judge then, I don't really know the politics of it. It made no sense. That's the thing. And it-it got worldwide attention. And because of that, I think Zapata wasn't chosen for one of the birding centers of this part of the country. I think it would have been if it hadn't been for that. But it...

DT: Well, so after you ran into this dead end on trying to create a nature center and rehab center in the park, you decided to build a building where we are now?

00:27:24 - 2369 NU: Yeah. It just-it was-yeah. It-and many people have tried since to try and do something with that park, but it-I just felt it wasn't safe. If people are going to be-if it's-if it's a drug situation, you're going to get bad things done, you know, if you have animals there. So we-I just backed off and we became Zapata Wildlife Rescue. Which we bought this lot that we're on here, and we had a old mobile home, and we just went fundraising to build our cages here where we could protect it, and we didn't have to depend on anyone else.

DT: Well, maybe you can tell us a little bit about this core thing that you've been involved in for many years, I guess since-since childhood, really, but since the Wildlife Rescue was set up in '87, I believe. This wildlife rehabilitation work. Can you give us an idea of the number and kind of animals that you typically get in (?)...

(Break.)

00:28:27 - 2369 NU: ...know what's going on in politics.

DT: Well, so I was asking before we went off tape that I was curious about the-the Zapata Wildlife Rescue operation. And that basically, maybe a place to start would be to find out what kind of animals you've been treating, and how many you might see in a typical year, and...

00:28:49 - 2369 NU: It started out it was basically birds, because that's what we were licensed to do. Then I and-added mammals because we saw them more and more. Usually I would get, like, injured deer that came from the border. Injured fox. It was-I worked with a Fish and Wildlife officer that worked at the border. But you're-majority are songbirds during nesting season, storm-related orphans falling from nests. That type of thing. I've had just about every species I would say. Owls, hawks, hit by cars. Migration, we see a lot of birds. When I began, I would say I'd have-I started out with probably six-sixty birds, seventy birds a year. Then I started to take-most of the animals that went to the Gladys Porter Zoo, which is in Brownsville, that's when it got insane, because they would bring them up by the truckload. You know, if they got babies in, they'd bring them up here.

Well, people don't understand, when you have baby birds they have to be

00:29:52 - 2369 re-fed every fifteen minutes from dawn to dusk. This is-you know, if you have owls, it's every two to four hours, a young owl, around the clock. So it got-got up to I-I think I was doing two hundred, maybe, a year, which doesn't sound like a lot, but when you get it all in-pretty much in an-in a springtime, it's-and it's around the clock, sometimes you don't sleep. It's-you know, it's seven days a week. You don't have a lot of volunteers up here.

DT: And tell me, you're feeding all these animals. Are you trying to simulate their wild diet, or...

00:30:30 - 2369 NU: Yeah. DT: ... are there kind of stand-in food that you (inaudible)?

00:30:32 - 2369 NU: No. You have to raise mice, you have to have-everything. That's one of the problems. We see people bring in birds that have been given the wrong diet. Of course, it causes rickets, it causes all sorts of problems, bone problems. So you have to-you know, you may have seven different birds and seven different diets. You have to have mice. Baby owls have to have the fur and the bones, so you're pulverizing mice and feeding them mice. Cri-you know, you have the insectivores that eat crickets. You have the fruit eaters, the seed eaters. So yeah, it's a varied diet.

DT: And how would you get these different kinds of food and animals?

00:31:12 - 2369 NU: I've raised a lot of mice. I'd order crickets by the thou-five thousand at a time. You know, I've got a good place to order. I never can raise enough mice, so I'd be buying them frozen and have them sent in. When you have baby owls you can't-I mean if you've got thirteen baby barn owls, there's no way you can raise enough mice unless you've got a huge breeding facility going.

DT: Would you have to have a special diet for the young animals?

00:31:42 - 2369 NU: Milk. Yeah. The milk replacement, like deer. Some deer come in, they have problems. Or if they have to go on antibiotics, it sets off their system. And you have to get powdered goat milk. Fresh goat milk's better. I had neighbors that would save me fresh goat milk. Just different-you know, I go-I work with different ranch supplies that get me the milk. Sometimes people donate it. It's very expensive.

