Advocate

June 1, 2007
ID: 1197EC949317F080

Rodeoclown, buzzard make quite a pair

Oscar the buzzard is back in business.That is the word from animal trainer and former rodeoclown Ralph Fisher of Swiss Alp in Fayette County who uses the aging 39-year-old buzzard in educational programs. Oscar has been with Fisher since 1968 when he took in two abandoned baby buzzards that were found on Emil Marks' LH7 Ranch at Barker near Houston.

Fisher and the buzzard ran afoul of the law in January of 2006 after he had allowed state and federal permits to expire about three years before while recovering from an injury.

"I had the permits for about 25 years," he recalled, "but had mostly stopped displaying the bird and doing the paperwork."

So, late on a Thursday afternoon, Jan. 12, 2006, the law came looking for Oscar.

Two game wardens took the buzzard into custody but, after a number of individuals and organizations intervened on behalf of Oscar, the buzzard was returned the next day. It had been a difficult 23 hours for Fisher and his wife, Sandra Reddell, not to mention Oscar.

Now they are just happy to have everything back in order with both the state and federal permits having been renewed.

Oscar has to be about the most famous buzzard in this country, not to mention possibly being the oldest, or at least one of the oldest in captivity.

In their younger years - both for Fisher and Oscar - Fisher had trained the two young orphaned buzzards from the Marks' ranch to fly to him and land on his hat and arm when he was standing in the clown barrel during rodeos, they becoming known as "the world's only bullfighting buzzards."

I recall first seeing Fisher and the buzzards at a rodeo in the Victoria Community Center, that being before regulations were placed on the use of buzzards for commercial purposes.

They were also quite an attraction when riding a covered wagon in the Salt Grass Trail Ride for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and made appearances during performances of the Texas Prison Rodeo at Huntsville.

Fisher had named both birds Oscar, one as Number 1 and the other Number 2, the latter having died in 1985 when 17 years old.

The remaining Oscar even has some rather impressive acting credits, having appeared in a number of films including the Alamo epic "Two for Texas" in 1997 starring Kris Kristofferson. After the battle scene, Oscar was perched atop a plastic façade of the Alamo with his wings spread while looking down at all the carnage.

Oscar also made a global tour with the popular band ZZ Top during the mid-1970s along with the other Oscar, also with a buffalo, Texas longhorn steer, an armadillo and some rattlesnakes, with Fisher traveling along as their handler.

Fisher had started supporting himself in college as a rodeoclown and trained several wild animals for exhibition. After receiving Bachelor and Master of Education degrees in education, he became a teacher while continuing his animal training and rodeo work.

Today, he and his wife own Ralph Fisher's Photo Animals - many readers will have seen Fisher and their majestic Texas longhorn steers when they have been in Victoria and elsewhere in the area - and Oscar has become a non-profit organization, Buzzard Whisperer, dedicated to the education of the public on buzzards and other bird and animal species.

More formally a black vulture, Oscar is now helping to educate young and old alike about the balance of nature and buzzards in general.

Incidentally, Oscar is a female, something that became evident when she laid two infertile eggs during the same year that the other Oscar died, it assumedly having been a brother.

In applying for the new permits, Fisher had noted that Oscar is "happy, well fed and cared for, and has been seen by hundreds of thousands of folks 'up close and personal,' without the limitations of fences and cages."

Oscar lives comfortably in a large structure with two perches to roost on and plenty of room to fly short distances from one end to the other. At times she is released to play with ornaments in the yard and to get exercise on longer flights. Her diet consists of commercially prepared feline foods and raw meat scraps from beef, venison, elk and rabbit, but no fatty meats.

In pleading to keep Oscar, Fisher said removing the bird from his care could have harmed or killed her.

If it was not for Ralph Fisher, Oscar would not likely be around today helping to educate people on how such scavenging birds provide a balance between themselves, mankind and nature.

The aging buzzard and old rodeoclown make quite a team in what they do.