A major figure in Dallas' animal rescue world has died: Kathy Rogers, who rescued and rehabitated thousands of birds in the Dallas area, passed away on April 9. She was 73.

Rogers was founder of The Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, an animal facility at Samuel Farm in Mesquite, which she built into the largest not-for-profit avian rehabilitation center in North Texas. The center provided top notch care for more than 5000 wounded and abandoned birds brought there every year.

Rogers and her wildlife center had followers from around the world who cherished her dedicated service to birds, including some that became famous, such as the sick orphaned barn owl named Pearl that Rogers lovingly brought back to life and re-released into the wild.

Rogers Wildlife Center also figured prominently in a 2022 documentary called Honk - A True Story, about a goose that was abandoned at Turtle Creek.

Rogers was known by her outward beauty, infectious laugh, dry sense of humor, and her generous heart and compassion for all creatures great and small. A lifelong lover of animals, she worked for the Dallas Zoo and consulted at the Dallas Aquarium and Busch Gardens, among many others, before going on to found RWRC in 1989.

RWRC's focus is on birds but Kathy helped other abandoned species that were brought to the center. For animals that could not be released, it was not uncommon for them to end up at Kathy's home as part-time or sometimes permanent companions.

Animals were given charming nicknames such as "Tom and Eddy" the Turkeys, stories that she shared on social media in a touching yet whimsical tone.

For example, about the two unlikely birds that became friends during the pandemic, she wrote:

"Clearly, there is no social distancing with these two best friends. Last September we got a baby Peacock. That is really late for Peacocks. They usually hatch in May. So now we had a lonely baby with no comfort companion. The very next day, Animal Control came in with a baby Turkey. How random was that? We just don't get many baby Turkeys, ever. Of course we put them together. Ever since that day, these two have been inseparable. If one wanders out of the other ones sight, there is mass panic and calling. I just love that once again, two wayward souls in need of love and comfort made their way to our place."Kathy Rogers releases Pearl the barn owl.Kathy Rogers

Volunteers past and present, who'd been inspired by her welcoming nature and commitment, expressed their condolences on Facebook, and the post about her passing drew comments from other rehabbers and bird fans across the U.S.

"Such sad news. I’ve taken birds to you and have followed her on Facebook for years. Her compassion, knowledge, and dedication to saving wild birds and housing those that couldn’t be returned to the wild was unrivaled. She will be missed but her mission will live on. Thank you, Kathy, for all that you did."

"The loss of Kathy is a tremendous loss to the bird world. Her expert care saved many birds that would otherwise have perished."

"The DFW area lost a great resource warrior and I pray her work continues as we need it and especially all the birds that are part of our lives."

"As a fellow licensed wildlife rehabber, I can't begin to express the sadness and huge hole that now fills our community. Kathy was a true pioneer and advocate for all wildlife. What a beautiful legacy she's leaving. Thank you Kathy for helping the thousands of lives critical to our ecosystems a leaving this earth a better place. You will be missed.I came across Kathy and her sanctuary through following Honk the Goose and was so happy that Honk had an amazing home in his latter days."

The team at the wildlife center say they'll continue to operate the facility and provide a resource for animal lovers who find a sick bird, squirrel, turtle, or other fauna in their yard or on city streets.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Benjamin and Harriet Fillmore, and brother Benjamin Fillmore. She is survived by sisters Jeanne Larson and Bitsy Lee, son Patrick Rogers, grandson Ethan Rogers, two nieces, and a nephew. Information about and donations to the Center can be made at: https://rogerswildlife.org.

Gregg Hudson, the president and CEO of the Dallas Zoo has died. According to a post on the zoo's Facebook page, he passed away after a "brief but valiant battle" with cancer. He was 64.

The post further says that he passed away late last week.

"He was a friend and a mentor to so many, not only here in Dallas, but across the country and around the world," the post said.

Hudson was the Dallas Zoo’s president and CEO since 2006, and led the zoo through the creation of a public/private partnership with the city of Dallas in 2009.

He also served on the national board of directors for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), as well as on the boards of Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund (Rwanda) and the Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education Center (Democratic Republic of the Congo).

Prior to the Dallas Zoo, Gregg spent 10 years as Executive Director and CEO of the Fort Worth Zoo; then more than five years as the President and CEO of the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden; before returning to the DFW area to lead the Dallas Zoo.

During his tenure, the zoo opened the 11-acre "Giants of the Savanna" habitat in May 2010.

He was also an instrumental figure in the Dallas Zoo's 2016 removal of 18 elephants from Swaziland, in partnership with the Sedgwick County Zoo in Kansas, and Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo in Nebraska — a move that drew condemnation from conservationists around the world. One elephant died in the process.

The attention inspired an international organization to enact a resolution banning African elephants caught in the wild from being sold and shipped to countries outside of Africa.

