June 30, 2025 • 39 mins
We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!
Firework safety tips ahead of the 4th of July with Julie Heckman - Executive Director of the American Pyrotechnics Association.
Suicide Prevention in Massachusetts - The team at Samaritans answered more than 100,000 calls last year on its 24/7 crisis services helpline. With Kathy Marchi - Samaritans President and CEO.
Rescued Bald Eagle Released in Time for July Fourth Celebrations! With Kim Ammann, veterinarian, raptor specialist & founder of Wisconsin’s Winged Freedom Raptor Hospital.
Holiday Week – 4th of July Weather Forecast with AccuWeather Meteorologist Brian Thompson.
Now you can leave feedback as you listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the FREE iHeart Radio app! Just click on the microphone icon in the app, and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
Firework safety tips ahead of the 4th of July with Julie Heckman - Executive Director of the American Pyrotechnics Association.
Suicide Prevention in Massachusetts - The team at Samaritans answered more than 100,000 calls last year on its 24/7 crisis services helpline. With Kathy Marchi - Samaritans President and CEO.
Rescued Bald Eagle Released in Time for July Fourth Celebrations! With Kim Ammann, veterinarian, raptor specialist & founder of Wisconsin’s Winged Freedom Raptor Hospital.
Holiday Week – 4th of July Weather Forecast with AccuWeather Meteorologist Brian Thompson.
Now you can leave feedback as you listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the FREE iHeart Radio app! Just click on the microphone icon in the app, and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's NIC's Eyes with Dan Ray. I'm going you Mazy
Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Madison, get the duck boats ready. Let me tell you
it's on again, off again anyway, and they have Crochet
pitching tonight, so I think we can put that one
in the win column. My name is Dan Ray, host
of Nights Side. I'm heard every Monday through Friday night
except for this weekend. Next I'll give you prior advance
notice that I will be here along with Rob Brooks tonight,
(00:30):
Tomorrow night and Wednesday night. I think Rob will be
here Thursday and Friday night. We'll be here with Morgan White.
And next week you will have some Bradley Jay and
some Morgan White. So I will be off next week
as well, and I will return to join you again
on the other side of my vacation on July fourteenth.
(00:52):
So I will look forward to my vacation and I
will look forward to coming back and being back with
my friends eight side friends every Monday through Friday night
from eight until midnight. I will guarantee you that I
will take you almost through the month of June. Will
be about two minutes short when we finish the show
at eleven fifty eight tonight. It will be a couple
(01:14):
of minutes away from July, the halfway point of the year. Goodness, gracious,
where's the year gone? We have some four We have
four very interesting guests, timely topical and most importantly interesting.
We're going to start off with Julie Heckman. Julie is
the executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association. Julie Heckman,
(01:36):
Welcome to night Side. This is going to be a
busy week for you, Yes.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
It is, but thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Well, we want to get the word out everybody loves
to watch fireworks, particularly when they are handled by the professionals.
We have a great fireworks display here in Boston, both
generally out over Boston Harbor and then the one over
the Esplanade concert the Boston Pops concert, which has become
such a great tradition here in Boston. I'm sure you're
(02:03):
familiar with that concert, correct.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
I had attended the Boston Fireworks show, and I will
say it is the most patriotic experience in all of America.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, and all the credit goes to the Boston Pops,
but also to a great gentleman who's no longer with us.
David Mugar who owned Channel seven here in Boston, which
is the NBA what was the NBC affiliates now a
Fox affiliate. But he threw his heart and soul into
(02:35):
that concert. However, all the fireworks were handled by professionals.
That is not what goes on in America. There are
people who tonight are sitting at home who will find
themselves to the misuse of fireworks injured sometime in the
next few days. Tell us what people can do to
(02:55):
avoid getting injured, other than just don't play with fireworks,
which is obviously the most important caveat that we can
that we can offer.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Well, first of all, you need to obey your local law.
And you know you're in Boston. Massachusetts is the only
state that still has a complete prohibition on all backyard
consumer fireworks. So for your listeners, I encourage you to
obey that local law. For those who travel out of
state and want to use fireworks, purchase your fireworks from
(03:27):
a reputable dealer. Make certain that the packaging is brightly colored,
contains instructions for use and precautionary warnings.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Why brought why brightly colored? That strikes me as does
that mean that they're new and fresh. They haven't been
sitting there for years.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
No, the professional product that the pros use do not
have colorful wrapping on them. They are pretty much brown
paper wrapped and cautionary warnings on them or instructions for use.
Because professionals know how to use those products. Consumer product
is required to be in colorful wrapping.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Good and thank you for Thank you for that clarification.
What else that should we be concerned about? Obviously I
interrupted you, but I had to go right ahead. I apologize.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
That's quite all right. You need to have a sober,
responsible adult in charge of all firework activities. Alcohol and
fireworks do not mix. That creates a disaster. You should
never let young children handle fireworks. Even sparklers can be
dangerous if they're misused. They burn it roughly eighteen hundred
(04:47):
degrees fahrenheit, and the wire stays hot long after the
sparkler's finished emitting its shower of sparks. So we recommend
have a bucket of water handy and toss those hot
sparkler wires in the bucket and let them soak during.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
The course of an average fourth of July. Let's just
put it in some historical perspective. How many folks across
America do suffer a bad fireworks experience? Are we talking
about dozens, hundreds or what's the number?
Speaker 4 (05:25):
You know?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Last year's data indicated there were about fourteen thousand individuals
who were injured and treated for firework related injuries. Most
of them were burned to the hands and fingers that
they were also caused by product misuse, people holding devices
(05:46):
that are intended not to be held, but to be
discharged on the ground from a hard, flat level surface.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Wow, this is something that most people, in particular, I
assume that the profile of the people who make mistakes
here are people who are using fireworks and perhaps have
had a drink or two. But I'll bet you it's
a lot of young guys. Or am I missing missing
my guess?
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I know you were right on the mark. And actually,
our foundation, the American Pyrotechnic Safety and Education Foundation, produced
a new series of videos trying to target that audience
between twenty and thirty five where we see a lot
of just ridiculous and careless mistakes and we have a
(06:38):
series of videos called Explosive Mistakes. Don't be that guy,
And it's on our website at Celebratesafel dot org.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So that is a video message that people can can
look at and maybe it will make them think a
little bit about what sort of activities they're going to
get involved in. About the I'm going to use the
word clown. What about the clown at the at the
party who maybe says had a couple of drinks and
(07:10):
he decides it's a great idea to maybe light a
firework and flip it towards some people just to scare them.
I mean, how do you deal with that person because
that person can do a lot of damage to innocent bystanders. Well.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Absolutely, And you know, if I was at a party
and saw somebody with that type of behavior, I would
either tell them you're not going to be igniting any
fireworks or I would tell my family and friends to lease.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, sometimes it takes it takes a little bit of
courage to do with a stand up to the to
the to the person who's misbehaving, or if necessary, just
just it's just absent yourself from a dangerous situation.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Well you have to do that.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
And it's really important that people understand fire works are
safe when they're used properly. But if you don't follow
the instructions.
Speaker 5 (08:05):
For you, it can create a very serious situation.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
All right, So let's give that website one more time
where people can get more information and look at these videos.
Go right ahead, Julie.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
It's the website Celebrate Safely dot org RG and we
have a lot of safety tips and we have great
videos that show you how to properly use pretty much
every type of legal consumer firework there is on the market.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Celebrate Safely dot org your lips to God's ears. I
got to tell you, let's hope that everybody celebrates safely
and that this year, I'm sure I'm being a little
overly optimistic that no one in America is injured by
any sort of firework at any caliber. Julie, I appreciate
your time tonight, very important message, and hopefully my listeners
(09:01):
will have been paying attention and will follow through and
that they just enjoy a good time and watch the
fireworks that are presented to us by the professionals. They're
always going to be better than backyard fireworks, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Well, I appreciate your interest, and I wish you would say.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Fourth of July.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Thanks very much, Julie, Heckman, the executive director of the
American Pirate Technics Association. Thanks, Julie, appreciate it, same to you.