DT: Well, maybe you can tell us about your kind of support network, the folks that would help you with all these special foods that can have to buy, you know, in pretty much bulk, too.

00:32:21 - 2369 NU: Yeah. Yeah, the-our feed stores are good. I do a lot of ordering. I've always-when we were in the height of doing so many animals I had a great volunteer system then of retired winter Texans that would help me. Like-if you have beavers in, they have to have certain willows. Well people would go down to the lake and cut willows for me. I'd-you know, when you're working around the clock, it's hard to make time to go down and-to the lake and cut some willows for the baby beavers. So it's-it's just a constant thing. (Inaudible)

DT: How would you find out what kinds of foods for the right ones?

00:32:58 - 2369

NU: Well, that's-all that is-is done through a wildlife network. Books. There's many-there's so many books written on wildlife rehabilitation now. And if you have any questions, you call the network, Internet-you know, the Wildlife Rehab, and they'll give you answers. Like if-you know, what's the baby formula for-for bats? I mean I got a bunch of bats in that needed milk. Well, it has to have a special formula. I got Least Interior Terns, which are an endangered species, in once. They're a little water bird which are found in this area. No one knew what a diet would be for these. So you just kind of guesswork, blended up a bunch of crickets and minnows, and it worked. And vitamins, and you know, suggestions from zoos, and...

DT: So you would also supplement their foods with vitamins, minerals?

00:33:51 - 2369 NU: Well, yeah. Water birds especially. It's B-1 they lack, so you have to add B-1 to their diet. Pelicans. I'd call Gladys Porter Zoo, ask what the best worming would be for pelicans. They're always very helpful.

DT: Were there some kinds of-of injured animals that required special diets that are different from the conventional animals that might come in?

00:34:17 - 2369

NU: Well, we had-one of the most rare birds we had, which was only the second one to land in Texas, which was a-a Red Billed Tropicbird. And not only was the diet a problem, because of course they're a fish eater, and it was a young bird, but it was-what antibiotics can they tolerate? No one had ever had these birds in captivity before. So it was a lot gu-you do a lot of guesswork with some species.

DT: And then you mentioned antibiotics. What sort of medicines would you have to provide for these animals?

00:34:51 - 2369 NU: Well, that's where we're lucky. We have a-Dr. Sam Bottenfield, which is our local veterinarian, and he-he usually has his "good book." He looks everything up for us. And you know, some antibiotics can't be tolerated. And like with deer, you have to supplement them with yogurt to get their system back after they've been on antibiotics. But he's volunteered for us, and been on our board for years. He and his wife, Danni-Diette Bottenfield. And they've helped a lot, and with the mediation, and surgery. He does all our surgery for free. You know, setting wings, adding pins, that type of thing.

DT: Well, why don't you talk to us a little bit about the kind of injuries that you might see that would require either antibiotics, or other drugs, or possibly surgery.

00:35:41 - 2369

NU: Most common is hit by car. That would, I'd say, the most common. Or hitting a power line. Power lines are deadly to Great Horned Owls. Barbed wire does a lot of damage. When they get caught-when they're hunting they fly down and land, twist up in the barbed wire. A lot of times it's just tissue damage, but many times it's fractured bones, and you have to put a pin in. And of course, that takes an experienced veterinarian. A lot of times it's just a wrap. If it's a simple fracture, I'll do it. I'll-just a-you know, just a simple wrap. But most of the (?)...

DT: If it's compound? Or (?)...

00:36:24 - 2369 NU: Yeah. It's compound, it has to-yeah. If Sam's not here, I would take to veterinarians in Laredo who also help me. Dr. Kreamer-Phyllis Kreamer.

DT: And for this surgery, is there special anesthesia to (?)...

00:36:38 - 2369 NU: Yeah. It depends on the species. Yeah. It's-it's iffy. Water birds are terrible because half the time they-you know, if-if they're stressed-we try to build them up first, then, you know, for a few days, and then perform surgery if needed. And, you know, water birds are so delicate. So many of them don't make it through surgery. You-it's kind of like the last ditch effort when you have to do surgery.

