ColleenT
Well-Known Member
i am so sorry you lost him. I hope you find a new Falcon soon, and continue your adventure.
My Latest Endeavor...
- Thread starter Tom
- Start date
Time for an update. The saga continues…
After such an upsetting first round, I was afraid to post anything about round two for fear that the same sort of thing would happen again. Well… spoiler alert… Year two has a very happy ending with a fine story to go along with it. Sorry to give away the ending, but last year's devastating, sudden and unexpected death really shook me and made me question everything.
Before you read on, I would like to warn everyone reading that this thread is about hunting with a hawk, and I'll show some hunting pics of the bird on game. Stop now if you don't want to see pics of that nature.
Meet Minerva:
This is her perched upon her training lure after catching it and eating her tidbit. This picture was taken mid-season
Let me back track and tell the story of how Minerva and I came to be acquainted. I started trying to trap a new bird as soon as the season started in October. The warm weather prevented the birds from migrating down from the north and the pickin's were slim to say the least. I didn't want another bird from the area where I got Toothless, so I was looking elsewhere. I had been pre-scouting in September, and this is one of the only birds I saw:
This was my first few of Minerva. Its a view I would see many times… After seven attempts over a period of weeks, she refused to show any interest whatsoever in my trap with the delicious free rat in it. Time after time, I'd drive all the way out to where she was, and time after time she'd look at my offering and refuse to come down. I tried for a few other birds, but wild hawks are all pretty leery. At least this one never tried to fly away at my approach, and she looked so big and beautiful sitting up there ignoring me.
On the day of attempt number 8, my frustration level was high. I was frustrated that I still did not have a bird, and I was double frustrated that 7 attempts at all hours of the day had failed to catch this bird. I told myself that this was the last time I would try for this bird. I kept trying because this bird was always in the same spot, and there were no other birds anywhere around her… {Foreshadowing here…} and there were few birds to choose from anywhere, unless I wanted to go back to where Toothless came from, which I really didn't.
So I get everything ready and drive all the way out there. Like always, there she is sitting in her same spot looking content as the master of her world. Like usual, I place the trap in the perfect spot, right in her view and I hightail it out of there. I drove a good mile away, whipped around and pulled out the binoculars. Was she down on my trap getting caught up this time? Nope. Still sitting in the same spot that she is always sitting in. Mocking me. Surely laughing at the silly hairless ape who keeps coming back and fussing around under her pole perch week after week. So I sit there for 40 minutes, muttering to myself the whole time about this bird who just doesn't want to come down and play with me. In a huff, I say: "That's it. I'm out of here. I'm done with this stupid bird!" I start the car and before I can pull back on to the road, I had to wait for another car that is coming and heading in the same direction as the bird. While waiting for that car to pass, I glanced back over to see the tiny dot sitting atop the pole in the distance. This is when I think I see the tiny dot fly down to where I left the trap…
Gotta go to work. To be continued...
After such an upsetting first round, I was afraid to post anything about round two for fear that the same sort of thing would happen again. Well… spoiler alert… Year two has a very happy ending with a fine story to go along with it. Sorry to give away the ending, but last year's devastating, sudden and unexpected death really shook me and made me question everything.
Before you read on, I would like to warn everyone reading that this thread is about hunting with a hawk, and I'll show some hunting pics of the bird on game. Stop now if you don't want to see pics of that nature.
Meet Minerva:
This is her perched upon her training lure after catching it and eating her tidbit. This picture was taken mid-season
Let me back track and tell the story of how Minerva and I came to be acquainted. I started trying to trap a new bird as soon as the season started in October. The warm weather prevented the birds from migrating down from the north and the pickin's were slim to say the least. I didn't want another bird from the area where I got Toothless, so I was looking elsewhere. I had been pre-scouting in September, and this is one of the only birds I saw:
This was my first few of Minerva. Its a view I would see many times… After seven attempts over a period of weeks, she refused to show any interest whatsoever in my trap with the delicious free rat in it. Time after time, I'd drive all the way out to where she was, and time after time she'd look at my offering and refuse to come down. I tried for a few other birds, but wild hawks are all pretty leery. At least this one never tried to fly away at my approach, and she looked so big and beautiful sitting up there ignoring me.