Well we get back. We're going to talk about a
different type of tragedy, and that is suicide and what
do we do about it. Suicide prevention in Massachusetts. The
samaran is a great organization. They answered one hundred thousand
calls last year on its twenty four to seven crisis helpline.
(09:44):
And we're going to be talking with the Samaritans President
and CEO, Kathy Marchie or Markie. I'm not exactly sure
we'll get that pronunciation correctly. I used to sit on
the board of the Samaritans way back in the day
as a young lawyer and met a lot of great
people who were involved in that organization trying to help
those who at some point, and I guess all of
(10:04):
us at some point have felt really down, whether we've
attempted or thought about suicide. It's no shame, but there
needs to be people there to help. In the Samaritans
are those people. We'll talk about it right after this
break on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Boston's news Radio now fourth of July is a great
time of year, really, the beginning of summer or beginning
of vacation, so much to look forward to. And yet
at any time during the year, some of our fellow
neighbors and our fellow citizens, fellow Americans get depressed, and
some of them contemplate suicide, and some of them actually try,
(10:46):
and some of them actually succeed. And if there's one
organization that has spent decades trying to prevent suicides from occurring,
it is the Samaritans. With us now is the president
and the EO of the Samaritans here in Massachusetts, Kathy Marky. Kathy,
welcome tonight's side, and I mean that from the bottom
(11:08):
of my heart.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Hi, Dan, thank you so much. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
A long time ago. You were probably not, but back
in the late seventies through the eighties, I was on
the board of directors of the Massachusetts Samaritans, and I
knew Monica Dickens, who was the founder of the organization,
the granddaughter of Charles Dickens. Fill us in, how did
how did the Samaritans come to be?
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Yeah, that's yeah, it's great that you can go back
to those early days which are so so wonderful well.
Monica learned about the art or the skill of befriending,
which is really what most of us want to do
right when we're connecting with someone that we care about,
someone that we know. We want to be a good friend.
(11:55):
We want to connect, we want to listen, not judgementally,
we want to care about what they're telling us, validate it,
and so on. Monica learned about this in the UK,
and she brought it to the United States, forming the
first Samaritans in the United States in Boston, which is
our organization, and she is credited with bringing other Samaritans
(12:17):
to the United States, which are opened over time and
later some of which have been incorporated into other organizations. Notably,
she also is credited with getting the barriers erected on
the Sagamore and Born bridges to help prevent suicides from
the bridges.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Yeah. Thanks, someone goes over the Sagamore or the board,
they should look at the fencing. It curves inward makes
it much more difficult for someone to climb up and
literally jump off the bridges where people have yes and
using that venue for the purposes of ending their lives. Now,
(12:54):
one thing that many people don't understand that. I understood
it very well as a TV report order with WBZ
for many years, is that if there is a murder suicide,
they do say it's been a murder suicide domestic dispute. However,
individual suicides, unless it happens to be some really famous person,
(13:17):
are not covered by local news. I have mixed feelings
about that. I'd be interested in what your thoughts are
on that.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Yeah, yeah, So I think that one of the most
important things that we want to do when we hear
news like this is be aware and attentive to the
needs of the surviving loved ones. And I think sometimes
(13:47):
we folks may want to rush to understand or ask
questions or even sadly placed judgment on a scenario, and
we don't know. Most of us will never know the
details around anyone's suicide or death by suicide, so it's
important I think that we think about the loved ones
(14:09):
and the survivors, and the reporting doesn't necessarily right serve
those individuals in that time. I think talking about suicide,
talking about how do we help people who are struggling,
how do we recognize signs in those that are around us?
Those are the important conversations that we should be having
(14:30):
and having openly, right, having more more aggressively, more openly,
more more attentively to say, hey, I've noticed you don't
seem like yourself lately. How I'm worried about you? How
are things? Tell me more about what's happening, what are
you know, what's troubling you? And listening, like we said,
(14:51):
non judgmentally and with care and concern for what someone's
telling us, validating their feelings. That's the part of the
conversation that I think is really important. And I guess
the other thing I would add is that when we
learn about a loss suicide, it is in fact helpful
and important to families to know that people care about them, so,
(15:15):
you know, dropping a card or a message to say
I'm sorry for your loss. When we learn about a suicide,
tell me the person's name, tell me what they were like,
you know, really listening for you know what this person
was like in life, not how they died.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Sure, now here's a program you mentioned conversations. You have
a program called Every Conversation Counts. You still look for
volunteers to help staff the telephone lines. I think that
last year, you folks Is it just in New England
or in Boston handled more than one hundred thousand calls
(15:52):
on the twenty four to seven crisis service line?
Speaker 4 (15:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:56):
OK, yeah, So how can people get involved here? And
I had this for is there a special peer to
peer program for young people? Yes?
Speaker 4 (16:07):
So every conversation counts as a campaign that we have
launched to help us fundraise for all the programs that
we do. But it's named Every Conversation Counts because that's
exactly You're exactly right. Every conversation we have counts for
lost survivors, for folks on the helpline for young people,
every conversation, so we do need volunteers. We also have
(16:31):
some paid positions, so we always encourage people to go
to our website at Samaritanshope dot org to learn more
about how they can volunteer. People can also volunteer and
help us by attending our five K or you know,
joining us at the breakfast for Hope, other ways that
they can show their support and their care for the
(16:51):
work that we do. The two things, as you were saying,
the one hundred thousand calls that's for the Samaritans Boston
location and by itself apart from all the other support
and work being done across the state, across the region.
We are part of the nine eight eight network, but
we also handle all of the calls to the legacy line.
(17:13):
So the line, the original line when you engage with
the organization, is still in service. We still take calls
to that line.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
We give that number one right now because people are listening.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
What is the number, right, So we really want to
encourage people to reach nine eight eight, which is the
easy right. That's the number for everybody to reach, no
matter where you are in the country, no matter you
know where you are at that moment. The other thing
is for folks to reach hey Sam, which you were
(17:46):
just that's the peer to peer line for young people
and that's where we've got young people taking texts from
other young people and we want them to text four
three nine seven to six. That's nine. So that's for
(18:07):
young people up to the age of twenty four to
reach another young person. So all of that is the
way that we, you know, again achieve these texts and
calls that we take twenty four to seven.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
And again if people would like and for young people,
it's a great experience to realize how lucky everyone is
who is not dealing with these issues. How do folks
get in touch with you if they want to become
a volunteer, want to contribute. What's what's the website?
Speaker 4 (18:36):
Yeah, the website is Samaritanshope dot org and that's where
they can find all of that, the events, the programs,
every there's information about how to volunteer, you know what
we look for all of those things to learn about
the campaign. You know, all of this is essential right
for us to keep doing what we started doing fifty
one years ago and continuing to serve people in the
(18:58):
state and across the region. Really sounds great.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Kathy Markie, thank you very much for what you do
and besta luct to the Samaritans. And I met some
wonderful people when I was young associated with that organization,
and I'm sure the group has only grown more stronger
every year. So thanks so much for what you say.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Indeed, thanks and thanks thanks for bringing life to this Thanks.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Dan, absolutely, Kathy, my pleasure. It's something I believe in
the mazin. Thank you much. Kathy Marquis, the Samaritans President
and CEO. The website Samaritans Hoope dot org. All sorts
of information. When we get back, we're going to talk
about the rescue of a bald eagle and its rehabilitation efforts,
and I think it's about to be released back into
(19:43):
its native habitat, which is the world. We'll be talking
with Kim Aman. She's a veterinarian raptor specialist and founder
of Wisconsin's Winged Freedom Raptor Hospital. Sounds exciting, Stay with us.