DT: Is there a kind of triage that you have to go through to figure which animals are strong enough to recuperate, and those that aren't?

00:37:10 - 2369 NU: Yeah, you kind of learn that from experience. We get a lot of concussions. That's another thing. We get a lot of birds that come in with concussions. Another thing we've used a lot of is-is reflexology. You know, where you massage and try to get-and-and a l-and a lot of vitamins. Like I've switched to Noni Juice. I don't know if you've heard of Tahitian Noni. It's a natural-it's from a-a berry. And-try-I found the more natural, the better. If you can go to sort of a homeopathic approach. I mean sometimes you can't, but that's worked out very well. The Noni juices helps build them up. Mammals, as well as birds.

DT: You mentioned that some of these animals come in with concussions and broken limbs. Do you see many animals that either have been shot, or perhaps have pollution-related problems?

00:38:07 - 2369

NU: Yeah. Elf Owls. I don't know if-many years ago I got two Elf Owls that came from the Rio Grande Valley. They're tiny little-I mean they look like a Great Horned, but full grown they're about the size of your finger. Cute little things. I've only had-seen those two. They were found on a nest-I think it was the Pan-American University group found them. The parents-it was from pesticides-had died from pesticides. One of the siblings died before they came up here. But they thought this-this was when I was still working with the valley group. They thought they'd have a better chance being

00:38:40 - 2369 released up here because there's less pesticides in this area. And we kept them for about a month until they were old enough, and they were released.

DT: Well, how could you tell when an animal has been exposed to something? Did you see lesions, or...

00:38:55 - 2369 NU: See-well, a lot of them is seizures. I think they-they figured-these are insect eaters, so of course, the grasshoppers had been sprayed. They were fed to the young. And I think they'd done a autopsy and did-done tests on these, actually knew it was from pesticide poisoning. I have a lot of them come in, and I know it-even in the early days, there was a lot of birds in the valley being born with deformities. Legs facing the wrong way due to pesticide poisoning. Luckily, I haven't seen that in this area. I do see a lot of unexplained seizures. They come in and they're having seizures. And usually-

00:39:36 - 2369 sometimes they pull out of it, usually they don't, which it has to be some from some sort of poisoning.

DT: Do you see many animals that have been in an oil slick or had some kind of oil contamination?

00:39:48 - 2369 NU: I've had a few. We took a course in that. My-Robert and-my husband, and Sam and Danni, and I and my sister, in what to do in case there was one on the lake. We haven't had-I'd say in the nineteen years I've been doing this, we've had one, I think. Only one that-me-two, two that were in pits. But because there are the stricter laws now where the pits have to be covered with netting, we're not seeing that anymore. Or as often. Of course many of them probably don't get to us. They-but, you know, they have these-on the tanks now that hold oil, everything has to be covered with netting.

DT: And what would you do if an animal got covered with oil? What's the procedure for caring for...

00:40:34 - 2369 NU: It's-it's Dawn dishwashing liquid. It's just a lot of washing with Dawn. And keeping them warm, keeping them in just-keep-just a whole procedure of warming, washing, until they-you get it out of their feathers. And Dawn is the best thing that we've-I think most people have found.

DT: Do you see many animals that come in here because they-of some sort of natural phenomenon? A windstorm, or flood, or drought?

00:41:04 - 2369 NU: Yeah. Yeah. There was-floods, we see like bobcat kittens. When the flooding, it goes on the-you know, the arroyos, because the kit-the cats tend to nest-not nest, but have their little burrows in the sides of arroyos. And so we get them from flooding. Spring, whenever there's a storm, you just sort of shudder, because you know you're going to get inundated with baby birds blown out of the nest. People are pretty good about if the nest's still there, and I'll talk them into putting them back in the nest, or

00:41:35 - 2369 making a makeshift nest and putting it back up, because the parents will continue taking care of them. And it's a lot easier than raising them. And it's a lot better. There was one bobcat, it g-it's a nice story. Her name was Wren. She came from a local ranch right outside of town. And they found her after one of these fl-it was just a devastating flood

