By Carol Dollard
On Veterans Day 2005, I got
word that my dear friend & coworker, Mike, had been killed in the war in
Iraq. The news was heartbreaking. A few days later on the way to my regular
Sunday morning shift at the Raptor Center I picked up a newspaper – there on
the front page was a half page article about Mike & the sacrifice he had
made for the rest of us. I sat in the
parking lot looking at the pics and reading the article with tears rolling down
my cheeks. I collected myself and went
in for treatments only to learn that we were going to release an American
Kestrel that day – right there on the grounds of the center. In honor of Mike, the crew let me be the one
to actually release the AMKE. As I
pulled back the drape to release him, the bird gave me one backward glance
& then took off – vocalizing & circling over our heads several times
before settling in a nearby tree. There
was something incredibly healing in that moment. To this day I cannot see an AMKE without thinking
of Mike.
P.S. For the record it made me
tear up just to type up this story.
Carol Dollard is a long time supporter and volunteer at the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program. Her husband and two daughters have all volunteered for RMRP and one daughter had held a staff position for some time. She shared this story with us as a way to reflect on how much working with the raptors has impacted her life.
www.rmrp.org/donate
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