My name is Dan Ray. This is night Side. If
you haven't picked up already, gone to your app store
and got the free the new and improved Free iHeart app.
(20:07):
Just pull it down, put it on whatever device you'd like,
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(20:29):
red button and has a white microphone. You can send
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talk show. But if Saturday night or Sunday morning and
(20:52):
move to say I want to call you, go ahead
and we'll read that as long as it's you know,
no bad words. You know how that goes. I think
we all understand the rules. Back on nights side. Right
after this.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Side, Dan Ray, I'm WBZ Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Thank you, Madison, delighted to welcome Kim Amon. Did I
get that pronunciation fairly close?
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Kim It's ammen.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Amen, okay, immen. That's fair enough. That double m is
what threw me off there. Ammen. You're a veterinarian, a
raptor specialist, and founder of Wisconsin's Winged Freedom Raptor Hospital.
How long has there been a Wisconsin's Winged Freedom Raptor Hospital.
Speaker 5 (21:38):
We have formerly been an organization for four years, but
I've been doing raptor work my whole career. I've been
a veterinarian for twenty eight years.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
All right, So you have just or you're releasing in
time for the Fourth of July celebration. An injured bald
eagle American bald What were the circumstances that this bald
eagle found him or herself involved in.
Speaker 5 (22:08):
So last September, this female adult bald eagle was found
nearby any campground and she had a really severe wound
on her leg that was life threatening. And when she
came in, I realized that it was wide open. I
had no way to close this wound, and I knew
(22:29):
I was going to have a challenge trying to get
it to heal. Wow, So that's how she came to us.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Okay, let me start at the beginning. Any way, Do
you have any idea how she suffered this horrific wound?
Speaker 5 (22:46):
We really can only speculate. My guess is this was
a fighting injury. There were some deep grooves in it
that were consistent with talent. So these birds have very
large claws and they are very territory oriol during the
breeding season and nesting, and this would have been towards
the tail end of that. But my suspicion is she
(23:07):
was fighting.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
So fighting with another bald eagle or another raptor.
Speaker 5 (23:13):
Yeah, no, probably with another bald eagle. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
How many bald eagles exist approximately? I know that there's
such a beautiful bird, and obviously there's all sorts of
laws to protect them. I'm just curious. Are we talking
about ten thousand or one hundred thousand?
Speaker 5 (23:29):
How rare I suspected six digits? You'd have to ask
a wildlife biologist. That's not my area of That's.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Fine, I know, I just didn't know if you might
have known, because it's one of those questions when you
say six digits you're talking somewhere over one hundred thousand,
because that gets you to say, absolutely, Okay, do these birds?
Do they tend to replicate themselves or is there a
population going I just want to get just people thinking
about these birds, and then I want to talk about
(24:00):
obviously what you were able to do to bring this
bird back to health. Are they.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
Birds? Yeah, they are maintaining their populations. They've come back
when we had the DDT issues in the fifties and
sixties and we just about exterminated.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Them silent spring Rachel Carsonari.
Speaker 5 (24:21):
Right, exactly right, And they were discovered that.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
They were victimized by that, that's right.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
It was causing eggs ending shelfenning and their eggs were
breaking before they could hatch.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Okay, So in September, did someone just discover the bird
with this gash in her leg which prevented her from
flying or how was she found?
Speaker 5 (24:46):
Yes, she was found by some campers who saw her
fly into the area and made an awkward landing and
it appeared that she couldn't fly well and they didn't
know what was wrong. We have a network of volunteers.
One of our volunteers went to the site and was
able to pick her up and brought her into the hospital.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Now, how do you pick up a bald eagle, I
assume very carefully.
Speaker 5 (25:11):
Yeah, lots of heavy gloves and usually a blanket to
wrap over them and then scoop up, trying to get
those feet under control.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Okay, so you look as the attending veterinarian and you
say this, gash. I assume that when not only they land,
do they have their legs have to absorb the landing.
But I assume when they take off they use their
legs as a spring as any large bird. But I'm
(25:41):
not a bird expert, but I assume a leg an
injured leg is as as critical to a bald eagle
as it is to a baseball player who hopes to
steal second of third base.
Speaker 5 (25:53):
Certainly, yes, in her case, the reason it was life
threatening was the infection that had set in. So this
was not a fresh wound. It had been open for
days and days, and now we had this huge, deep
infection in the wound that this would have taken her life.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Okay, so ANTIBEO. I'm not a veterinarian, No do I
play them on the radio, but I'm assuming heavy doses
of antibiotics to kill the infection initially. And then you
said you weren't able to sow the wound as you would.
Speaker 5 (26:26):
There was no way to close this wound, which is
what we would be wanting to do to keep infection out.
So I started to look into some type of alternative therapies.
Some people have tried with eagles or other birds of
prey to take skin grafts from elsewhere on their bodies
and move it like they would in a human. But
(26:47):
there just was nothing this large that I could harvest anywhere.
So I got online. I started researching other options, and
that's where I ran across the Keras's company that makes
the cod skin.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Graft what are called skin grass.
Speaker 5 (27:05):
So cod, we're talking cod. This is the Icelandic cod,
the fish that are naturally harvested out of the oceans
in Iceland. This company is based in Iceland, and the
skin from those fish that are harvested for human consumption,
the skin is a byproduct. They throw it away, and
so this company has developed a process where they take
(27:28):
all of the DNA material and the cells out of
the skin, but maintain the architecture of the skin and
they are able to dehydrate it and make it into
a sterile, shelf stable product that then can be rehydrated
and used in a patient that has either like a
human patient that's had a surgical wound, you know, created
(27:51):
when they had something removed, or a burn, something where
skin is missing. And so they I reached out to
them and said, hey, this is what I'm doing. You know,
this is a nonprofit, this is a bald eagle. Would
you be able to help me, either with advice or
you know, some product or whatever. And they just they
(28:12):
were so supportive. They they rose away.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
They rose to the ocasion. Now how large was this
was the piece of codfish skin that you used to
graft over the wound and protect the wound.
Speaker 5 (28:27):
About six inches long and about four inches wide.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Wow, wow, that is twenty four square inches. I'm looking
at my hand right now. That's a that's a big
piece of codfish skin, and so you you attached that
how quickly September October? How long did it take you
to you had the eagle in.
Speaker 5 (28:49):
It took about three weeks to get all of the
infection and the dead things out till I had a
nice clean wound bed. You can't apply a graft to
something that's still infected or dying, So it was about
three weeks into it. So she came in early September.
It was about early October when I was able to
apply the first graft And these grafts go on. They're
(29:11):
sutured on with you know, stitching around the edges and
then tack down, and the bird is bandaged and a
little bit of a pressure bandage on it. And she
was up and standing. She was using the legs. She
would stand on her piece of fish and pull her meat.
Just the most incredibly tolerant bird. And she had at
(29:34):
least two surgeries to have these grafts put on because
they eventually dissolve. They integrate into the wound as the
skin is growing in, her own skin growing in, and
then so we reapply it and reapply it. And I
estimated that she had over fifty bandage changes throughout the
ten months that it took us to get this to
heel completely.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Did she get to the point that she You think
she understood intuitively the you were there to help her,
and therefore you were less concerned about her snapping at
you or clawing at you.