00:41:59 - 2369 that we had. It was a-and we'd had-we're not used to having that much rain. But they found her unconscious, and they rushed her-the whole family got together, rushed her to our vet. And he took care of her for about-it was about a week, she was out-she was unconscious. And when she came to, Danni was holding her, and she nailed her, bit her. So she said it's time to send her to Nancy. So I got her, and we raised her until she was, you know, release age, about nine months-eight-eight-nine months old. And the

00:42:29 - 2369 people wanted her back on their ranch. So we went. And the whole family came out, and grandma and everybody, to watch the release of-of putting her back on their ranch. That's why I like this area. I think in Texas, people around here tend to live on their a-ranch. If they don't live on the ranch, they spend their weekends on the ranch. So they're more attuned to it as a natural-you know, and they want it to stay like that for their-for their kids, their grandkids.

DT: And speaking of people and their attitudes, what sort of people bring in animals, and what's their attitude about finding them and then giving them to you, and seeing them get restored?

00:43:13 - 2369 NU: I get everybody-I mean I've gotten so many different-I remember one guy, just tough low-rider guy. He drove all the way from-from Weslaco with baby possums, and he was so upset. You know, long hair, big tough guy, tattoos. And he brought-he was so upset. He brought this whole nest of baby possums. And, oh, I thought, well, there is hope when people will go to that much trouble. And-and I get it from, you know, kids, adults, of course, the game wardens, but it's just a-you know, a wide variety of people. Or they'll call me and ask what to do before they bring them here.

00:43:52 - 2369 And they'll take-you know, if it's in Laredo and I can't leave, or they can-they'll make the trip here. I've had people, you know, as far as the valley, you know, that will drive several hundred miles to bring something in that needs help.

DT: And do you talk to some of these people before they come in about trying to care for it themselves?

00:44:14 - 2369 NU: Yeah. I discourage it because I-I'll explain, well, you've got to pulverize, you know, a baby mouse. Do you want to-you've got to cut up mice. Usually, that does it, you know, with-when you have a baby. People want-you know, they have a baby owl, they think it's so cute, or a hawk. And I say, well, you-also, it's against the law and you can get a hefty fine, you know, if you're caught with it. And that's one of the main problems, is people trying to raise them without knowing the right diet.

DT: On the other side, you've got folks who, I guess, are maybe not as interested in these animals. And I'm curious if you could reach some of these folks that maybe hit these animals with their car, or shoot them carelessly, what will be the message to try and bring them into the fold and explain to them why these animals deserve more respect or care?

00:45:14 - 2369 NU: Well, they're important. I mean I-example. You-everyone in-and the good ol' boy mentality, just to kill all the coyotes, you know, that you come across. Well, in some parts of Texas, Animal Damage Control has wiped them out. They've wiped out the coyote population. Suddenly they have Bubonic Plague. I mean, you know, they're showing up with a problem with Bubonic Plague because wh-there's nothing to eat the rodents. You know, this-it's-this is a natural process again, which I say, you know, you've-you have a rodent...

There was a-a perfect example, was a game warden told me about a rancher down in the Rio Grande City area. He'd shot all the hawks on his

00:45:55 - 2369 ranch. He went out and just-you know, because he thought they were getting his chickens, so they were all chicken hawks. So he'd-he'd hired people, which is against the law. I mean he could have gotten a hefty fine. But he'd done this for years. Well, he had such a-an outbreak of rodent population. And of course, all his chicken feed was-and he had-the eggs, everything was being eaten by rats and mice. So he had-called the game warden, begged him to have-to bring in owls and hawks, if they could release-because he realized what he'd done, what-you know, how detrimental it'd been. So they started releasing, you know, hawks and owls in that area to try and build up the population.

DT: Well, are there many cases like that where you've had people that have a kind of epiphany and they realize that there's a different attitude, different kind of understanding that they could have?

