HOW THE HARPY EAGLE UNITED A NATION

Peter Gros: [00:00:00] Rainforests are some of the oldest and most biologically diverse ecosystems on the planet. [00:00:05][5.5]

Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant: [00:00:07] Rainforests act like the Earth's lungs, releasing massive amounts of oxygen into the atmosphere. Their dense canopies provide shade and habitat to half of the world's plant and animal species. [00:00:18][11.1]

Peter Gros: [00:00:19] Within the rainforests of Panama lives one of the largest species of eagles on the planet, the harpy eagle. For generations, some Panamanians feared them, and well, you can kind of understand why. [00:00:32][12.6]

Ron Magill: [00:00:33] I've actually seen a harpy take a sloth out of the canopy at 50 miles an hour. There's no way to describe what that's like. You've got these talons that are grizzly bear claws, and this bird comes in at 50 miles an hour and takes the sloth and flies, continues to fly with the sloth through the canopy, lands on a branch and starts to eat a bunch of it so that it can take the lighter part back to the nest. [00:00:52][19.3]

Peter Gros: [00:00:54] Today, we'll find out how a passionate conservation effort changed minds and elevated this bird to be a national treasure. I'm Peter Gross, wildlife expert and educator. [00:01:08][14.7]

Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant: [00:01:09] And I'm wildlife ecologist Dr. Rae Winn -Grant. And this is Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, the podcast, Episode 1, How the Harpy Eagle United a Nation. Peter, I'm so happy we're back. The second season of our TV show, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, Protecting the Wild, is airing Saturdays on NBC. And we've already released several episodes with many more to come. And now the second season of Wild Kingdom, the podcast, is here. And it allows us to dig a little deeper into some of our favorite stories from the show. [00:01:52][43.2]

Peter Gros: [00:01:53] We've traveled to different countries to feature a range of animals from whales and manatees to ocelots and polar bears. But today we've got a story about this massive, majestic bird, the Harpy Eagle. [00:02:04][11.6]

Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant: [00:02:06] The Harpy Eagle has a long history with the original Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. Over 40 years ago, hosts Jim Fowler and Marlon Perkins first introduced viewers to this spectacular species. [00:02:17][11.6]

Peter Gros: [00:02:19] This largest and most powerful eagle in the whole world is the Harpy Eagle. [00:02:22][3.6]

Jim Fowler: [00:02:23] This Harpy is a forest dweller, and therefore it's designed for pursuit of its prey right through the middle of the thick forest. Its wings are round and cup -like. They're sort of used as propellers, and that tail is very broad, and it allows the bird to be highly maneuverable. [00:02:39][15.9]

Peter Gros: [00:02:44] When I joined Marlon Perkins and Jim Fowler to co -host the original Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom series, they became friends and mentors. Jim and I spent hours with a Harpy Eagle flying across a field from his glove to land on my glove. Their passion and knowledge sparked a curiosity and wonder in me. But I wasn't the only one. Our guest today, Ron McGill, was also inspired. [00:03:10][25.6]

Ron Magill: [00:03:11] This kid who grew up in a small apartment in New York City from the son of immigrant parents, who was in passion to do what I do from watching Wild Kingdom, 7:30 every Sunday night, that was going to church for me. [00:03:22][11.4]

Peter Gros: [00:03:22] Today, Ron is the communications director at Zoo Miami. And early in his zoo career, he had a chance to meet his childhood icon, Jim Fowler. [00:03:32][9.4]

Ron Magill: [00:03:32] Jim was doing a national tour. He was going around the country touring for Wild Kingdom. And every major city he went into, he would call the local zoo and ask if they would have any ambassador animals that they could bring. He didn't want to travel with animals, too much stress with the animals traveling that way. And I've never been starstruck.

When I heard Jim Fowler was coming to town, I said, oh my gosh, please send me. I'll never forget it. He did a presentation at the Miami Beach Theater of the Performing Arts. And I went down there with a young orinoco crocodile and a red-tailed hawk. And I went in and his dressing room had his name on the dressing room door.