Speaker 5 (30:08):
She got to the point where she tolerated, I'll put
that term. She was willing. I still had to restrain
her when she would be laying on the exam table,
but she allowed me to take her leg reposition it. However,
I needed to do what I needed to do, bandaging
or whatever. She was the most tolerant bird, and there
(30:29):
was a rapport there, There was a trust. You know,
if she'd had her choice, of course, she would have
gotten up and you know, escaped off the table. But
given the circumstances that were there, she was tolerant of it.
She never took the bandages off, and she she We
had her all through the you know, Wisconsin winter indoors,
(30:50):
you know, to keep the bandage clean and things progressing along.
And then towards spring we were able to get her
out into some more of a fresh air open enclosure,
and then she needed to recondition because she had no
flight muscle. She had been you know, laying around all
this time. So we got her reconditioned for release, and
we actually released her on June twenty second, So she's
(31:13):
she's been out there for a little over a week
and she's just she flew off nice and strong and healthy,
and we were just super happy.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
And any chance you think that she might drop by
for a visit at some point, or at least a.
Speaker 5 (31:26):
Flyover, it's never happened yet. We do have eagles fly
over all the time, but I certainly don't you know,
know them apart. They don't send a postcard. They don't
you know, dip a wing and say thanks a lot, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Doctor, thank you, thank you very much for what you do.
If folks want to help your project, you must have
a website. Maybe we'll have some generous listeners who would
like to send something along. What is the website?
Speaker 5 (31:56):
Absolutely, it's Winged Freedom rh dot com.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Where it stands for Raptor Hospital so wingedfreedomurag dot com.
And of course people can go on and see some
of the work you've done at the website and then
reach for their checkbook.
Speaker 5 (32:12):
Thank you, talk to We have an active Facebook page,
and we are one volunteer and one hundred percent donor funded,
so we appreciate any support we get.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Well, thank you very much. I appreciate the work you
do on behalf of all bald eagles everywhere. I'm not
a bald eagle, but thank you very much for what
you do. Okay and happy welcome.
Speaker 5 (32:34):
Thanks for the story.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Yeah, when we get back, when we talk about your
fourth of July weather forecast, ACUVE meteorologist Brian Thompson. Brian
Thompson's been here before. Brian will join us and he's
going to walk us through the week, right through the weekend.
Coming back, stay with us here on Nightside, and at
nine o'clock we're going to talk about a street fight
(32:59):
in Newton. It is a classic street fight in Newton
between citizens and city hall. You can fight city hall.
We'll find out coming back after the nine o'clock news.
But first your July fourth weekend weather forecast.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Week weather forecast, you're on night Side with Dan Ray
on WBZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Well, this is the fourth of July week. The fourth
of July is on Friday. Many people have this as
a holiday week. Some very lucky people like me have
a holiday week next week, but either way, all of
us will celebrate the Fourth of July this Friday. With
us Now from AKI Weather Brian Thompson, one of my
(33:46):
favorite AKI weather forecasters. Brian, let's take a walk through
the next few days and tell us when it's gonna
be good and when it's gonna be bad. We're through.
We're through Monday, June thirtieth. We're heading into July. Lie,
what's tomorrow likely be like across New England July? First?
Speaker 6 (34:05):
Yeah, Dan, it's going to be a pretty humid day tomorrow,
and we're gonna be out ahead of an approaching cold
fronts and a lot of times when there's a cold
front approaching out ahead of it, it gets pretty warm and humid,
and that'll be the case for tomorrow. We'll see temperatures
get into the mid and upper eighties, and as that
front gets closer, we will have to watch for some
showers and even some thunderstorms to come through, especially during
(34:26):
the afternoon and into the evening hours. There is a
fair amount of moisture in the atmosphere, so some of
these storms all have the potential to produce some downpours,
So there could be some ponding on roads as we
head through tomorrow into tomorrow evening with any of these
downpours as well, But that.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Just can happen anywhere north of Boston. I just am
trying to help folk figure this one, this one out.
I mean, I know it's tough because the weather can
be so different from north of Boston to the Cape
or the mountains of New Hampshire. Where's the big problem
going to be?
Speaker 6 (34:56):
Well, the big problem will probably be more toward well,
let's say a cross southern New England, really all across
New England, but as you get closer to the coast,
especially toward the Cape and islands, it may not be
as much of an issue during the day Tomorrow, may
take until almost tomorrow evening for those storms to reach.
But with a front like this, it's going to span
basically all of New England. There will be some showers
(35:16):
of storms around really throughout the day tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Okay, so it gets us to Wednesday, does it those
storms clear everything out as they sometimes do, so we
get a beautiful Wednesday.
Speaker 6 (35:26):
Yeah, it should be for the most part. If there
is any shower activity left over Wednesday, it's probably toward
the Cape or the we'll be closer to the front
that may take a little while to get through, but
for most of New England it will be clearing out.
High pressure is going to come in from the north
and west, and it looks like for the most part
it will be a mostly dry day on Thursday as well.
That we are going to have to watch for perhaps
(35:47):
a heavier thunderstorm Thursday afternoon, and that'll be coming down
from the northwest kind of with a secondary push of
some more comfortable air so heading into the fourth of July.
So again with that next front lay or Thursday, there
could be a heavy, gusty thunderstorm at a few spots.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Okay, So now we get to the day itself, Yes,
the fourth on Friday, generally, I'm here and it's going
to be a pretty good day. Might be the best
of the week.
Speaker 6 (36:16):
It certainly looks like that right now. It looks like
it will be the nicest weather day of the week.
We're expecting a fair amount of sunshine. High pressure is
going to build in behind that secondary front on Thursday
and that's going to allow things to not only clear out,
so we'll see a decent amount of sunshine, it'll stay dry,
but the humidity comes down pretty nicely as well. We're
looking at two point temperatures in the fifties, which is
(36:36):
which is a very comfortable level, certainly for this time
of year. In the early part of July, so looks
really good temperatures will be in the mid eighties. So
if you want to get in the pool, it's gonna
be warm enough for that. But if you're doing other
outdoor activities, it's not going to be like it was
last week when you as soon as you step outside
you're covered in sweat.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Yeah, no doubt, we remember that. Well, okay, so let's
just just talk long term. After the fourth, we get
to Sunday, the fifth, and then there's a week next week.
What's the long term forecast looking like for next week?
Speaker 6 (37:07):
Well, after we get past the fourth, it is going
to gradually turn hotter over the weekend. By the time
we get to Sunday, especially, it is going to be
pretty hot, pretty humid again. I think we'll be back
up near ninety degrees. The thunderstorm risk may go up
a little bit by Sunday, but overall, I think most
of the holiday weekend is going to be dry. The
way it looks right now, and as we get into
(37:28):
next week, we'll likely overall see a fairly humid stretch
of weather that's going to take us through the at
least the first half of the week. Again, at least
through the first half of the week, it looks pretty hot.
Temperature is probably up near ninety degrees. Maybe temperatures come
down a bit so the middle part of next week,
but the humidity is probably gonna be with us through
a good chunk of next week, which is not terribly
(37:48):
un common this time of year.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Last question, Okay, and I'm going to exercise the talk
show host prerogative here on Tuesday, I'm going to we
have some tickets for called a farm to table dinner.
It's outdoors. A year ago it got rained out on
the cape. What are the chances that it won't get
rained out this year? If you get my drift Tuesday
(38:13):
Tuesday evening.
Speaker 6 (38:15):
It looks promising at this point. I don't think it's
one of the better rain chances next week, I'll put
it that way. A lot can change the late thie.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
It's only New England. I utanded I do, but I'll
tell you if it works out as well as you said,
I'll give you a little toast with a glass of wine. Okay,
all right, sounds good. That's great. I do appreciate it
so much, Brian. Thank you very very much for joining
us tonight, that is for sure. And we'll talk soon,
(38:45):
maybe a couple of weeks. Thank you, Budy, appreciate it.