00:46:47 - 2369 NU: It happens more often than you think, I guess. Yeah. Like, you know, people running over the Texas Tortoise, which is an endangered species. I've always heard and seen-a few times people go out of the way to run them over, but majority of the time I've seen pem-people avoid them, you know. So I think it-people are getting the message, it's just slow.

And education, of course, is the main thing. I took-one time I had a class at the library, and we were doing wildlife art. And I had a grackle I was raising at the time. You know, everyone hates the grackle, but I took him in. I thought,

00:47:23 - 2369 well, I'll bring him in. And he-he helped me with the pro-he went around and he picked up their pencils. And the kids had never see-really looked at a grackle that way. He ran around and played with their pencils and their crayons. And he went up and took the American flag off the thing and ran around with the American flag. But it-you know, it's like they'd never thought of them having a personality. He was released and he had-for years he raised his young in this area too.

DT: Well, do you see a difference between animals that are cute and attractive, and other animals that are considered pests or invaders are more common?

00:48:04 - 2369 NU: Well, superstition too. Superstition is a problem. Everyone around here thinks barn owls are witches, you know. That's another problem. So they shoot them. Of course, in many cultures, owls are considered either, you know, a witch, or something to do with death. Like the Navajo culture, if you see an owl, it means someone in your family is going to die. And trying to get-I've had-actually had kids be afraid when I've taken-you know, like my education owl that we had for so many years. When they realize it's just an animal, and, you know, a beautiful wild animal, it changes their

00:48:41 - 2369 whole perspective. And nobody's dying, and it's-didn't turn into a witch, you know. But it's very common that-kind of that outlook. And especially, you know, these kids that-but once-you know, they're easy to get through. Kids are the ones you really want to hit. They're a lot more susceptible to (?).

DT: What about things like snakes, that I think a lot of people have a frightened reaction to. There examples like that, where as they get to know them better, it's maybe s...

00:49:14 - 2369 NU: They won't even try. I've had-that's the worst problem I've had, with snakes. I once-I was taking an animal to release. I th-I think I was going out to feed one of them at one of our release sites. And this guy in front of us, back road, middle of nowhere, there was a rattlesnake going across the-the road. He stopped and got his gun. And I mean was shooting in every direction. You know, we were dodging bullets. We were in the vehicle behind him. Just terror over this harmless snake out in the middle of nowhere. I mean that attitude. A lot of-I notice-people ask me, especially men, do

00:49:47 - 2369 you do snakes, do you rehab snakes? And they want you to have that reaction, you know, of terror. And I said, well, if an injured one comes in, I'll rehabilitate them.

But-my father, when I was three, I remember-it's one of my earliest memories. We found a snake. We were walking. We were in-living in California at the time. And I was af-I f-showed fear, and he picked it up, and it was a little gopher snake. And he had me carry it home to see that it wasn't dangerous. And he let me keep it for about a day or

00:50:20 - 2369 two, and realized-and the he said, well, you're going to have to feed it frogs. Of course, I liked frogs, so it was released. But I mean that-you-you know, the fear, getting over the fear.

DT: Well, how do you deal with the situation where you have to kill one animal to have another live?

00:50:39 - 2369 NU: That's hard. I've never gotten used to that. I know-the rehabilitators in the valley used to raise rats. Well, I've always had pet rats, so couldn't-I couldn't raise a rat. Mice, I have a gas chamber. I don't have to, you know-I mean I will if I have to, bop them on the head, because I look at the owls, and I look at the mice, and I know there's a lot less owls than there are mice. But now I have a gas chamber I can gas them in, and they can be fed that way. The-it's-it's hard. I've never got used to it.

DT: Let's talk a little bit about some of the restorations, some of the recoveries that you've seen, and been involved with some of these animals that have gotten rehabilitated. Some of the success stories.

00:51:23 - 2369

NU: The-I always think of the one which I had pictures of, was the perfect-you mean like the perfect rescue and rehabilitation? That type?

DT: Well, some that-that were successful, some that were not.

