Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 1988)
birds of prey John Karger, falconer at the Renaissance Festival Photo by Janner Falconer By Wade See Each fall, thousands of Texas A&M students, staff and faculty walk through the front gates of the Texas Renaissance Festival and enter another world, the world of the 16th century Renaissance. A world full of kings, queens, knights, fools and the King’s royal falconer. The falconer performs one of the most popular shows at the festival using his trained birds of prey. He usually starts by riding into the stage area atop a colorfully decorated horse. There is no announcement— no dimming of the lights. The royal falconer just rides in carrying a beautiful and majestic hawk upon his gloved hand. The hawk wears a helmet, known as a hood to falconers, decorated with feather plumes and bright colors adorning the side. The falconer says the hood was used to keep the birds calm on the long horseback rides to the spot where they would be released and used to hunt animals such as duck and pheasant. The falconer stops the horse in the m\dd\e of the stage and carefully removes the bird’s hood. He turns to the crowd and speaks in a deep, booming old English voice. “Good day, ladies and gentlemen. My name is John. I am the King’s royal falconer. ” With this introduction comes a roar of applause from the crowd tightly jammed into an outdoor theater which seats 900. The seats are full for almost every show. For many of the people filling those seats, that opening line is one they’ve heard several times before. The falconer has a loyal following of people who come back to the fair year after year to see the ever-changing, informative and always thrilling falcon show. He even had one person come to him and say he saw the falcon show when he was a boy, and now he had grown and married and was bringing his baby son to see the show. The falconer has been performing at the fair since 1978. No doubt the birds have something to do with the falconer’s popularity, but the man himself is what makes the show a success. The falconer is a huge man, weighing about 250 pounds and standing 6 feet tall. His arms and legs are massive, and his thick curly beard and long, curly blond hair all lend themselves to creating an impressive falconer. He just looks like the sort of person used to carrying a 15-pound protects eagle around on his left arm for an entire afternoon. When the weekend is over, the king’s royal falconer steps back through the gates of time and returns to being John Karger. But even though the show is over for the weekend, Karger’s work is just beginning. Karger returns to his home in San Antonio where his real work and his heart lie. There, he is the director of an organization called Last Chance Forever. It is a conservation organization that specializes in the care and eventual release of birds of prey such as hawks, eagles, owls and vultures. LCF is designed to help these types of birds which have been orphaned or injured, he says. “We receive over 200 birds each year which require our care,” Karger says. “Some just need rest and nourishment, others have had broken bones or have been poisoned by pesticides and require veterinary care.” Karger works with each bird that comes in to his facilities and says he becomes slightly attached to every one of them. He says he sheds a tear for every bird that dies, but is rewarded by the birds he is able to release back into the wild. “With every bird I release goes a piece of my heart, ” he says. “I guess, deep down inside, I really wish I could fly with them. I wish I had the freedom of these birds. ” Each bird that Karger turns back into the world represents a great deal of time, money and hawk food. Last Chance Forever could not work without the help of donations, he says. People such as Dr. Melissa Hill, a San Antonio veterinarian who donates her medical skills; those who donate time to feed and help care for the birds; and those who donate their money at the Rennaissance Festival all make the organization successful, he says. “We go through about 6,000 pounds of meat every year, ” Karger says. “We’re constantly feeding birds. ” When Karger is not feeding hawks, he is always doing something else that concerns them. Karger spends seven months out of the year performing at renaissance festivals. He believes education is the hope for the future of the birds and nature. “If I can convince the children that these birds and the rest of nature need to be protected and should be protected, then much of my battle is won, ” Karger says. “For they are the ones who will make the decisions in the future. ” Part of the falcon show is focused on the children, but it gets the hearts of adults as well. Karger usually invites a young child up on the stage during his show. He kneels down on the child’s level with a golden eagle on one hand and the child next to him. “Jenny, ” he says after a brief introduction. “With my hand and your hand, we are going to touch this eagle. And when you touch this eagle, I want you to notice that he doesn’t try to fly away, nor does he try to hurt you. That’s because he trusts you. He knows you are his friend and that you won’t hurt him. Don’t you think this eagle has the right to live in peace without humans trying to hurt him?” A soft, uncoaxed voice replies, “Yes.” Karger continues. “Jenny, I want to give you something. It’s a medallion to remember this eagle by. For when you grow up, there may be none left in the wild. ” Jenny returns to her seat among the often tearful audience. Karger says he doesn’t like to play too heavily on people’s emotions, but he wants to emphasize the need to preserve nature as a tool for instruction. He says people can learn a lot from birds of prey. He describes the hawk’s claws as being powerful killing tools. He says that if the bird he is holding wanted to, it could squeeze his arm with enough force to make its claws penetrate Karger’s glove, his skin, his muscle and his bone. But he tells the crowd to notice how the bird sits on his glove — how its claws are relaxed. He says the bird never uses them except to hunt and defend itself. “Isn’t it about time we learned something from these birds?” he asks. “Isn’t it about time we stopped abusing our weapons — our powerful killing tools? Isn’t it about time that we humans started using them for something beneficial?” Karger ends his show. “Thank you, m’lords and m’ladies. And may your God go with you.” 'White power' group preaches racial separation Continued from page 6 right-wingers and ex- communists to atheists and Christians. There is no preference. The main issue is the betterment of the white race. One third of WAR’S members are under the age of 20. These young associates, or skinheads as Metzger calls them, are people who are very racist by nature, he says. “I prefer this age group because it is better to educate them when they are young, ” Metzger says. “You can give them the proper training and guidance that they will need to carry on our message. ” Metzger says most of the young people are from working-class backgrounds and are usually street kids. But many WAR supporters attend universities. Metzger’s opposition would say he is trying to program these young people to promote violence. But Metzger says he is programming them ideologically. Some call WAR’s growing skinhead membership a fad, but Metzger disagrees. “It has been going on in Britain for 20 years and now it’s crossed the ocean to America, ” he says. “If it went on there for that amount of time, who knows how long it will last here?” Metzger believes the government, or system, as he refers to it, has created the person that he is. In turn, he feels, the system is creating more like him. Once the system is through with these young people and they see how rotten the system is, then Thursday, ( they will always be with him or someone like him, Metzger says. The government has created the very thing it fears, he says. In the 1960s this type of racist ideology nearly bisected the country. Twenty-five years later racism still exists and continues to divide America by color and creed. :t; 13,1988/At Ease/Page 7