Fourth of July to you as well, you too. All
we had done for this hour, we're moving on to
the nine o'clock news, and after the nine o'clock news,
we are going to talk about a street fight Newton.
This is a big street fight Newton and Will. It's
really interesting. Stay with us. There's there's no violence here,
(39:06):
but a lot of anger and a lot of frustrations.
It's NIC's Eyes with Dan Ray. I'm going you Mazy
Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Madison, get the duck boats ready. Let me tell you
it's on again, off again anyway, and they have Crochet
pitching tonight, so I think we can put that one
in the win column. My name is Dan Ray, host
of Nights Side. I'm heard every Monday through Friday night
except for this weekend. Next I'll give you prior advance
notice that I will be here along with Rob Brooks tonight,
(00:30):
Tomorrow night and Wednesday night. I think Rob will be
here Thursday and Friday night. We'll be here with Morgan White.
And next week you will have some Bradley Jay and
some Morgan White. So I will be off next week
as well, and I will return to join you again
on the other side of my vacation on July fourteenth.
(00:52):
So I will look forward to my vacation and I
will look forward to coming back and being back with
my friends eight side friends every Monday through Friday night
from eight until midnight. I will guarantee you that I
will take you almost through the month of June. Will
be about two minutes short when we finish the show
at eleven fifty eight tonight. It will be a couple
(01:14):
of minutes away from July, the halfway point of the year. Goodness, gracious,
where's the year gone? We have some four We have
four very interesting guests, timely topical and most importantly interesting.
We're going to start off with Julie Heckman. Julie is
the executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association. Julie Heckman,
(01:36):
Welcome to night Side. This is going to be a
busy week for you, Yes.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
It is, but thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Well, we want to get the word out everybody loves
to watch fireworks, particularly when they are handled by the professionals.
We have a great fireworks display here in Boston, both
generally out over Boston Harbor and then the one over
the Esplanade concert the Boston Pops concert, which has become
such a great tradition here in Boston. I'm sure you're
(02:03):
familiar with that concert, correct.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
I had attended the Boston Fireworks show, and I will
say it is the most patriotic experience in all of America.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, and all the credit goes to the Boston Pops,
but also to a great gentleman who's no longer with us.
David Mugar who owned Channel seven here in Boston, which
is the NBA what was the NBC affiliates now a
Fox affiliate. But he threw his heart and soul into
(02:35):
that concert. However, all the fireworks were handled by professionals.
That is not what goes on in America. There are
people who tonight are sitting at home who will find
themselves to the misuse of fireworks injured sometime in the
next few days. Tell us what people can do to
(02:55):
avoid getting injured, other than just don't play with fireworks,
which is obviously the most important caveat that we can
that we can offer.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Well, first of all, you need to obey your local law.
And you know you're in Boston. Massachusetts is the only
state that still has a complete prohibition on all backyard
consumer fireworks. So for your listeners, I encourage you to
obey that local law. For those who travel out of
state and want to use fireworks, purchase your fireworks from
(03:27):
a reputable dealer. Make certain that the packaging is brightly colored,
contains instructions for use and precautionary warnings.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Why brought why brightly colored? That strikes me as does
that mean that they're new and fresh. They haven't been
sitting there for years.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
No, the professional product that the pros use do not
have colorful wrapping on them. They are pretty much brown
paper wrapped and cautionary warnings on them or instructions for use.
Because professionals know how to use those products. Consumer product
is required to be in colorful wrapping.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Good and thank you for Thank you for that clarification.
What else that should we be concerned about? Obviously I
interrupted you, but I had to go right ahead. I apologize.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
That's quite all right. You need to have a sober,
responsible adult in charge of all firework activities. Alcohol and
fireworks do not mix. That creates a disaster. You should
never let young children handle fireworks. Even sparklers can be
dangerous if they're misused. They burn it roughly eighteen hundred
(04:47):
degrees fahrenheit, and the wire stays hot long after the
sparkler's finished emitting its shower of sparks. So we recommend
have a bucket of water handy and toss those hot
sparkler wires in the bucket and let them soak during.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
The course of an average fourth of July. Let's just
put it in some historical perspective. How many folks across
America do suffer a bad fireworks experience? Are we talking
about dozens, hundreds or what's the number?
Speaker 4 (05:25):
You know?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Last year's data indicated there were about fourteen thousand individuals
who were injured and treated for firework related injuries. Most
of them were burned to the hands and fingers that
they were also caused by product misuse, people holding devices
(05:46):
that are intended not to be held, but to be
discharged on the ground from a hard, flat level surface.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Wow, this is something that most people, in particular, I
assume that the profile of the people who make mistakes
here are people who are using fireworks and perhaps have
had a drink or two. But I'll bet you it's
a lot of young guys. Or am I missing missing
my guess?
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I know you were right on the mark. And actually,
our foundation, the American Pyrotechnic Safety and Education Foundation, produced
a new series of videos trying to target that audience
between twenty and thirty five where we see a lot
of just ridiculous and careless mistakes and we have a
(06:38):
series of videos called Explosive Mistakes. Don't be that guy,
And it's on our website at Celebratesafel dot org.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So that is a video message that people can can
look at and maybe it will make them think a
little bit about what sort of activities they're going to
get involved in. About the I'm going to use the
word clown. What about the clown at the at the
party who maybe says had a couple of drinks and
(07:10):
he decides it's a great idea to maybe light a
firework and flip it towards some people just to scare them.
I mean, how do you deal with that person because
that person can do a lot of damage to innocent bystanders. Well.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Absolutely, And you know, if I was at a party
and saw somebody with that type of behavior, I would
either tell them you're not going to be igniting any
fireworks or I would tell my family and friends to lease.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, sometimes it takes it takes a little bit of
courage to do with a stand up to the to
the to the person who's misbehaving, or if necessary, just
just it's just absent yourself from a dangerous situation.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Well you have to do that.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
And it's really important that people understand fire works are
safe when they're used properly. But if you don't follow
the instructions.
Speaker 5 (08:05):
For you, it can create a very serious situation.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
All right, So let's give that website one more time
where people can get more information and look at these videos.
Go right ahead, Julie.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
It's the website Celebrate Safely dot org RG and we
have a lot of safety tips and we have great
videos that show you how to properly use pretty much
every type of legal consumer firework there is on the market.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Celebrate Safely dot org your lips to God's ears. I
got to tell you, let's hope that everybody celebrates safely
and that this year, I'm sure I'm being a little
overly optimistic that no one in America is injured by
any sort of firework at any caliber. Julie, I appreciate
your time tonight, very important message, and hopefully my listeners
(09:01):
will have been paying attention and will follow through and
that they just enjoy a good time and watch the
fireworks that are presented to us by the professionals. They're
always going to be better than backyard fireworks, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Well, I appreciate your interest, and I wish you would say.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Fourth of July.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Thanks very much, Julie, Heckman, the executive director of the
American Pirate Technics Association. Thanks, Julie, appreciate it, same to you.
Well we get back. We're going to talk about a
different type of tragedy, and that is suicide and what
do we do about it. Suicide prevention in Massachusetts. The
samaran is a great organization. They answered one hundred thousand
calls last year on its twenty four to seven crisis helpline.