I said, oh, Jim Fowler. I knocked on the door. I'm in fear. And he goes, you must be Ron. And I went, oh, I quivered. And he put his hand on my shoulder. He goes, I can't thank you enough for coming out here, young man. Come on in. And from that day on, he just took me under his wing. For whatever reason, I don't know what it was, but I thank God for it every day, Peter.

He took me under his wing. He gave me his telephone number. He said, you call me whatever you want. And he would call me when he was in town. And we just developed this friendship. And from then on, it just mushroomed. [00:04:35][62.1]

Peter Gros: [00:04:39] Ron has been at Zoo Miami for decades now. And one of his biggest achievements is what he's done on behalf of conservation, in particular for the harpy eagle. [00:04:48][9.5]

Ron Magill: [00:04:49] It was Wild Kingdom that inspired me to work with animals. The zoo was just a conduit to do that. I didn't come to work at the zoo to work for an attraction. I would never, ever support taking an animal out of the wild and putting it in captivity, unless it's the last ditch effort to protect that animal's life or to protect the species it represents.

And zoos have done that with California condors, Arabian oryx, black -footed ferrets. But having said that, we've got to do more for conservation. I looked at it as a stepping stone to being able to get involved in conservation. I originally wanted to become a veterinarian. My chemistry scores told me I would never get into vet school, so I had to come up with Plan B. [00:05:21][32.8]

Peter Gros: [00:05:22] And the zoo in Miami enabled you to do that? [00:05:24][1.8]

Ron Magill: [00:05:24] It enabled me to do that. It opened doors for me. It connected me with people. When I first started 45 years ago, it was more of just attractions. It wasn't as much the conservation, even though that was my goal. But I knew it afforded me the ability to connect with these animals, to work with these animals face to face and see them in real life. [00:05:41][16.4]

Peter Gros: [00:05:42] Can you tell me about the first time you encountered a harpy eagle in person? Where were you? [00:05:46][4.7]

Ron Magill: [00:05:47] Well, it's interesting. The first harpy eagle I encountered was, unfortunately, a stuffed one at the Museum of Natural History in New York. And that's what planted the seed in me, because I had always heard about this harpy eagle. But I'd never seen one. And I went to the museum to see a bald eagle. And right down the way was a harpy eagle that made the bald eagle look like a chicken.

And I went, oh, my gosh, what is this bird? And that's the first time I saw a stuffed one. The first live one wasn't until I was in my 30s, early 30s. And that was in Panama, because my wife is Panamanian. And I always go to the local zoos whenever I travel. And I heard they had a pair of harpy eagles there. And those were the first live harpy eagles I ever saw.

The very bittersweet part of it, Peter, was that these two eagles were in a horrible little cage. You know, they didn't even have proper perches. They had angle iron. I could see the beginnings of bumblefoot on their feet. And I was like, it was very bittersweet, because here I'm seeing my first harpy eagles in a terrible situation. [00:06:41][54.1]

Peter Gros: [00:06:42] How were they regarded in Panama back in those days? What were their biggest threats? [00:06:45][3.7]

Ron Magill: [00:06:46] Well, the biggest threat, I think, was just development and also the misconceptions about the bird. I was speaking to locals who said they routinely would shoot them, because they truly believed that harpy eagles would snatch their children. I mean, this is a myth that's been passed down from generation to generation, that harpies would come down and take babies, not to mention their livestock as well, which, of course, is not true. [00:07:08][21.2]

Peter Gros: [00:07:08] Was it all just fear from this bird they knew so little about? [00:07:11][3.3]

Ron Magill: [00:07:12] That's exactly what it was. It was just lack of knowledge, lack of understanding that brings that fear. And I think both of us know how fear can contribute so much to the demise of wildlife, because people just don't understand it. And that's what was happening with the harpy eagle. And they just didn't really know what it was. Many people thought it was a big owl, you know, because it has that big facial disk, that big crest. People thought it was a big owl. [00:07:33][21.6]

Peter Gros: [00:07:34] When Ron traveled to Panama in the 80s, the harpy eagles were endangered. And if they were under threat, well, then other species were too, because harpy eagles are considered an umbrella species. [00:07:45][11.4]