00:51:34 - 2369

NU: Yeah. Perfect one I can think of is the White Pelican, which was just a few years ago. He had got-he was a young bird. And I got a call from Beacon Lodge, I think it was. No, it wasn't Beacon. It was the Sunset Villa. Some birders were walking along the lake, and out-quite-offshore quite a ways, probably about thirty feet, there was a pelican with a hook in its leg attached to the-a branch out in the middle of the water. And he'd been there, they thought, for about two days. And they called us. And it was-

00:52:06 - 2369 it was February, and it was very cold. It was probably about thirty degrees that day. So we rushed over there, Robert and I. And we looked out, and I thought, oh, my God, it's-it-he was pulling on it, and the more he pulled, the more damage was done to his leg. So we went out-we thought, well, we can get a boat, but it's going to take longer. I'm a good swimmer, so I swam out and got him, and got the hook off and got him in, took pliers, and...

DT: How did you approach the bird? Powerful birds...

00:52:36 - 2369 NU: He was-he was exhausted. If we'd waited any longer-it was that type of thing, if we'd waited until the point to get a boat down there, and even though it was cold, and I'm a-you know, I-I could swim it and do it, he was-he was so exhausted he didn't fight me much. So-and I'd taken lifesaving, so it was just like sav-you know, you take him in like you do anyone that's been-that's drow-drowning. And I got him to shore. And Robert ran him up to the-to the truck, because it was quite a ruckus. He's a runner. I'm a swimmer, he's a runner. We got him back to the center. He got the hook

00:53:10 - 2369 out, called the vet and his wife, Sam and Danni. They got over here immediately, and we got, you know, antibiotics, got him going. Then there was the problem of feeding him while he healed, because they eat quite bit of fish a day. You know, a White Pelican. So the game wardens worked with us. When they got the illegal nets in, they'd call us no

00:53:29 - 2369 matter what time, and we'd go, we'd get all the fish out of the nets. And he was here about-a-just over a month, and he finally was released back. Ro took him right back, and the people that had, you know, reported it came down, and he was released back in that area. And it's hard because you get very attached. He was young, and I had to force feed him for the first couple of weeks. And-but he did real well.

DT: Well, I imagine you do build up a real bond with some of...

00:54:00 - 2369 NU: Yeah.

DT: ...animals that you bring back from the brink. And how do you, physically and emotionally, do a successful release?

00:54:10 - 2369

NU: It's-that was-that was difficult. I mean because I usually go-if you-you take over the mother role, this bird was young enough that it reverted back to being an infant, which was good, because that made the medications and the bandage changing a lot easier. It's difficult, but you know they're going back to where they should be. I'm sure it was having trouble finding enough fish, so it was like, thank God he's going back at that point. I mean I was driving to Laredo-if we couldn't get enough fish here, I'd have to drive to HEB and, you know, and buy fish there. And it-it's a-it's hard because it's-a bird like that on your-your budget is-practically kills you, you know. It becomes quite an expense.

DT: Well, are there some animals that you know that will be just so expensive to rehabilitate that you have to dispatch them?

00:55:01 - 2369 NU: I've never done that yet. No. We've always taken it on. Yeah. I mean I wouldn't take on-I've turned down animals because I don't have the facilities. Like I couldn't take a mountain lion. I'm not set up for a mountain lion. Black bears, I'm not really, you know, set up for something that big. But I've never turned one down because of the financial. We just struggle through, kind of.

DT: Tell us about some other recoveries that you've had. You know, some-maybe with smaller animals, something larger than the pelican.

00:55:38 - 2369 NU: Bobcat kittens. I had one recently that had been a-just horrible case of abuse, I'd say. It was-ranch hands had found him when he was young. There were two. They'd found the two kittens and took-kept them in a cage. But, you know, for some reason they'd cut the tufts off of his ears. I have no idea why. And they were-the one kitten had died because of neglect. And the ranch owner just happened to find them. Furious. I mean he was furious at what they were doing-brought the one straight to me.

