Speaker 1: Hey, fam, Before we get back to the show, I
Speaker 1: have some major news to tell you. For over a year,
Speaker 1: I've been building a brand new app called Button Plus
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Speaker 1: the Brave, Pixel Quest or Critter Protectors Parents, you're gonna
Speaker 1: need to download our Button plus app to get unlimited
Speaker 1: access to all of our Story Button and Mister Jim
Speaker 1: shows completely add free. Thank you to everyone who has
Speaker 1: supported us so far. It's truly amazing to have you
Speaker 1: a part of our family. From all of us here
Speaker 1: at Story Button, we really couldn't continue to do this
Speaker 1: without you, so it would be really helpful to us
Speaker 1: if you went to the app store and searched for
Speaker 1: Button spelled bttn, gave it a download and a five
Speaker 1: star review, that would be awesome. Thank you, and now
Speaker 1: back to the show.
Speaker 2: Have you ever spent way too long searching for something
Speaker 2: right in front of you, or way too long trying
Speaker 2: to remember something you should have never forgotten. Well, that's
Speaker 2: what it was like recruiting one of the best animal
Speaker 2: experts around, Gabe Flores. To be honest, it's hard to
Speaker 2: remember our team without him. Maybe it's because he was
Speaker 2: like our patriarch. Or maybe it's because I was so
Speaker 2: nervous the day I went to talk to him. I
Speaker 2: guess we all start somewhere though.
Speaker 3: Right, Okay, got it. I'll see what I can do,
Speaker 3: mister Luke.
Speaker 4: Thanks Marcus, and keep your walkie talking close. I'll let
Speaker 4: you know if I figure anything else out.
Speaker 3: There has to be someone I'm forgetting about. Think Marcus,
Speaker 3: think huh. Let's see volunteers at the animal hospital. I
Speaker 3: was the youngest one working there by ten years. The
Speaker 3: animal surplus store, school, no Way, the reptile show, The
Speaker 3: reptile show, that's it.
Speaker 2: Months before even talking to mister Luke, I spent a
Speaker 2: week in at a huge reptile show near the city hit.
Speaker 2: Something I always looked forward to, and this one did
Speaker 2: not disappoint. One of my all time favorite displays was
Speaker 2: from a place near home, River rehab. Gabe, a boy
Speaker 2: just a little older than me, had a bunch of
Speaker 2: reptiles on display, along with loads of information about the
Speaker 2: rehabilitation center he and his family had built from the
Speaker 2: ground out.
Speaker 3: Hey there, welcome to the booth. Let me know if
Speaker 3: you have any questions. My name's Gabe. Thanks, it's quat
Speaker 3: a display you have here.
Speaker 5: Thanks. This is more of a side hobby, but here's
Speaker 5: my card. We were in a local rehab center about
Speaker 5: forty five minutes from here.
Speaker 3: You should come check it out sometime. Thanks. Wow, this
Speaker 3: place is right down the road from me. Awesome.
Speaker 5: We're always looking for volunteers in the summer, and there's
Speaker 5: camps too if you like that kind of thing.
Speaker 3: Cool. Thanks Gabe, you're welcome.
Speaker 5: Hope to see you there sometime then, Marcus, Marcus, nice
Speaker 5: to meet you you as well.
Speaker 3: Thanks again.
Speaker 2: I'm sure Gabe figured if I ever stopped by it
Speaker 2: would be the other way around, me seeing if he
Speaker 2: needed any help at the center taking him up on
Speaker 2: the volunteer hours. But desperation and a bit of hope
Speaker 2: led me and my bike down the road to River
Speaker 2: Rehab Animal Sanctuary, hoping he'd be up for becoming a
Speaker 2: credit protector. I turned into the parking lot near the
Speaker 2: entrance sign and headed up a small gravel path near
Speaker 2: a larger building that said visitor center.
Speaker 3: Wow, this seems like a fun place, lots of space,
Speaker 3: a pavilion and a summer camp. Cool. I guess I'll
Speaker 3: just start by by reminding him who I am, Hey Gabe,
Speaker 3: remember me? No, okay, I'm just gonna wing it. Oh hi, there?
Speaker 3: Are you looking for your group? My group, your camp group,
Speaker 3: or you're a counselor. Oh no, no, no, I I
Speaker 3: just stopped by. I'm not a camper.