On the day of attempt number 8, my frustration level was high. I was frustrated that I still did not have a bird, and I was double frustrated that 7 attempts at all hours of the day had failed to catch this bird. I told myself that this was the last time I would try for this bird. I kept trying because this bird was always in the same spot, and there were no other birds anywhere around her… {Foreshadowing here…} and there were few birds to choose from anywhere, unless I wanted to go back to where Toothless came from, which I really didn't.
So I get everything ready and drive all the way out there. Like always, there she is sitting in her same spot looking content as the master of her world. Like usual, I place the trap in the perfect spot, right in her view and I hightail it out of there. I drove a good mile away, whipped around and pulled out the binoculars. Was she down on my trap getting caught up this time? Nope. Still sitting in the same spot that she is always sitting in. Mocking me. Surely laughing at the silly hairless ape who keeps coming back and fussing around under her pole perch week after week. So I sit there for 40 minutes, muttering to myself the whole time about this bird who just doesn't want to come down and play with me. In a huff, I say: "That's it. I'm out of here. I'm done with this stupid bird!" I start the car and before I can pull back on to the road, I had to wait for another car that is coming and heading in the same direction as the bird. While waiting for that car to pass, I glanced back over to see the tiny dot sitting atop the pole in the distance. This is when I think I see the tiny dot fly down to where I left the trap…
Gotta go to work. To be continued...
Cliff hanger!
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Wow, I actually looked into this years ago. The years of dedication, labor, costs, and red-tape is extraordinary and extreme. It's amazing and most people wouldn't understand the task you have taken on. The hours a day and schedule you have to maintain to be successful. The aviary alone puts any turtle pen needs to shame. I am blessed to live in a region where falcons, hawks, owls, and eagles are plentiful. I get to witness the amazing predators in action without all the effort. 
I salute you and your efforts.
I salute you and your efforts.
So she flies down to the trap and now me and this other car are headed her way and going to pass her on the right side of the road. Normally, you wait a few minutes for them to get entangled in the trap. If you drive back over to the trap before they are caught, they'll fly away and never come back. Since the bird is used to cars passing like this all day long, I figure I will just pass by, go down the road, and observe from the other side. This would give her time to get caught up in my trap. Then, once I saw through the binoculars that she was caught, I could drive over and she'd be on the driver's side and I could make a quicker dash and grab.
The first car passes by, and she acts like it isn't there. No reaction whatsoever. Doesn't even give it a glance. I figure I'm golden. I'll just quietly pass by like nothing is wrong, and I'll come back once she's caught. Nope. Not with this bird. No reaction to the first car, but as soon as she sees MY car coming, she acts like Satan himself is riding on the hood with a giant fiery pitchfork pointing at her! She looks over, sees who it is, and she attempts to bolt into the sky. But she's caught! So I slam on the brakes, hard right into the mud on the shoulder, fling the car door open, dive into the mud, and…
After all these weeks of trying, I've got my prized bird in my hands. I'm covered head to toe in mud, but I'm grinning like a child at Disneyland. And not the kid at Disneyland that should have had lunch two hours ago, I'm talking about the kid who just got there after a long car ride and Mickey Mouse is right inside the front gate. Yes, THAT kind of happy.
I untangle her from the trap and I begin looking her over. Feet and talons are good. Tail looks a little worn, but in good shape. Wingtips are a little roughed up, but all feathers are intact and looking strong. Eyes are clear and wide open. Beak is in great shape and… what is this??? The crop is extremely distended, hard as a rock, and full of pieces of "hard stuff". Awe maaaannnnnnn… After all this, she has something wrong with her crop? Maybe she ingested something and she's blocked up? Or maybe some sort of internal infection from a puncture? I call my falconry sponsor and he tells me to bring her to him for inspection. He checks the crop and sort of shakes his head. "I don't know, man…" He says keep her over night. If its stuffed with food, it will go down over night. So I bring her home, apply some seven dust to get rid of the feather mites, and I wait. I check on her that night, and its gone down a bunch. Next morning, the crop is totally back to normal, and the box is full of doo doo. She was fine and she'd apparently eaten something huge just before coming down to the trap. Maybe a rabbit or a squirrel. I cleaned up her and the hawk box and put her on the scale. Even with a now empty crop, she weight almost 1600 grams. That is HUGE! Normal for a female would be around 1200. What? Did she eat her siblings? Where were her parents? Why was she out there all alone with no other red tails for miles? Hmm…
Here she is the day after I caught her:
The first car passes by, and she acts like it isn't there. No reaction whatsoever. Doesn't even give it a glance. I figure I'm golden. I'll just quietly pass by like nothing is wrong, and I'll come back once she's caught. Nope. Not with this bird. No reaction to the first car, but as soon as she sees MY car coming, she acts like Satan himself is riding on the hood with a giant fiery pitchfork pointing at her! She looks over, sees who it is, and she attempts to bolt into the sky. But she's caught! So I slam on the brakes, hard right into the mud on the shoulder, fling the car door open, dive into the mud, and…
After all these weeks of trying, I've got my prized bird in my hands. I'm covered head to toe in mud, but I'm grinning like a child at Disneyland. And not the kid at Disneyland that should have had lunch two hours ago, I'm talking about the kid who just got there after a long car ride and Mickey Mouse is right inside the front gate. Yes, THAT kind of happy.