(09:44):
And we're going to be talking with the Samaritans President
and CEO, Kathy Marchie or Markie. I'm not exactly sure
we'll get that pronunciation correctly. I used to sit on
the board of the Samaritans way back in the day
as a young lawyer and met a lot of great
people who were involved in that organization trying to help
those who at some point, and I guess all of
(10:04):
us at some point have felt really down, whether we've
attempted or thought about suicide. It's no shame, but there
needs to be people there to help. In the Samaritans
are those people. We'll talk about it right after this
break on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Boston's news Radio now fourth of July is a great
time of year, really, the beginning of summer or beginning
of vacation, so much to look forward to. And yet
at any time during the year, some of our fellow
neighbors and our fellow citizens, fellow Americans get depressed, and
some of them contemplate suicide, and some of them actually try,
(10:46):
and some of them actually succeed. And if there's one
organization that has spent decades trying to prevent suicides from occurring,
it is the Samaritans. With us now is the president
and the EO of the Samaritans here in Massachusetts, Kathy Marky. Kathy,
welcome tonight's side, and I mean that from the bottom
(11:08):
of my heart.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Hi, Dan, thank you so much. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
A long time ago. You were probably not, but back
in the late seventies through the eighties, I was on
the board of directors of the Massachusetts Samaritans, and I
knew Monica Dickens, who was the founder of the organization,
the granddaughter of Charles Dickens. Fill us in, how did
how did the Samaritans come to be?
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Yeah, that's yeah, it's great that you can go back
to those early days which are so so wonderful well.
Monica learned about the art or the skill of befriending,
which is really what most of us want to do
right when we're connecting with someone that we care about,
someone that we know. We want to be a good friend.
(11:55):
We want to connect, we want to listen, not judgementally,
we want to care about what they're telling us, validate it,
and so on. Monica learned about this in the UK,
and she brought it to the United States, forming the
first Samaritans in the United States in Boston, which is
our organization, and she is credited with bringing other Samaritans
(12:17):
to the United States, which are opened over time and
later some of which have been incorporated into other organizations. Notably,
she also is credited with getting the barriers erected on
the Sagamore and Born bridges to help prevent suicides from
the bridges.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Yeah. Thanks, someone goes over the Sagamore or the board,
they should look at the fencing. It curves inward makes
it much more difficult for someone to climb up and
literally jump off the bridges where people have yes and
using that venue for the purposes of ending their lives. Now,
(12:54):
one thing that many people don't understand that. I understood
it very well as a TV report order with WBZ
for many years, is that if there is a murder suicide,
they do say it's been a murder suicide domestic dispute. However,
individual suicides, unless it happens to be some really famous person,
(13:17):
are not covered by local news. I have mixed feelings
about that. I'd be interested in what your thoughts are
on that.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Yeah, yeah, So I think that one of the most
important things that we want to do when we hear
news like this is be aware and attentive to the
needs of the surviving loved ones. And I think sometimes
(13:47):
we folks may want to rush to understand or ask
questions or even sadly placed judgment on a scenario, and
we don't know. Most of us will never know the
details around anyone's suicide or death by suicide, so it's
important I think that we think about the loved ones
(14:09):
and the survivors, and the reporting doesn't necessarily right serve
those individuals in that time. I think talking about suicide,
talking about how do we help people who are struggling,
how do we recognize signs in those that are around us?
Those are the important conversations that we should be having
(14:30):
and having openly, right, having more more aggressively, more openly,
more more attentively to say, hey, I've noticed you don't
seem like yourself lately. How I'm worried about you? How
are things? Tell me more about what's happening, what are
you know, what's troubling you? And listening, like we said,
(14:51):
non judgmentally and with care and concern for what someone's
telling us, validating their feelings. That's the part of the
conversation that I think is really important. And I guess
the other thing I would add is that when we
learn about a loss suicide, it is in fact helpful
and important to families to know that people care about them, so,
(15:15):
you know, dropping a card or a message to say
I'm sorry for your loss. When we learn about a suicide,
tell me the person's name, tell me what they were like,
you know, really listening for you know what this person
was like in life, not how they died.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Sure, now here's a program you mentioned conversations. You have
a program called Every Conversation Counts. You still look for
volunteers to help staff the telephone lines. I think that
last year, you folks Is it just in New England
or in Boston handled more than one hundred thousand calls
(15:52):
on the twenty four to seven crisis service line?
Speaker 4 (15:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:56):
OK, yeah, So how can people get involved here? And
I had this for is there a special peer to
peer program for young people? Yes?
Speaker 4 (16:07):
So every conversation counts as a campaign that we have
launched to help us fundraise for all the programs that
we do. But it's named Every Conversation Counts because that's
exactly You're exactly right. Every conversation we have counts for
lost survivors, for folks on the helpline for young people,
every conversation, so we do need volunteers. We also have
(16:31):
some paid positions, so we always encourage people to go
to our website at Samaritanshope dot org to learn more
about how they can volunteer. People can also volunteer and
help us by attending our five K or you know,
joining us at the breakfast for Hope, other ways that
they can show their support and their care for the
(16:51):
work that we do. The two things, as you were saying,
the one hundred thousand calls that's for the Samaritans Boston
location and by itself apart from all the other support
and work being done across the state, across the region.
We are part of the nine eight eight network, but
we also handle all of the calls to the legacy line.
(17:13):
So the line, the original line when you engage with
the organization, is still in service. We still take calls
to that line.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
We give that number one right now because people are listening.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
What is the number, right, So we really want to
encourage people to reach nine eight eight, which is the
easy right. That's the number for everybody to reach, no
matter where you are in the country, no matter you
know where you are at that moment. The other thing
is for folks to reach hey Sam, which you were
(17:46):
just that's the peer to peer line for young people
and that's where we've got young people taking texts from
other young people and we want them to text four
three nine seven to six. That's nine. So that's for
(18:07):
young people up to the age of twenty four to
reach another young person. So all of that is the
way that we, you know, again achieve these texts and
calls that we take twenty four to seven.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
And again if people would like and for young people,
it's a great experience to realize how lucky everyone is
who is not dealing with these issues. How do folks
get in touch with you if they want to become
a volunteer, want to contribute. What's what's the website?
Speaker 4 (18:36):
Yeah, the website is Samaritanshope dot org and that's where
they can find all of that, the events, the programs,
every there's information about how to volunteer, you know what
we look for all of those things to learn about
the campaign. You know, all of this is essential right
for us to keep doing what we started doing fifty
one years ago and continuing to serve people in the
(18:58):
state and across the region. Really sounds great.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Kathy Markie, thank you very much for what you do
and besta luct to the Samaritans. And I met some
wonderful people when I was young associated with that organization,
and I'm sure the group has only grown more stronger
every year. So thanks so much for what you say.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Indeed, thanks and thanks thanks for bringing life to this Thanks.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Dan, absolutely, Kathy, my pleasure. It's something I believe in
the mazin. Thank you much. Kathy Marquis, the Samaritans President
and CEO. The website Samaritans Hoope dot org. All sorts
of information. When we get back, we're going to talk
about the rescue of a bald eagle and its rehabilitation efforts,
and I think it's about to be released back into
(19:43):
its native habitat, which is the world. We'll be talking
with Kim Aman. She's a veterinarian raptor specialist and founder
of Wisconsin's Winged Freedom Raptor Hospital. Sounds exciting, Stay with us.
My name is Dan Ray. This is night Side. If
you haven't picked up already, gone to your app store
and got the free the new and improved Free iHeart app.