Ron Magill: [00:07:46] It's an umbrella species because by protecting the harpy eagle, you're causing an umbrella over that habitat that protects all the countless species that live in it as well. [00:07:54][7.9]

Peter Gros: [00:07:54] So basically you're saying in the rainforest, all species are connected. If something happens to the harpy, this umbrella species, it's going to affect the other species. [00:08:01][6.8]

Ron Magill: [00:08:02] And you know what? It's not just in the rainforest, Peter. You and I both know it's everywhere. Every species is connected. I try to tell people all the time when they say, well, you know, why should I care about this and that, you know, of bees and butterflies and rainforest? You know, I see them or I don't see them, whether it's the bees and the butterflies pollinating the plants that we feed off of, whether it's the rainforest providing medicines and air, the bottom line is it's all connected by protecting these things we're protecting ourselves. [00:08:27][25.3]

Peter Gros: [00:08:29] Feeling an urgency to protect these birds and knowing that public education is the key to conservation, Ron set out to transform the way that some Panamanians saw harpy eagles. His journey started at the zoo in Panama City. [00:08:43][14.3]

Ron Magill: [00:08:45] Basically, I went down there and I told the director of the zoo, I said, this is atrocious. How can you have these majestic birds in this horrible little cage? And he said, we have no money. And I said, who's in charge of the budget here? The mayor of Panama City. So I said, give me the address of the mayor of Panama City. And I wrote her a letter and people laughed at me.

Here I am, this gringo going down to Panama, you know, and he thinks he's going to get a meeting with the mayor. But I must have written a good letter because I had a call from the mayor's office and she invited me to breakfast. And I sat down with her and I said, Madam Mayor, we need to do something for these birds. This is one of the most majestic species of birds in the world. We need to build a better enclosure for them.

And she said, Ron, I'm the mayor of Panama City. Okay. I've got to take care of potholes, pick up garbage, take care of people. If I allocate money for a bigger bird cage, I'll be crucified. I said, I understand that. Let me do it for you. Not knowing what I was saying. And she said, okay. And with her permission, I met with the U .S. ambassador to Panama. I asked him for all the major corporations doing business in Panama.

And I wrote them letters to see if they would get money. You know, many of these corporations have to give money to some type of philanthropic effort. And I said, well, the Harpy Eagle is the perfect one. So I wrote these letters and I got a call from Sony Corporation.

And Sony Corporation said, we want to fly in our president. I'll never forget his name, Mr. Akahigo Kaji. Going to fly him in and you are going to give a presentation to him in Panama City on why Sony Corporation should sponsor this effort. I said, yes, I'll do it. Bing. I hung up the phone and I'm like, oh my gosh, what am I going to do now? [00:10:07][82.0]

Peter Gros: [00:10:07] Ron wanted some backup. So he reached out to his mentor and friend, Jim Fowler. [00:10:12][4.3]

Ron Magill: [00:10:13] And Jim, in his wisdom, he said, Ron, you had that great baritone voice. He goes, Ron, I'll go down with you, but you're going to give the presentation. I'm just going to listen. And that was Jim's way of basically teaching me how to go out on my own and do this. I mean, that's I can't say enough about this man on how he mentored me. And I went down there and Peter, I did this, you know, I'm kind of an animated guy. And I said, Mr. Kaji, this is an incredible bird, protecting the forest, protecting so many other things. Sony needs this good reputation. At the time, the Japanese were getting a lot of bad press for the whaling and all the things going on. I said, here's an opportunity to save a rainforest species, do a great thing. And they didn't show me any emotion, Peter. [00:10:51][38.6]

Peter Gros: [00:10:52] That's unusual because you are sort of slightly animated, right? [00:10:55][3.1]

Ron Magill: [00:10:56] But so they left the room. [00:10:58][1.7]

Peter Gros: [00:10:58] They leave the room. [00:10:59][0.6]