I untangle her from the trap and I begin looking her over. Feet and talons are good. Tail looks a little worn, but in good shape. Wingtips are a little roughed up, but all feathers are intact and looking strong. Eyes are clear and wide open. Beak is in great shape and… what is this??? The crop is extremely distended, hard as a rock, and full of pieces of "hard stuff". Awe maaaannnnnnn… After all this, she has something wrong with her crop? Maybe she ingested something and she's blocked up? Or maybe some sort of internal infection from a puncture? I call my falconry sponsor and he tells me to bring her to him for inspection. He checks the crop and sort of shakes his head. "I don't know, man…" He says keep her over night. If its stuffed with food, it will go down over night. So I bring her home, apply some seven dust to get rid of the feather mites, and I wait. I check on her that night, and its gone down a bunch. Next morning, the crop is totally back to normal, and the box is full of doo doo. She was fine and she'd apparently eaten something huge just before coming down to the trap. Maybe a rabbit or a squirrel. I cleaned up her and the hawk box and put her on the scale. Even with a now empty crop, she weight almost 1600 grams. That is HUGE! Normal for a female would be around 1200. What? Did she eat her siblings? Where were her parents? Why was she out there all alone with no other red tails for miles? Hmm…
Here she is the day after I caught her:
Glad to hear you got back on the horse, Tom, and even more so that this time we have a happy ending.
I love the name Minerva, though she was normally associated with owls, of course.
She is a big girl.
Can't wait for the next installment!
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!
Silly me, part two already here! i would have loved to have seen you all covered in mud. Of course I roll in mud frequently.
Nicely written, i can't wait for the next installment, though i'm not sure about the Disneyland analogy, that would give me nightmares.
I'm glad you told us it was a happy ending or i'd be very worried by now.
Chapter 3, please!
I am so happy for you. Sure hope all goes well for the two of you for a very long time.
Although, I could have killed you when you did the to be continued. Luckily, I didn't see this update until after you had continued on.
Although, I could have killed you when you did the to be continued. Luckily, I didn't see this update until after you had continued on.
Come on @Tom, tell us more. Your just teasing us at this point, I eagerly await the next installment of Minerva's story.
On day two I took a fecal sample to the vet and she was carrying a substantial load of intestinal worms. We put her on a course of Panacur for that. Second fecal showed the worms were all gone, but we found coccidia, so we treated that with a little Ponazuril. Third fecal was finally all clean. I don't know how any of them survive in the wild. They are all so full so many internal and external parasites and pathogens.
Since she had a full stomach and crop when I caught her, it took a couple of days for her to get hungry enough to take food from my hand, but she came around quickly. She also learned how to stand on my gloved hand quickly. Some of them go catatonic, or get defensive, but she just seems fine with it right away. The next big step is to get them to step or hop from the perch onto your gloved hand for a food tidbit. It took a few days, but I could feel it was about to happen so I started videoing the sessions. Didn't take long and I was able to capture her very first hop to the glove. I can't figure out how to post the video, but if someone wants to message me a way to do it, I'll post it.
You can't "make" them do this. They have to choose to do it willingly on their own. When they do make that choice, its exhilarating! Once you get to this step, the flight training is all but done. After that first hop, the fist with the food just keeps getting farther away. Once we go outside the mew, we use a thin lightweight tether called a "creance" just in case. I started her on short hops of 4-6 feet and increased by a few feet during each training session. After a week or two of flying 100+ feet on the line, its time to go off line, and get her to fly away to a perch, as well as come back when called. Getting them to fly off the fist and go land somewhere can be a challenge at first, but they figure it out.
