Local Wildlife Expert, Jeff Wood
My friend Jeff has had all manner of dirty, back-breaking jobs, going back to our high school days when he washed dishes at Shoney’s. Later, he worked in the sewage treatment business, which sometimes required that he stand waist-deep in unimaginably horrible human waste. He’s had to work long night shifts, drive all over town and outside of town, lift heavy things, and sometimes combinations of those things. But it was always for somebody else, and I don’t think it felt very rewarding.
Several years ago, he moved to Miami. It was a logical move. Unless you have an advanced degree or some other special qualification, Gainesville can be a tough place to find work. Plus, Sandi was in Miami.
About that time, Jeff got involved in a business that is far more necessary and profitable in South Florida than it is here: animal removal. In Miami, if somebody has an alligator or large snake in his backyard, or an opossum or raccoon in his attic, he calls a company to get rid of it. Jeff worked for a business that did just that. Still, it was working for someone else, and the boss was getting wealthy while Jeff did the work.
So, Jeff started his own business called Miami Animal Removal, and last week he was on TV. Wednesday night, on a Discovery Channel show called Verminators, Jeff was shown capturing peacocks that were creating a disturbance in a residential area. Even on TV, he seemed just like the Jeff I’ve known for years. Sure, he fell down in slow motion, and a peacock defecated on him, but he was on TV, and he’s doing it for himself.
Filed under: Animals, Friends, Television on August 2nd, 2009
Thanks for the kind words. Our friendship has come a long way since you let me stay for months in your/Steve’s living room with my Chameleons and Monitor lizard.
-Jeff