Ron Magill: [00:10:59] They go, we have to discuss this. I look at Jim, I go, Jim, we're not going to get a penny out of these guys. I thought they were in a coma. And Jim goes, Ron, you know, the Japanese are very smart business people. They're not going to wear their emotions on their sleeve. I think you did a fine job. And I think you may be surprised at what they have to answer. And then they came back and they go, gave a very good presentation. We're going to begin by giving you two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. [00:11:21][21.9]

Peter Gros: [00:11:21] Wow. Two hundred and fifty thousand in Panama. OK. [00:11:28][6.6]

Ron Magill: [00:11:29] In 1989, in 1989. And that was just that's when the floodgates opened. [00:11:31][2.1]

Peter Gros: [00:11:34] So what were the next steps? You've got the money now. You wanted to build a larger aviary. [00:11:38][4.1]

Ron Magill: [00:11:39] So after we got the funding from Sony, I was able to go out to the mayor's office and get their construction team to go out there. And Jim and I actually went into this place called Summit Park, which is right next to Soberania National Park, a Harpy Eagle habitat. And Jim picked the spot where we were going to build the National Harpy Eagle Center. And that money enabled us to provide the foundation to build what eventually was a million dollar project. And it led to the fact that on April 10th, 2003, the Panamanian Parliament officially declared the Harpy Eagle the national bird of Panama. And that, for me, is one of the greatest accomplishments in my career to have been part of that. And I thank Jim for that. I thank the Panamanian government. And I thank Sony for believing in us because that money, that seed money that eventually became close to a million dollars, built the greatest single Harpy Eagle Center in the Western Hemisphere. [00:12:28][48.9]

Peter Gros: [00:12:29] Today, on Harpy Eagle Day in Panama, there are festivals celebrating the once feared and misunderstood bird. [00:12:36][6.7]

Ron Magill: [00:12:37] It's called Festi Arpia, where thousands of people come to the Harpy Eagle Center that we built there at Summit Gardens and they just learn about the Harpy Eagle. It's all this wonderful festival to celebrate this majestic bird and to celebrate the country that it represents. So now when you go to Panama, you get off a plane at their international airport and you see these massive murals of Harpy Eagles, where again, 30 years ago, nobody knew what a Harpy Eagle was. From not knowing what a Harpy Eagle was to making it their national bird and having an annual day to celebrate it with a festival. [00:13:05][28.7]

Peter Gros: [00:13:06] You and I have been in the business of, I think, public education as part of our career for a very long time. What do you think about the next generation coming up? What do you think we should advise them to do? [00:13:17][10.5]

Ron Magill: [00:13:17] You know, I don't even think I need to advise them to do much because they inspire me so much. I'm so encouraged by this generation, Peter. They do so much more than I did at their age. I mean, you know, when I was young, I had never heard about recycling. I drove a hot rod car that got negative seven miles to the gallon, and back then it was cool. You drive a car like that today, you're going to get dirty looks. These kids are passionate. I see these blossoming environmental clubs. Kids come to me with ideas. They come to me to ask, what can I do? The enthusiasm, the passion that they have. I'm very encouraged about this young generation. They have shown me that they're more environmentally concerned, more concerned about conservation than I think any generation before them. [00:13:57][39.8]

Peter Gros: [00:14:00] Thank you so much, Ron. This is just such a great walk down memory lane and such a great, great to hear the stories of what it took for you to do what you've done to save the Harpy Eagle. It's a story that I'm going to continue to tell as long as I can. [00:14:14][14.5]

Ron Magill: [00:14:15] Well, Peter, for me, it's a lot to do with you, a lot to do with Jim. You all are the flag bearers for so many people who have had the privilege and pleasure of watching you and learning from you and being inspired by you. You know, the platform that you have through Mitchell of Omaha's Wild Kingdom is so powerful, it's so inspirational. I cannot begin to tell you. I mean, look at me, I'm a 65 -year -old man now, but I'm still a little boy at heart. And those days continue to make me a little boy at heart. I will never forget the passion I have for wildlife is something that was planted by Wild Kingdom. [00:14:46][31.3]

Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant: [00:14:52] Now, we've got a new feature on the podcast this season. We're calling it Conservation Connection, and we'll be featuring snippets of conversations we recorded at the 2024 Association of Zoos and Aquariums annual conference in Calgary, Canada. [00:15:06][14.5]

