Today, as we celebrate the life and achievements of Walter C. Crawford, Jr., the World Bird Sanctuary founder, leader, and guiding light for many years, the following blog by Joe Hoffmann, our rehabilitation hospital manager, sums up what many of us are feeling.
Baby Boomers, The Disco
age, Generation X and the Millennials...time moves on with or without us.
Sometimes we are lucky
enough to meet someone who challenges us to make a difference. They also assist us in doing so until
one day we are no longer following their lead but working alongside them as
they reach their crescendo. We can
reflect on the vision achieved during their lifetime or we can build on the
opportunities created by their leadership.
Birds follow cycles of the
earth and the seasons--breeding and raising their next generations. There is training that takes place by
the parents in many species. We
have also found that a lot of the skills needed to survive are pure
instinct. Some animals have it and
some don’t--I guess you could call it a learning curve, but there is no second
chance at this test. In fact, 60%
to 85% of all baby birds die before their first birthday.
Some of these birds die
because of human made problems, and that is why we here at WBS do the work we
do. We help a few of them by
educating the public on the damage humans cause to our world and how each of us
might limit our negative impact on the environment.
A baby Green Heron
currently in our care. (Photo: Gay Schroer)
We also help many birds
who are injured, as well as orphaned babies, in the wildlife hospital. After rehabilitation of these
birds we release them back to the wild.
For many years no one addressed this need and this is why Walter C.
Crawford, Jr. founded the World Bird Sanctuary. He challenged the staff and volunteers to meet these
objectives and make a difference each day.
Luckily Walt set up a
system of succession for the management of the Sanctuary. He even lectured around the country and
published papers to help other organizations dealing with the handover of
leadership. Walt first appointed
Jeff Meshach as the assistant Director, and then about four years ago Walter
appointed Jeff Meshach as the Director of The World Bird Sanctuary.
The Sanctuary also has a
senior management group which assists in steering the organization to keep us
on track. This group consists of
some staff that has been here 20 years or more, and occasionally we have even
had individuals that had only been with us for a few years who are included in
this leadership role. We are very
thankful for all of Walters’s insights and planning.
So, just as our baby Green
Heron learns to balance on his gangly new legs to stand and walk, we do
also. It may take time and it
might seem awkward at first but soon it might even seem
natural.
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