00:56:15 - 2369 He could barely move. It was a month of intensive care. I never thought he'd make it. He couldn't walk. And it-this was during a time when my father was very sick, and it was like I'd-running between hospitals, and-and-and taking care of this bobcat. But we got another one in, healthy kitten, that had been bull-the bulldozer had killed the mother. And he just c-turnaround, a complete turnaround because he thought his sibling was back, I think. And just a complete recovery. And it just-very touching the way he changed when he got, what he thought was his sibling I think had returned.

DT: Well, are there many cases like that where the recoveries are keyed more to not the medicine necessarily, but to something that's emotional?

00:57:05 - 2369 NU: Fostering. Foster care. Yeah, foster care, we had a-Nova, our Great Horned Owl, who we just-passed away a few months ago. She would raise all the young Great Horned Owls that came in. So they wouldn't imprint on us. She even hatched a few eggs. One year she raised-I-almost fifteen, I think, Great Horned Owls. And she'd just take them over. They'd come-and she was already broody that time of year. She was a permanently injured owl. She had-was missing the tip to her beak. So I got permission to keep her for education and-and for fostering. And she'd raise all the young that came in for me, and then they wouldn't imprint, which, you know, if they imprint on you, they're like the dove in the other room. They think they're a person and they won't-when they-mating season comes around they'll go looking for a person

00:57:51 - 2369 rather than an owl. So that worked out perfectly.

We had a-a-also had a javelina, a Collared Peccary, and he-even though he was a male, he raised every young one that came in. He'd lie down and I'd put the bottles over, and they'd nurse. And they'd nurse on him even when the bottles weren't there. But then they would imprint on him rather than me. It's very important to have a-foster parents in a rehabilitation center.

DT: Is it a natural and common thing to find a mature animal that will act as a foster parent? Or is it an unusual, rare thing?

00:58:30 - 2369 NU: Well, usually it's one that's been raised in captivity, because you have to work with them. Like with Nova, she came as a young owl. She was released but then she came back with the injury. She hit a power line and lost her beak. And-it had a little tiny growth underneath it. But she knew us, so she worked out beautifully because she trusted us. And the javelina was the same way. He'd been hand-raised. Because you have to feed them so they can feed the babies.

DT: You mentioned a trust that you build up. Can you talk a little bit about this link between you as a human and these wild animals? And then how you establish that trust?

00:59:18 - 2369

NU: Well, it's a-it's hard to explain. I guess you-a lot of it is visualization, which it sounds-it's nothing psychic about it, it's just animals respond more-well, if you-you make the same sounds they make, maybe the-the mother will make to them. You send them visualizations. They're visual-it-it-it's-I've taken a whole course on it. It's to build a trust, especially with an older animal, a wild older. And it does work. It's tiring, but you try to send pictures of calm-you know, your whole demeanor has to be calm. And I've found it's worked really well for older animals.

DT: Well, what's the story about the raccoon that you (?)...

01:00:02 - 2369 NU: And that was-yeah. That was one I'd-I hadn't really tried it. And I say it's nothing psychic about it, it's just the way animals communicate. He'd fallen into the-the library, and he'd fallen into the computer room from the roof. And he'd destroyed-I mean just destroyed every comp-every-every key was removed. I mean it was like something out of a Disney movie. Everything was flashing. And he was sitting in the corner like this [hands over face]. A full grown raccoon like this in the corner. And they'd-they couldn't get anyone to come because the Health Department has put a ban on us

01:00:41 - 2369 taking care of raccoons at that time. Another whole story. So I had to go because they said, well, we're going to close for the weekend, he'll be here all weekend. He'll starve to death. They couldn't get the Animal Control in town to come, and I didn't know what to do. I had the cage there, I tried a little bread, and he just-so I-I did-I just finished that course, so I tried the-where you visualize-I visualized-I tried to send him this

01:01:05 - 2369 vision getting into the cage and being released at the lake. Just a picture. Just a thought. And it worked. I mean it just worked like-he stopped, he gath-he went into the cage, and-and I locked the cage. I mean-no-an adult raccoon can be dangerous. I took him down to the lake and released him. And it...

DT: Is he-is it a-a one-way communication, or-to...

01:01:31 - 2369 NU: One way. I'm sure some people could do, but just did it the one way. Yeah.