It started with me trying to help a lady get her springer spaniel to surrender a tennis ball he had taken from another dog at the local dog park. She was the Exec director of a wildlife education program that was located on the grounds of Reptile Gardens. I worked for them for a short time before that non-profit was shut down by it's very bored board of directors. She and I were devastated and decided to start a new organization with similar mission and a very different business model, much leaner and efficient.
Three years later we have done over 500 programs, mostly in public school classrooms, and continue to operate on a shoestring budget. We have a local family step up and donate a large parcel of land to us and we are getting ready to start a capital campaign drive to raise money to build a permanent facility for a base of operations. At that time our overseeing United States Fish and Wildlife agent will expand our "Special Use Permit/Education Permit" to include rehabilitation of injured birds of prey. At this time we only do the educational stuff. However, our local USF&W law enforcement agent gives us provisional permission on a case by case basis to step in and do what is necessary on rescue situations. To date, I have wrangled 8 eagles and untold numbers of hawks, falcons, and owls. Some have had fantastic recovery stories but many have been too far gone to recover.
But, baby, that's Nature. She is harsh. For example, your little kestrel was probably booted outa the nest by her older and larger siblings while one or more parents looked on in tacit agreement. Makes a good argument that maybe Nature doesn't want us helping out. I can argue both sides of that argument with logic and data to support both sides!
Lastly, I can count on one hand, not using pinkie, thumb and forefinger, the number of programs similar to ours that includes hunting in their conservation message in a positive light. There are others, I am sure, but I have yet to find 'em. At most, they will acknowledge that hunting may have some vague and undefined conservation purpose.
That's how I got to where I am and where I am, for that matter. And lastly, NO YOU CAN'T PET THE BIRDS. We don't wanna upset their feeding schedules!
