[Gandalf Parker]

Originally posted by tesco samoa:
Hey Gandalf Parker wildlife management sounds interesting and very enjoyable. What do you do with that .

In the military they were great at finding out that you had a hobby, then "volunteering" you to help them out. It had its pros and cons. Nice to get some training and support in what was a hobby but rotten to turn a hobby into work.

Just about the time that my computer-hobby-turned-job was getting to me they offered to turn my animal-handling into work. There was a rabies scare and I was drafted to take care of a feral cat problem. In standard military fashion they widened it to I got called an anything that was alive and the security police didnt want

I had a 95% live-capture/relocate rate which is pretty good considering some of it. Had some interesting pets for awhile. A "wolf" which turned out to be an over-energetic dog became one of the best pets Ive ever had. a 6-foot wingspan vulture we had for a short time. a 6 foot "rattlesnake" I got called on which turned out to be a bull snake but it was neat so we kept it for a few years. A "tarantula" was a fun story. About the size of my hand. The SecPol that called me said "I stomped it, it got up, I called you". Made a great pet also. There was the time I got called to "get the possum out of the skunk house" (the people had a pet skunk and a possum took over the skunks dog-house in the yard.

Of course there were also real rattlesnakes, and "giant rats" (usually oppossums), a bull, skunks, bats, an eagle, an escaped cockatoo, some pitbull calls, mmm thats all I can think of for now. The worst of all were the cats-gone-wild though. I lost 2 partners that were laid up for weeks from trying to handle them.

I also got to do Environmental Impact Reports, Endangered Species Surveys, and became the only "Park Ranger" on the 10 acre park we had with a 2acre pond.

Lots of fun and it was a nice switch from the computer room. After awhile they developed a big "computer problem" (trying to migrate projects from the huge mainframes to PCs) and I got flip-flopped back.

I havent done much with it since I got out of the military except back to training my own pets and impressing people. Ive debated applying to the city to manage their park/pond (their fishing could really stand to be improved). I especially think of it everytime I notice what this computer life is doing to my waistline.

Did you know that Internet is fattening?