On day 20, my sponsor told me she was ready to hunt. I was to take the line off and go look for game. I got her out and was going to fly her over to an area near my ranch that had rabbits. I flew her to the top of a normal 6 foot wall, and intended to call her to me. Instead she decided to head for high ground and hopped up to the peak of the nearby barn roof before I was ready. (Another sign of things to come.) As I was maneuvering into a good position to call her down to me and proceed over to the rabbit area, she dove off the roof like a guided missile and crashed into the brush hot on the heels of a fleeing cotton tail. She missed, but she tried. On day 20 after I caught her. I can't tell you the joy I felt in that moment. I walked over to where she was sitting in the bushes and she had this look of utter disappointment. We both contemplated life for a moment, her disappointment at a miss and my elation at an attempt, and then I extended my glove and she hopped right up. Then while on my fist she roused her feathers. This is a sign of a very relaxed and content bird. Unbelievable. Less than 3 weeks ago this was an untouched wild bird. Now she's sitting on my hand, free to leave any time, and she's rousing…
We walked on down the road and I got her to follow me from telephone pole to telephone pole until we got to the rabbit clearing. We pushed a rabbit directly away from us and she had another near miss. By this point, I'd gotten all of her food into her, and we had to call it a day.
The very next day, day 21, we went around the long way and came up to that same spot and I put her up on a tall pole. Then I went way around the outside of that clearing and started pushing the rabbits toward her. One cottontail panicked, broke cover and started bolting across the clearing… right toward a waiting Minerva. She seemed angry about her miss the day before, and she took her anger out on that rabbit. She hit him so hard that when I got over to them, the rabbit had dirt and grass in its mouth. The impact shook the ground and made a horrid noise. I didn't have to euthanize this rabbit. Minerva had already taken care of that:
I hooked up her leash, took a seat nearby, and let her eat her hard earned meal. She ate that rabbit's whole head. It was truly amazing watching her disassemble the entire skull and eat every piece. I know it sounds gross, but to sit 3 feet away, snapping pics, while this wild animal went about the business of feeding itself was a privilege that I'll never be able to put into words. It is truly awe-striking, and I was struck. A normal red tail hawk needs about 50 grams of food a day to maintain weight. Minerva needs around 80 grams. That day, she ate a little over 300 grams. We took our first rabbit on day 21, on our second day of trying. Some apprentices go their whole first season without catching a rabbit. I was a proud falconer's apprentice on that day.
Since she had a full stomach and crop when I caught her, it took a couple of days for her to get hungry enough to take food from my hand, but she came around quickly. She also learned how to stand on my gloved hand quickly. Some of them go catatonic, or get defensive, but she just seems fine with it right away. The next big step is to get them to step or hop from the perch onto your gloved hand for a food tidbit. It took a few days, but I could feel it was about to happen so I started videoing the sessions. Didn't take long and I was able to capture her very first hop to the glove. I can't figure out how to post the video, but if someone wants to message me a way to do it, I'll post it.
You can't "make" them do this. They have to choose to do it willingly on their own. When they do make that choice, its exhilarating! Once you get to this step, the flight training is all but done. After that first hop, the fist with the food just keeps getting farther away. Once we go outside the mew, we use a thin lightweight tether called a "creance" just in case. I started her on short hops of 4-6 feet and increased by a few feet during each training session. After a week or two of flying 100+ feet on the line, its time to go off line, and get her to fly away to a perch, as well as come back when called. Getting them to fly off the fist and go land somewhere can be a challenge at first, but they figure it out.
On day 20, my sponsor told me she was ready to hunt. I was to take the line off and go look for game. I got her out and was going to fly her over to an area near my ranch that had rabbits. I flew her to the top of a normal 6 foot wall, and intended to call her to me. Instead she decided to head for high ground and hopped up to the peak of the nearby barn roof before I was ready. (Another sign of things to come.) As I was maneuvering into a good position to call her down to me and proceed over to the rabbit area, she dove off the roof like a guided missile and crashed into the brush hot on the heels of a fleeing cotton tail. She missed, but she tried. On day 20 after I caught her. I can't tell you the joy I felt in that moment. I walked over to where she was sitting in the bushes and she had this look of utter disappointment. We both contemplated life for a moment, her disappointment at a miss and my elation at an attempt, and then I extended my glove and she hopped right up. Then while on my fist she roused her feathers. This is a sign of a very relaxed and content bird. Unbelievable. Less than 3 weeks ago this was an untouched wild bird. Now she's sitting on my hand, free to leave any time, and she's rousing…
We walked on down the road and I got her to follow me from telephone pole to telephone pole until we got to the rabbit clearing. We pushed a rabbit directly away from us and she had another near miss. By this point, I'd gotten all of her food into her, and we had to call it a day.