(20:07):
Just pull it down, put it on whatever device you'd like,
your phone, your desktop, your laptop, your tablet. And when
you do that, there's this great little red button that
you can't miss. You make us your first make WBZ
your first preset, just like you do any car radio,
and you'll when you do that, you will get a
(20:29):
red button and has a white microphone. You can send
us a message any time of the day, whether we're
on the era off. You got thirty seconds to tell
us what you think about anything, and we're always anxious
to play some of those doesn't replace calling in. We
always want you to continue to call. It is a
talk show. But if Saturday night or Sunday morning and
(20:52):
move to say I want to call you, go ahead
and we'll read that as long as it's you know,
no bad words. You know how that goes. I think
we all understand the rules. Back on nights side. Right
after this.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Side, Dan Ray, I'm WBZ Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Thank you, Madison, delighted to welcome Kim Amon. Did I
get that pronunciation fairly close?
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Kim It's ammen.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Amen, okay, immen. That's fair enough. That double m is
what threw me off there. Ammen. You're a veterinarian, a
raptor specialist, and founder of Wisconsin's Winged Freedom Raptor Hospital.
How long has there been a Wisconsin's Winged Freedom Raptor Hospital.
Speaker 5 (21:38):
We have formerly been an organization for four years, but
I've been doing raptor work my whole career. I've been
a veterinarian for twenty eight years.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
All right, So you have just or you're releasing in
time for the Fourth of July celebration. An injured bald
eagle American bald What were the circumstances that this bald
eagle found him or herself involved in.
Speaker 5 (22:08):
So last September, this female adult bald eagle was found
nearby any campground and she had a really severe wound
on her leg that was life threatening. And when she
came in, I realized that it was wide open. I
had no way to close this wound, and I knew
(22:29):
I was going to have a challenge trying to get
it to heal. Wow, So that's how she came to us.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Okay, let me start at the beginning. Any way, Do
you have any idea how she suffered this horrific wound?
Speaker 5 (22:46):
We really can only speculate. My guess is this was
a fighting injury. There were some deep grooves in it
that were consistent with talent. So these birds have very
large claws and they are very territory oriol during the
breeding season and nesting, and this would have been towards
the tail end of that. But my suspicion is she
(23:07):
was fighting.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
So fighting with another bald eagle or another raptor.
Speaker 5 (23:13):
Yeah, no, probably with another bald eagle. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
How many bald eagles exist approximately? I know that there's
such a beautiful bird, and obviously there's all sorts of
laws to protect them. I'm just curious. Are we talking
about ten thousand or one hundred thousand?
Speaker 5 (23:29):
How rare I suspected six digits? You'd have to ask
a wildlife biologist. That's not my area of That's.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Fine, I know, I just didn't know if you might
have known, because it's one of those questions when you
say six digits you're talking somewhere over one hundred thousand,
because that gets you to say, absolutely, Okay, do these birds?
Do they tend to replicate themselves or is there a
population going I just want to get just people thinking
about these birds, and then I want to talk about
(24:00):
obviously what you were able to do to bring this
bird back to health. Are they.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
Birds? Yeah, they are maintaining their populations. They've come back
when we had the DDT issues in the fifties and
sixties and we just about exterminated.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Them silent spring Rachel Carsonari.
Speaker 5 (24:21):
Right, exactly right, And they were discovered that.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
They were victimized by that, that's right.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
It was causing eggs ending shelfenning and their eggs were
breaking before they could hatch.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Okay, So in September, did someone just discover the bird
with this gash in her leg which prevented her from
flying or how was she found?
Speaker 5 (24:46):
Yes, she was found by some campers who saw her
fly into the area and made an awkward landing and
it appeared that she couldn't fly well and they didn't
know what was wrong. We have a network of volunteers.
One of our volunteers went to the site and was
able to pick her up and brought her into the hospital.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Now, how do you pick up a bald eagle, I
assume very carefully.
Speaker 5 (25:11):
Yeah, lots of heavy gloves and usually a blanket to
wrap over them and then scoop up, trying to get
those feet under control.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Okay, so you look as the attending veterinarian and you
say this, gash. I assume that when not only they land,
do they have their legs have to absorb the landing.
But I assume when they take off they use their
legs as a spring as any large bird. But I'm
(25:41):
not a bird expert, but I assume a leg an
injured leg is as as critical to a bald eagle
as it is to a baseball player who hopes to
steal second of third base.
Speaker 5 (25:53):
Certainly, yes, in her case, the reason it was life
threatening was the infection that had set in. So this
was not a fresh wound. It had been open for
days and days, and now we had this huge, deep
infection in the wound that this would have taken her life.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Okay, so ANTIBEO. I'm not a veterinarian, No do I
play them on the radio, but I'm assuming heavy doses
of antibiotics to kill the infection initially. And then you
said you weren't able to sow the wound as you would.
Speaker 5 (26:26):
There was no way to close this wound, which is
what we would be wanting to do to keep infection out.
So I started to look into some type of alternative therapies.
Some people have tried with eagles or other birds of
prey to take skin grafts from elsewhere on their bodies
and move it like they would in a human. But
(26:47):
there just was nothing this large that I could harvest anywhere.
So I got online. I started researching other options, and
that's where I ran across the Keras's company that makes
the cod skin.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Graft what are called skin grass.
Speaker 5 (27:05):
So cod, we're talking cod. This is the Icelandic cod,
the fish that are naturally harvested out of the oceans
in Iceland. This company is based in Iceland, and the
skin from those fish that are harvested for human consumption,
the skin is a byproduct. They throw it away, and
so this company has developed a process where they take
(27:28):
all of the DNA material and the cells out of
the skin, but maintain the architecture of the skin and
they are able to dehydrate it and make it into
a sterile, shelf stable product that then can be rehydrated
and used in a patient that has either like a
human patient that's had a surgical wound, you know, created
(27:51):
when they had something removed, or a burn, something where
skin is missing. And so they I reached out to
them and said, hey, this is what I'm doing. You know,
this is a nonprofit, this is a bald eagle. Would
you be able to help me, either with advice or
you know, some product or whatever. And they just they
(28:12):
were so supportive. They they rose away.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
They rose to the ocasion. Now how large was this
was the piece of codfish skin that you used to
graft over the wound and protect the wound.
Speaker 5 (28:27):
About six inches long and about four inches wide.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Wow, wow, that is twenty four square inches. I'm looking
at my hand right now. That's a that's a big
piece of codfish skin, and so you you attached that
how quickly September October? How long did it take you
to you had the eagle in.
Speaker 5 (28:49):
It took about three weeks to get all of the
infection and the dead things out till I had a
nice clean wound bed. You can't apply a graft to
something that's still infected or dying, So it was about
three weeks into it. So she came in early September.
It was about early October when I was able to
apply the first graft And these grafts go on. They're
(29:11):
sutured on with you know, stitching around the edges and
then tack down, and the bird is bandaged and a
little bit of a pressure bandage on it. And she
was up and standing. She was using the legs. She
would stand on her piece of fish and pull her meat.
Just the most incredibly tolerant bird. And she had at
(29:34):
least two surgeries to have these grafts put on because
they eventually dissolve. They integrate into the wound as the
skin is growing in, her own skin growing in, and
then so we reapply it and reapply it. And I
estimated that she had over fifty bandage changes throughout the
ten months that it took us to get this to
heel completely.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Did she get to the point that she You think
she understood intuitively the you were there to help her,
and therefore you were less concerned about her snapping at
you or clawing at you.
Speaker 5 (30:08):
She got to the point where she tolerated, I'll put
that term. She was willing. I still had to restrain
her when she would be laying on the exam table,
but she allowed me to take her leg reposition it. However,
I needed to do what I needed to do, bandaging
or whatever. She was the most tolerant bird, and there
(30:29):
was a rapport there, There was a trust. You know,
if she'd had her choice, of course, she would have
gotten up and you know, escaped off the table. But
given the circumstances that were there, she was tolerant of it.
She never took the bandages off, and she she We
had her all through the you know, Wisconsin winter indoors,
(30:50):
you know, to keep the bandage clean and things progressing along.