Peter Gros: [00:15:07] When Ron was talking about how Harpy Eagles helped maintain a balance to the intricate ecosystem of the rainforest, it reminded us of the story of pollinators. [00:15:16][8.7]

Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant: [00:15:17] Mary Ann Colley is the CEO of the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster, Colorado. Its mission is to foster an appreciation of invertebrates by educating the public about the need to protect and care for threatened habitats globally while conducting research for solutions in invertebrate conservation. [00:15:35][17.8]

Mary Ann Colley: [00:15:37] I always say that bees and butterflies are the best gateway bug. Because they're the ones that kind of get you excited about bugs, because they're pretty. But those butterflies really are critical in pollination of specific plants. Invertebrate pollinators might be a butterfly, they might be a beetle, but for the most part, those invertebrate pollinators are going to be flying around, and they're going to be flying from one flower to another, and they're going to be pollinating those flowers.

Pollinators are critical for life as we know it. Without pollinators, we don't have the very diets that we eat. We can think about pollinators providing one out of every three bites of food that we have every day. And when we think about pollinators, if we take a step back and we think about invertebrates in general, 97 % of all the animals on our planet are invertebrates. And we often only focus on 3%. And so Butterfly Pavilion's focus really is to say, hey, let's open our eyes, let's really understand what's going on in our planet.

And these little guys, we stand on the backs of these little guys, and so if we don't start paying attention to the intricate food web that these animals are supporting, we're going to lose out on days in the future. In Colorado, we recently passed a bill stating that invertebrates are wildlife, and this is an amazing first step across the United States, right? Invertebrates are being seen as animals in our state. That can lead to more study, to more understanding, and ultimately then more protection, not only for the invertebrates, but for all the animals that live within the amazing ecosystems in Colorado, as well as the amazing ecosystems that we have across our world. [00:17:19][102.0]

Peter Gros: [00:17:25] Thank you for listening to this episode of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, the podcast. And remember, if we protect wildlife and the environment today, we can ensure magical moments in the wild kingdom for future generations. [00:17:38][12.9]

Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant: [00:17:39] Join us next week when we talk to Dr. Claire Erlacher-Ried about manatees off the coast of Florida. [00:17:45][5.5]

Dr. Claire Erlacher-Ried: [00:17:45] This amazing network of biologists and rescue workers and veterinarians [00:17:51][5.3] [00:17:52] all came together as part of this manatee rehab and rescue program to work together to save the species, and they're no longer endangered. [00:18:00][8.5]

Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant: [00:18:01] That's next week on Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, the podcast. [00:18:04][3.8]

Peter Gros: [00:18:09] Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, the podcast, is a production of Pineapple Street Studios and Mutual of Omaha. Our senior producer is Stephen Key. Producers are Elliot Adler and Jenny Van Solen. [00:18:22][12.6]

Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant: [00:18:23] Associate producer is Lisa Cerda. Editor is Darby Maloney. Executive producers are Barry Finkel, Gabrielle Lewis, and Jen Wolf. Pineapple's head of sound and engineering is Raj Makhija. Senior audio engineers are Marina Paiz, Davy Sumner, Javi Cruces, and Pedro Alvira. This episode was mixed by Davy Sumner. [00:18:46][23.5]

Peter Gros: [00:18:47] Production music courtesy of Epidemic Sound and Hearst Media Production Group. [00:18:51][3.6]

Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant: [00:18:52] Episode clips courtesy of Hearst Media Production Group. Marketing and promotion by Emily Poeschl. This podcast is hosted by me, Dr. Rae Winn -Grant. [00:19:01][9.3]

Peter Gros: [00:19:01] And me, Peter Gros. A special thanks to Katelyn Williams, Sophie Radmelovich, and Stephanie Diaz. [00:19:07][6.0]

Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant: [00:19:09] Today's episode is based on the Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom series created by Don Meyer. Our next episode will be out in a week. [00:19:16][7.3]

Peter Gros: [00:19:17] Make sure you listen on the Audacy app or wherever you get your podcasts. [00:19:17]