The very next day, day 21, we went around the long way and came up to that same spot and I put her up on a tall pole. Then I went way around the outside of that clearing and started pushing the rabbits toward her. One cottontail panicked, broke cover and started bolting across the clearing… right toward a waiting Minerva. She seemed angry about her miss the day before, and she took her anger out on that rabbit. She hit him so hard that when I got over to them, the rabbit had dirt and grass in its mouth. The impact shook the ground and made a horrid noise. I didn't have to euthanize this rabbit. Minerva had already taken care of that:
I hooked up her leash, took a seat nearby, and let her eat her hard earned meal. She ate that rabbit's whole head. It was truly amazing watching her disassemble the entire skull and eat every piece. I know it sounds gross, but to sit 3 feet away, snapping pics, while this wild animal went about the business of feeding itself was a privilege that I'll never be able to put into words. It is truly awe-striking, and I was struck. A normal red tail hawk needs about 50 grams of food a day to maintain weight. Minerva needs around 80 grams. That day, she ate a little over 300 grams. We took our first rabbit on day 21, on our second day of trying. Some apprentices go their whole first season without catching a rabbit. I was a proud falconer's apprentice on that day.
Congrats Tom. I can't believe in such a short time you were about to train this bird to come back to you and not just take off. That's amazing!
Do you have to work with her on a daily basis to keep her trained?
Do you have to work with her on a daily basis to keep her trained?
I find it amazing too.
To answer your question: I keep mentioning the "season". What I'm referring to is the hunting season. October through March. During this "season", and also a little before it starts, we work with our birds every day. Ideally, we hunt with them every day, but that is not always possible. Some falconers have regular jobs and long hours, so they do what they can. My schedule is highly variable and erratic, so I hunt whenever I can. If I'm not able to hunt for a day, I still get my bird out, weigh her, and do some training flights for her food. I mix it up a lot, but sometimes I work her on the lure (My daughter loves running the lure for me.), and other times I work on getting her to follow me and fly from perch to perch as I walk along. But she gets out and flying every day all season long.
This brings up the off season. This is referred to as "putting your bird up for the molt". We manage their weight all winter long for hunting. They are kept lean, fit and hungry. Sort of like an athlete in the competitive season. They gorge on a kill and then need a day or two off to digest their huge meal and get back down to the correct flying weight. In spring time the weather heats up, the prey species are making lots of babies (We don't hunt babies or juveniles.), and our birds need a break. Springtime is the time when our birds drop the feathers they've been using for a year and grow all new ones. Wild birds have to tough it out and fend for themselves, but our falconry birds get a free ride. We put them up in their mews and feed them up. We keep them fat and happy throughout spring and summer. They don't have to work for their food and all the good nutrition and rest allows them to grow pristine new feathers while minimizing the risk of damaging the new feathers as they come in. My sponsor had to tell me several times to leave the bird alone. I'm supposed to stay mostly hands off, and this is how the birds prefer it. When they are fed up and heavy, they have no need for the falconer, show no desire to have any contact and actually regress partway back to their wild state. When I come into the mew to feed her and clean her water daily, she avoids me during this time of year. She'll still hop on the glove for a large meal, but she'd rather I kept my distance. This is the polar opposite of what they do when they are at flying weight and hunting daily. During the season I could just open her door with no fear of her leaving. Even if she did somehow bolt past me at the door, I could just show her some food or a lure, and she'd come right back. If she were to "escape" right now, I might never see her again. This prompted me to add on a cage to the front of her mew so I'd have a double door set up.
Wow, very interesting. Totally opposite then I thought.
Now when the season does come back around the next year. The training, her getting used to you and coming to you, etc, has to start from the very beginning as if you just got her or just more like a refresher course?
Now when the season does come back around the next year. The training, her getting used to you and coming to you, etc, has to start from the very beginning as if you just got her or just more like a refresher course?
I don't know yet. I'll tell you in October! I'm told they get better and smarter year after year if you keep hunting with them.