Speaker 5: Oh I'm sorry.
Speaker 3: Wait do I know you from somewhere? A Marcus? We
Speaker 3: met at the Reptile Show. That's it. How's it going, man?
Speaker 5: I'm so glad you stopped by. Are you looking for
Speaker 5: something to keep you busy this summer?
Speaker 3: I'm pretty good. Well, actually, I've been pretty busy and
Speaker 3: unfortunately don't have much time for classes or volunteering. Don't
Speaker 3: get me wrong, this place is awesome. It's just well,
Speaker 3: it's actually why I decided i'd better stop by today.
Speaker 3: You see, I recently started working with a group called
Speaker 3: Critter Protectors over at Biology Squad at HQ. You know
Speaker 3: the place. Oh, yes, definitely know the place.
Speaker 5: Who doesn't know about Spilogy Squad around here?
Speaker 3: Well, we've been struggling with more more animals getting injured, stuff,
Speaker 3: you name it, which is why a new team branched
Speaker 3: off called the Critic Protectors. Oh, the calls coming in
Speaker 3: around here seem to be endless and there seems to
Speaker 3: be someone behind it all, which makes things even worse. Anyways,
Speaker 3: sorry to go on and on. How if call has
Speaker 3: been over here?
Speaker 5: Oh that's not good, No, that you mentioned it. We
Speaker 5: do seem to.
Speaker 3: Have quite a few rehab calls coming in. I just
Speaker 3: thought it was a season though.
Speaker 5: I never really imagined there could be someone behind it.
Speaker 5: That would be terrible, you're telling me. Anyways, we're trying
Speaker 5: to get more people on our team. I was just
Speaker 5: recruited last week.
Speaker 3: Actually, I wonder, well if you might think about joining us.
Speaker 3: We could really use someone like you me during your team.
Speaker 5: Oh wow, that's an honor. I mean, if there was
Speaker 5: ever another organization, I do want to be a part of.
Speaker 3: This sounds like a perfect fit. I guess yes.
Speaker 5: If I could get the coverage here, it might just
Speaker 5: work for me. I could probably stop by there tomorrow though,
Speaker 5: Tuesdays or my day off.
Speaker 3: That would be great. With all the work you've already
Speaker 3: done around this place, we would be the ones honor
Speaker 3: to have you an even working with animals are my
Speaker 3: kind of people. Marcus, I'll see you tomorrow. Great, I'll
Speaker 3: see you then.
Speaker 2: With Gabe on board, the team was well on its
Speaker 2: way to becoming strong enough to combat the challenges ahead.
Speaker 2: The only problem was the challenges themselves were only getting worse.
Speaker 2: It's like each step in the right direction caused another
Speaker 2: thing to happen. And while I took one step in
Speaker 2: the right direction of growing the team, mister Luke was
Speaker 2: facing a big step back. He called me before I
Speaker 2: even made it out of the River Rehab parking lot.
Speaker 4: Hey, Marcus, yep, what's going on? Well, I'm still over
Speaker 4: here on Route twelve and will not h There's too
Speaker 4: much to explain right now, but I really could use
Speaker 4: your help down here at fast.
Speaker 3: Say no more, I'll be over there in five just
Speaker 3: leaving River Rehab.
Speaker 4: Now River Rehab.
Speaker 3: I'll fill you in later.
Speaker 4: Roger, see you soon.
Speaker 2: If I'm being truthful, it felt great going from one
Speaker 2: thing to the next. I was needed, happy and excited
Speaker 2: to be working alongside others like me, even if our
Speaker 2: problems were never ending. But when I got to mister Luke,
Speaker 2: I won't lie. I was a little bit shocked at
Speaker 2: what I saw. It turns out mister Luke was stopped
Speaker 2: near a place I knew quite well, my lucky wood
Speaker 2: Duck spot, or at least, that's what I like to
Speaker 2: call it. Every year, the wood ducks from all around
Speaker 2: would come to this place to nest, and I loved
Speaker 2: riding my bike past them. If only it was as
Speaker 2: peaceful as usual.
Speaker 3: What's going on, mister.