And then towards spring we were able to get her
out into some more of a fresh air open enclosure,
and then she needed to recondition because she had no
flight muscle. She had been you know, laying around all
this time. So we got her reconditioned for release, and
we actually released her on June twenty second, So she's
(31:13):
she's been out there for a little over a week
and she's just she flew off nice and strong and healthy,
and we were just super happy.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
And any chance you think that she might drop by
for a visit at some point, or at least a.
Speaker 5 (31:26):
Flyover, it's never happened yet. We do have eagles fly
over all the time, but I certainly don't you know,
know them apart. They don't send a postcard. They don't
you know, dip a wing and say thanks a lot, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Doctor, thank you, thank you very much for what you do.
If folks want to help your project, you must have
a website. Maybe we'll have some generous listeners who would
like to send something along. What is the website?
Speaker 5 (31:56):
Absolutely, it's Winged Freedom rh dot com.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Where it stands for Raptor Hospital so wingedfreedomurag dot com.
And of course people can go on and see some
of the work you've done at the website and then
reach for their checkbook.
Speaker 5 (32:12):
Thank you, talk to We have an active Facebook page,
and we are one volunteer and one hundred percent donor funded,
so we appreciate any support we get.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Well, thank you very much. I appreciate the work you
do on behalf of all bald eagles everywhere. I'm not
a bald eagle, but thank you very much for what
you do. Okay and happy welcome.
Speaker 5 (32:34):
Thanks for the story.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Yeah, when we get back, when we talk about your
fourth of July weather forecast, ACUVE meteorologist Brian Thompson. Brian
Thompson's been here before. Brian will join us and he's
going to walk us through the week, right through the weekend.
Coming back, stay with us here on Nightside, and at
nine o'clock we're going to talk about a street fight
(32:59):
in Newton. It is a classic street fight in Newton
between citizens and city hall. You can fight city hall.
We'll find out coming back after the nine o'clock news.
But first your July fourth weekend weather forecast.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Week weather forecast, you're on night Side with Dan Ray
on WBZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Well, this is the fourth of July week. The fourth
of July is on Friday. Many people have this as
a holiday week. Some very lucky people like me have
a holiday week next week, but either way, all of
us will celebrate the Fourth of July this Friday. With
us Now from AKI Weather Brian Thompson, one of my
(33:46):
favorite AKI weather forecasters. Brian, let's take a walk through
the next few days and tell us when it's gonna
be good and when it's gonna be bad. We're through.
We're through Monday, June thirtieth. We're heading into July. Lie,
what's tomorrow likely be like across New England July? First?
Speaker 6 (34:05):
Yeah, Dan, it's going to be a pretty humid day tomorrow,
and we're gonna be out ahead of an approaching cold
fronts and a lot of times when there's a cold
front approaching out ahead of it, it gets pretty warm and humid,
and that'll be the case for tomorrow. We'll see temperatures
get into the mid and upper eighties, and as that
front gets closer, we will have to watch for some
showers and even some thunderstorms to come through, especially during
(34:26):
the afternoon and into the evening hours. There is a
fair amount of moisture in the atmosphere, so some of
these storms all have the potential to produce some downpours,
So there could be some ponding on roads as we
head through tomorrow into tomorrow evening with any of these
downpours as well, But that.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Just can happen anywhere north of Boston. I just am
trying to help folk figure this one, this one out.
I mean, I know it's tough because the weather can
be so different from north of Boston to the Cape
or the mountains of New Hampshire. Where's the big problem
going to be?
Speaker 6 (34:56):
Well, the big problem will probably be more toward well,
let's say a cross southern New England, really all across
New England, but as you get closer to the coast,
especially toward the Cape and islands, it may not be
as much of an issue during the day Tomorrow, may
take until almost tomorrow evening for those storms to reach.
But with a front like this, it's going to span
basically all of New England. There will be some showers
(35:16):
of storms around really throughout the day tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Okay, so it gets us to Wednesday, does it those
storms clear everything out as they sometimes do, so we
get a beautiful Wednesday.
Speaker 6 (35:26):
Yeah, it should be for the most part. If there
is any shower activity left over Wednesday, it's probably toward
the Cape or the we'll be closer to the front
that may take a little while to get through, but
for most of New England it will be clearing out.
High pressure is going to come in from the north
and west, and it looks like for the most part
it will be a mostly dry day on Thursday as well.
That we are going to have to watch for perhaps
(35:47):
a heavier thunderstorm Thursday afternoon, and that'll be coming down
from the northwest kind of with a secondary push of
some more comfortable air so heading into the fourth of July.
So again with that next front lay or Thursday, there
could be a heavy, gusty thunderstorm at a few spots.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Okay, So now we get to the day itself, Yes,
the fourth on Friday, generally, I'm here and it's going
to be a pretty good day. Might be the best
of the week.
Speaker 6 (36:16):
It certainly looks like that right now. It looks like
it will be the nicest weather day of the week.
We're expecting a fair amount of sunshine. High pressure is
going to build in behind that secondary front on Thursday
and that's going to allow things to not only clear out,
so we'll see a decent amount of sunshine, it'll stay dry,
but the humidity comes down pretty nicely as well. We're
looking at two point temperatures in the fifties, which is
(36:36):
which is a very comfortable level, certainly for this time
of year. In the early part of July, so looks
really good temperatures will be in the mid eighties. So
if you want to get in the pool, it's gonna
be warm enough for that. But if you're doing other
outdoor activities, it's not going to be like it was
last week when you as soon as you step outside
you're covered in sweat.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Yeah, no doubt, we remember that. Well, okay, so let's
just just talk long term. After the fourth, we get
to Sunday, the fifth, and then there's a week next week.
What's the long term forecast looking like for next week?
Speaker 6 (37:07):
Well, after we get past the fourth, it is going
to gradually turn hotter over the weekend. By the time
we get to Sunday, especially, it is going to be
pretty hot, pretty humid again. I think we'll be back
up near ninety degrees. The thunderstorm risk may go up
a little bit by Sunday, but overall, I think most
of the holiday weekend is going to be dry. The
way it looks right now, and as we get into
(37:28):
next week, we'll likely overall see a fairly humid stretch
of weather that's going to take us through the at
least the first half of the week. Again, at least
through the first half of the week, it looks pretty hot.
Temperature is probably up near ninety degrees. Maybe temperatures come
down a bit so the middle part of next week,
but the humidity is probably gonna be with us through
a good chunk of next week, which is not terribly
(37:48):
un common this time of year.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Last question, Okay, and I'm going to exercise the talk
show host prerogative here on Tuesday, I'm going to we
have some tickets for called a farm to table dinner.
It's outdoors. A year ago it got rained out on
the cape. What are the chances that it won't get
rained out this year? If you get my drift Tuesday
(38:13):
Tuesday evening.
Speaker 6 (38:15):
It looks promising at this point. I don't think it's
one of the better rain chances next week, I'll put
it that way. A lot can change the late thie.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
It's only New England. I utanded I do, but I'll
tell you if it works out as well as you said,
I'll give you a little toast with a glass of wine. Okay,
all right, sounds good. That's great. I do appreciate it
so much, Brian. Thank you very very much for joining
us tonight, that is for sure. And we'll talk soon,
(38:45):
maybe a couple of weeks. Thank you, Budy, appreciate it.
Fourth of July to you as well, you too. All
we had done for this hour, we're moving on to
the nine o'clock news, and after the nine o'clock news,
we are going to talk about a street fight Newton.
This is a big street fight Newton and Will. It's
really interesting. Stay with us. There's there's no violence here,
(39:06):
but a lot of anger and a lot of frustrations.
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