Then the building now in use will be dedicated to rehabilitating the injured. Eventually the ambassadors will be moved into their own permanent aviaries or mews. Engler and volunteers haul the birds in their cars all over the state to present programs, then bring them home to the newly built facility east of Rapid City.Ī building to temporarily house the BHRC ambassador birds has moved the group closer to being licensed to rehabilitate the injured. The mission of the nonprofit BHRC includes scientific research, education and rehabilitation and release, but achieving those goals is difficult without a building. In her “spare” time she cares for the birds, handles BHRC correspondence, communicates with volunteers and writes grants. She also teaches preschool and tutors people with dyslexia. Trained as a naturalist, interpreter and environmental educator, Engler has done this work for 30 years in various capacities. “I can teach any topic through birds,” Engler says, because “raptors capture the human heart like no other birds.” Engler estimates Elise has visited 2,500 classrooms. The picture isn’t completely bleak species like the bald eagle and peregrine falcon have rebounded since use of the pesticide DDT was restricted in the 1970s.Īs part of teaching the public to appreciate the birds, Engler and volunteers introduce the BHRC raptors to the public in 160-170 programs a year for preschool through college classes, community groups, visitors to national and state parks, conservation camps, outdoor expos and sports shows around western South Dakota. Engler, an ardent big game hunter, has switched to non-toxic shot.
Some die from eating lead if they feed on animals shot by hunters. Many die from secondary poisoning after eating contaminated prey, perhaps poisoned prairie dogs, rats or mice.
Raptor species are also damaged by rodenticides and other pesticides, organic chemicals such as PCBs and metals such as mercury and lead. Their lives were damaged, usually by humans, so they are being recycled in educational programs, to help people understand the importance of these birds to the world.”Įven on the prairies, many raptor species have sharply declined in locations where their habitats have been altered by subdivisions, plowing, highway construction, mining and other human activities. They are only caged because they are too seriously injured to be released. “They belong to the people of the United States. “The birds don’t belong to us,” Halverson says. In hundreds of miles of prairie grassland, Maggie is one of the few people offering hope of survival for injured raptors. Recently, Izaak Walton the peregrine falcon joined the flock of ambassadors. The center is also home to Phoenix the ferruginous hawk, Freya the red-tailed hawk, Aldo, the great-horned owl, Hendrix and Joplin, the American kestrels, and two Eastern screech owls, Little Red Riding Hoot and the Big Bad Wolf, all species native to South Dakota.
By federal law, the center may educate only with birds that can never be released into the wild. Believing humans are the source of food and mates, she became aggressive with handlers and could never resume her normal life.Įlise is a visible symbol of how little we know about the prairie that surrounds our highways and cities in the Great Plains.Įngler and her co-founder John Halverson started the Black Hills Raptor Center in Rapid City to help birds of prey recover from human-caused damage. Once she learned to accept food from humans, she became dangerous. Elise was 10 days old when she was taken from her nest, caged and fed hot dogs and hamburger.
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