Speaker 4: Luke, I'm not too sure, but what I could tell
Speaker 4: you is that those birds up there are after those
Speaker 4: guys down there. This predator prey situation is unlike anything
Speaker 4: I've seen around here.
Speaker 3: Whoa, and look right up there by those trees. There's
Speaker 3: like four, maybe five flying in.
Speaker 4: This isn't good. Falcons are known to feast on all
Speaker 4: kinds of birds, and wood ducks are one of.
Speaker 3: Them, and we're sure those are falcons.
Speaker 4: I'm pretty sure. But I have a pair of binoculars
Speaker 4: in the back seat of my jeep. If you want
Speaker 4: to make sure, I'll grab them.
Speaker 2: After rustling through the backseat of mister Luke's jeep, I
Speaker 2: finally found the binoculars. His jeep definitely appeared to be
Speaker 2: in need of a deep cleaning, but then again, if
Speaker 2: it was cleaned out, he just might not have had
Speaker 2: those binoculars in there. One good thing about a messy car,
Speaker 2: I guess you're prepared for all kinds of things. When
Speaker 2: I got to look at the birds circling the wetlands,
Speaker 2: there was no denying they were falcons, circled like they
Speaker 2: were searching and patrolling the whole area. But the craziest
Speaker 2: part of it all was that each one had a
Speaker 2: shiny metal tag hanging from their foot. If it hadn't
Speaker 2: been a sunny day, I might have missed it, but
Speaker 2: the shiny metal looked like little diamonds catching the light
Speaker 2: every time the falcons flew back towards me. The other
Speaker 2: alarming thing was that each falcon had some kind of
Speaker 2: black headpiece covering most of the top of their heads.
Speaker 2: This meant one thing. These falcons were not wild, nor
Speaker 2: were they here on their own. Someone planted them there
Speaker 2: on purpose.
Speaker 4: Well, mister Luke, now what I'm just not sure, Marcus.
Speaker 4: I just know we need to somehow get them out
Speaker 4: of here before they go in for the prey.
Speaker 3: Maybe we need to somehow deter them. Do we have
Speaker 3: anything to draw them away? Hmmm?
Speaker 4: Maybe falcons are usually scared off by shining lights. And
Speaker 4: if only we had some food. That's it.
Speaker 3: That's it, what, Marcus.
Speaker 4: We need two CDs for my car and that old
Speaker 4: bag of beef jerky on my passenger seat. If these
Speaker 4: birds are truly someone's pets, they'll totally go for the
Speaker 4: beef jerky and those CDs they're the perfect reflectors.
Speaker 2: Within minutes, mister Luke had me set up near the
Speaker 2: wood duck nests with my arms stretched out holding a
Speaker 2: CD in each hand. They reflected the sun better than
Speaker 2: the magnifying glass and I had to close my eyes
Speaker 2: they were so bright. Mister Luke set up across the
Speaker 2: street near an old bare field and laid out the
Speaker 2: beef jerky. Just like that, the birds started to circle him,
Speaker 2: and to his surprise, they went straight in for the food.
Speaker 4: Marcus, come over here, hurry, this is something else coming.
Speaker 4: It isn't every day you get to watch something like this.
Speaker 3: I can't believe it's so close to us. But wait,
Speaker 3: why are they staring like that? It's like they're looking
Speaker 3: straight through us.
Speaker 4: I'm not sure, Marcus, but it reminds me of that
Speaker 4: bobcat I told you about, and that doesn't give me
Speaker 4: a good feeling.
Speaker 3: Hey, look at their blinders and their tags both have
Speaker 3: an O and D label on them.
Speaker 4: Marcus, You're right, man, I knew I could count on you.
Speaker 4: That's a genius find.
Speaker 3: It has to mean something. But now, what do we
Speaker 3: do with these these birds?
Speaker 2: The falcons took off faster than I could even count
Speaker 2: to three. They stopped midfeast, turned their heads, and began
Speaker 2: flying in a straight line out of sight. I'd never
Speaker 2: seen anything like it. It's like they were robots or
Speaker 2: answering a call. I had goosebumps all the way back
Speaker 2: to the critter Q, and actually I still get them
Speaker 2: every time I think about those birds. The only thing
Speaker 2: keeping me from running home and locking the door behind
Speaker 2: me at that point was those three letters O, N D.