By Nancy Cowing Umphres

Many years ago an injured Harris hawk was brought to our center. He had been caught as an injured adult with a broken leg, probably due to an encounter with an automobile. The person who rescued him kept him in a small, dirty, old parrot cage in a corner of his store and didn't seek medical attention for his broken bones; therefore they healed badly. Luckily a game warden came across the hawk by accident while shopping in the store and rushed him to our rescue center.
The prognosis was grim, as the bones had healed so that his leg stuck out at an odd angle. The only option was to re-break the bones and try and set them. After viewing the x-rays we decided that even that was not an option. Meanwhile Legolas, as we had christened him, was eating and doing well in one of our large outside cages. The first thing he did when I put him in the cage was have a long bath to clean the filth of months of neglect and captivity.
As we pondered his future, Legolas began to adapt to his disability. He began to fly very well and he was able to perch even with his crippled leg. One day as I was cleaning his cage an "oops" happened. An oops is a wildlife rehabilitation term for a mistaken release. I cursed myself as Legolas flew past me out the cage door and wondered how I was going to be able to recapture him.
Well, that was about ten years ago, and Legolas was never recaptured, but continues to live happily in our neighborhood. He is even able to hunt on his own, but when times are slim he returns to the center for a little supplemental help and is able to catch food in mid-air with his good leg when I fling it to him. At times he has some difficulty and must struggle, and he may not be perfect, but he is alive and he fights for his freedom and survival.
Last month Legolas disappeared for over a week and I feared the worst. I never realized how much he meant to me until I thought he might be gone. I have also struggled with continuous health problems due to exposure to DES (diethyistilbestrol) in the womb. I can relate to Legolas and his fight, and I guess he has almost become a role model to keep trying to stay healthy and survive against all the obstacles and odds.
DES was a synthetic estrogen drug prescribed to pregnant women to prevent miscarriages, although it was later proven to have the reverse effect. It was prescribed for over three decades, from 1938 to 1971. It was a very lucrative product so safety testing was pretty much ignored or covered up, and it was pushed by the greedy drug companies on trusting physicians who thought they were helping their expectant mothers have healthy babies.
The damage done by this drug is sometimes compared to the damage done by thalidomide, another horror drug that caused unexpected birth defects. The difference is that our defects are internal. The drug companies knew that DES caused cancer in the offspring of lab rats 20 years before they took it off the market but they did nothing.
DES causes reproductive injuries and deformities, a high risk of cervical and vaginal cancer, infertility, and a wide variety of pregnancy complications and damaged to the immune system. DES has a high incidence of reproductive deformities and abnormalities.
I have been one of the lucky ones. I was able to have a child, but know I must worry that my son may also have problems due to DES, as they now are finding that the third generation show signs of cancer risk and other problems.
I have managed to make it to 47 cancer free, although I can't even remember the amount of biopsies I have had to suffer through over the years. I am one of the lucky ones (so far). I only have severe allergies, asthma, degenerative disk disease, psoriatic arthritis, and fibromyalgia. I joined an online support group several years ago so I know how terrible it has been for other DES daughters. It makes my problems seem insignificant. And the worst part is we have not been compensated for the damage done. As one DES daughter recently put it, "First they poison us, then they make us pay the bill," but you can be compensated for spilling hot coffee in your crotch. What a world.
It had been almost two weeks and I had given up on the return of Legolas. I was sitting at my desk writing last month's Wildlife article when I felt as if I was being watched. I looked up at the mesquite tree just outside the window and there sat Legolas looking at me. I quickly hit the save button and ran out to say hello to my old friend. He flew above me to the center and perched over the beaver pen to wait for a handout. He looked great. His feathers were well-preened and he wasn't thin. He had obviously been hunting on his own. He caught the food I gave him and proceeded to eat it on top of the owl cage.
It is almost a full time job to try and stay healthy lately but I have my inspiration back. Legolas and I will both keep on trying.

(The Zapata Wildlife Rescue Center can be contacted by mail at 6812 STOP 68A, Zapata, TX 78076-2913, by phone at (956) 765-8526, or e-mail at dreams@zapata.border.net. Those interested in visiting should call ahead for directions.)