Only recently, Hudson was in the public eye when he appeared at a press conference on January 23, following a series of incidents at the zoo, including a clouded leopard getting out of its cage, the death of a vulture, and two tamarin monkeys that were taken from the zoo, then recovered; a man has since been arrested.

The family requests that donations be made to the Dallas Zoo or to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.

Another animal has died at the Dallas Zoo, this time a vulture, found dead under what the zoo called "unusual" circumstances in the Wilds of Africa habitat.

UPDATE 1-23-2023: The Zoo held a press conference on Monday afternoon in which they identified the bird as Pin, a lappet-faced vulture who they say had a wound, which they did not elaborate on. They're offering a $10,000 reward for any information. The bird, which was at least 35 years old, had been at the Dallas Zoo for 33 years.

It's the latest in a long-running series of animal deaths at the zoo, more than a dozen in the past 10 years.

The Zoo said the death does not appear to be from natural causes, and they would surely be correct. Animals do not survive or thrive in captivity.

“Given the recent incidents at the Zoo, we alerted the Dallas Police Department,” their statement said. “We cannot share many details until Dallas PD has had more time to look into this matter.”

The "recent incidents" the zoo is referring to is the January 13th escape of a clouded leopard, which the zoo blamed on a mysterious tear in the leopard's enclosure, with a suggestion that another cage had a tear, as well.

Their unspoken implication seems to be that the vulture death is somehow related.

A statement from the DPD says that "on January 21, Dallas Police responded to the Dallas Zoo following a report of a dead vulture. The preliminary investigation determined the bird was found dead in its enclosure. The cause of death has not been determined at this time, but the death is being investigated as suspicious. A necropsy will be conducted on the bird."

When asked what made the death suspicious, a DPD spokesperson referred questions to Allyn Media, the high-profile Dallas agency known for managing crises and wealthy people things.

The leopard's escape made national news, morphing from the initial report that the leopard was missing to far-fetched leaps such as this FOX video claiming "Person purposefully let leopard loose at Dallas zoo: Officials said." (That is not what officials said. The actual quote was: "This wasn't something the cat did, it wasn't something a keeper did in error, and it wasn't a failure of the mesh.”)

This video is titled "Dallas Zoo Vigilante?" and Townhall ran a factually-incorrect story saying that "Multiple Breaches at the Dallas Zoo Allowed Some Animals to Make a Break For It."

"Is someone letting animals out at the Dallas Zoo?" asks this sensational piece, which begins, "It sounds crazy, but some think there may be a saboteur at the Dallas Zoo," quoting ex-Ohio-cop and media hound Tim Harrison. They're right, it does sound crazy.

“ALF, the Animal Liberation Front, will sometimes come in and do these things as you know, terrorists; we call them basically eco-terrorists,” Harrison says, before name-dropping PETA.

ALF has no affiliation with PETA, is not an organization per se, and has never had a presence in Dallas. Regarding animal activists in Dallas, there is a Facebook page in Dallas left over from the old days of protests against Ringling Circus. There's also a tiny group of about three people who've regularly protested sales of puppies at the Petland in Plano, and the occasional sign-holding protest over fur or foie gras.

According to a 2019 post on their website, the Dallas Zoo cares for eight vulture species, several of which are breeding pairs.

That an outside party could be involved in this vulture's death seems surprising considering the fact that the zoo itself just installed additional surveillance cameras and increased their overnight security patrols.

Death count
The most recent deaths at the zoo were a trio of giraffes who all died in October 2021.

The vulture joins this list of animals who've died at the Dallas Zoo:

• Jesse, a 14-year-old giraffe, died on October 29, 2021, cause unknown.
• Auggie, a 19-year-old giraffe, died in late October 2021 of liver failure.
• Marekani, a 3-month-old baby giraffe, sustained a mysterious injury and was euthanized on October 3, 2021.
• Kirk, a 31-year-old chimpanzee, died in August 2021 due to "surprise" heart disease.
• Keeya, a 6-year-old Hartmann's mountain zebra, died in March 2021 due to a mysterious unexplained head injury.
• Subira, a 24-year-old silverback gorilla, died suddenly in March 2020, due to a cough, or maybe cardiovascular disease.
• Hope, a 23-year-old Western lowland gorilla, died suddenly in November 2019 after being at the zoo for only two years.
• Ola, an 8-year-old female African painted dog, was killed in July 2019 by two other painted dogs, less than a month after she was transferred to the zoo.
• Witten, a 1-year-old giraffe, died in June 2019 during a physical exam under anesthesia when he suddenly stopped breathing.
• Adhama, a baby hippopotamus, mysteriously died in 2018.
• Kipenzi, a baby giraffe, died in 2015 after running in her enclosure.
• Kamau, a young cheetah, died of pneumonia in 2014.
• Johari, a female lion, was killed in front of zoo spectators in 2013 by male lions with whom she shared an enclosure.