On this day we were hunting in a field in Palmdale. I saw her dive off of a large telephone pole after a jackrabbit. For anyone that doesn't know, jackrabbits are formidable adversaries. They are very fast, very agile, and unlike a cottontail that goes limp and catatonic when the hawk grabs it, jacks fight. I couldn't see what was happening on the ground as there were bushes between us as I ran over to where I saw them intersect, but the is is the view I got upon arrival:
See those little fluff balls on the ground behind her? That is jackrabbit fur. I can only guess that the jack kicked her off of him before I could get there to assist. We'll have to bring back the Golden Eagle to deal with that rabbit...
See those little fluff balls on the ground behind her? That is jackrabbit fur. I can only guess that the jack kicked her off of him before I could get there to assist. We'll have to bring back the Golden Eagle to deal with that rabbit...
She's very possessive when she's on a kill. She doesn't want me stealing her prize. There were times when I would see her dive into the scrub off in the distance and by the time I got over there, she had secreted off into some bushes and I had a heck of a time finding her and her new rabbit friend. One time I actually had to pull out the telemetry device to figure out where she was. I'd been walking within 10 feet of her for 20 minutes. They are that good at hiding and blending in.
All total we got 9 rabbits for the season. I'm told that is pretty good, especially since we'd been in a 5+ year drought and prey was scarce. With all the rain last winter, more prey animals should survive the summer, and hunting should be good this coming winter.
This is what her crop looks like after I let her "crop up" on a kill in the field:
Also in this pic:
-You can see the long line I use to clip on to her when she's on game and feasting. You don't want a full bird to fly up to a pole. They don't tend to come down as well when they aren't hungry. {A little sarcasm there…}
-You can see the little black telemetry device on her left leg. I actually needed this a couple of times this year. I was flying her too heavy and she would get up soaring in the thermals, go pick a new field a mile or two away and go self-hunting without me. She is a pretty independent bird. There was a little male wild red tail that would sometimes follow us around on hunting days. He was more attentive to me than my own bird. She'd chase him from perch to perch, trying to drive him away, and he'd be diving after the rabbits I was flushing.
-The feathers on her head were a little tousled in this pic because she dove into some thick brush to catch that day's rabbit. Some people call red tails "brush busters".
This is what her crop looks like after I let her "crop up" on a kill in the field:
Also in this pic:
-You can see the long line I use to clip on to her when she's on game and feasting. You don't want a full bird to fly up to a pole. They don't tend to come down as well when they aren't hungry. {A little sarcasm there…}
-You can see the little black telemetry device on her left leg. I actually needed this a couple of times this year. I was flying her too heavy and she would get up soaring in the thermals, go pick a new field a mile or two away and go self-hunting without me. She is a pretty independent bird. There was a little male wild red tail that would sometimes follow us around on hunting days. He was more attentive to me than my own bird. She'd chase him from perch to perch, trying to drive him away, and he'd be diving after the rabbits I was flushing.
-The feathers on her head were a little tousled in this pic because she dove into some thick brush to catch that day's rabbit. Some people call red tails "brush busters".
Wow, what a cool thread... I just read all of it. One on my old neighbors in southern AZ was a falconry guy too, also with a Red Tail. I would see lots of red tail in that area.
I saw a story one about symbiotic relationships between birds and other animals. Do any such relationships exist with birds of prey? Have you any experience with wildebeest training? Perhaps you can start a gnu trend.
I saw a story one about symbiotic relationships between birds and other animals. Do any such relationships exist with birds of prey? Have you any experience with wildebeest training? Perhaps you can start a gnu trend.
None that I know of. Only the normal relationship of predators picking off the weak, sick or unfit. Only the strongest, smartest, fastest prey animals survive, thereby making the species as a whole stronger and more fit.
What a coincidence! Of all the people you could ask, and all the animals you could ask about…
As it turns out, yes. Yes I do have wildebeest training experience. In fact, I'm one of only 6 humans on the planet that have actually "trained" a group of wildebeest. Some of the guys I work with are in their 70s and have been training animals of all types for the entertainment industry for 50+ years. Plus they've heard all the stories from their own mentors. I have asked all of these guys and there has only ever been one gnu job that any of them have heard of. I was one of the six trainers on it. We trained about 12 wildebeest to run around in a giant circle and "stampede" over a semi-buried camera. It was for a Fruit Loops cereal commercial around1997-1998. We filmed it in the old Denver airport, soon after they moved the airport to its current location. While these gnu fun facts are now old, I find great amusement in the fact that of all the people in the whole world, I got asked this question!
If you had asked any of the other 100s of people who do what I do, the answer would have simply been, "No."
She really does look disappointed!!!!
