By Ben Myers, Staff Writer

The natural world is full of splendor, mystery and passion, and serenity in nature is a common human experience. Why, then, do subjects involving environmental science, biology and other things ending in “ology” tend to bounce off the collective skull of the masses? Why, for those of us who aren’t scientists, is it so much easier, or preferable, to feel science than to know it? And must these spiritual and intellectual realms be so irreconcilable?

Lee Hales doesn’t think so. The Slidell resident is dedicating his life to disseminating factual scientific information. But he aims to reach people through the soul, trusting that the information will trickle up to the brain. That is, he tells stories.

“I could stand in front of people and spout ‘this is the chinchilla,’” Hales says. “But if I can show behavior and relate to them, the story is as important as the facts.”

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Lee’s Wild Kingdom

National TV career grows for Slidell naturalist with unexpected variety of animal and ‘monster’ programs

By KEVIN CHIRI
SLIDELL — Lee Hales wants to make it clear. He is a serious environmental scientist and expedition naturalist.

While that may sound like a mouthful, the Slidell resident makes it well understood that he takes his science very seriously.

But then there are things like: “Piranhas in the Ozark Waterways!”, “MonsterQuest: Hunt for the Chupacabra!!”, “Bigfoot on A&E’s ‘Legend Hunters!’”, “MonsterQuest: Bull Sharks in the Great Lakes!!” and “Mastadon Hunting in New York!!”

Hales smiles and gives his head a little shake back and forth.
“When I first started getting asked to do these things, I was a little hesitant, since I don’t want to get a reputation of not taking science seriously, since I really do,” he said. “I like the TV, but I would like to get away from doing anything that stretches the truth.”

Nonetheless, Hales is definitely getting a reputation, and it’s hardly anything to be embarrassed about.

Since he began incorporating animals into his work at the Buffalo Zoo, in his first job out of college when he became a tour guide, his career is steadily taking off into the national spotlight.

While at Buffalo, his work with animals started bringing the local TV hosts to the zoo for the familiar morning show episodes, creating something like “Lee Hales and the Buffalo Zoo.”

A few of the right doors opened with some opportunities over the next few years, and suddenly, Hales was finding himself on national cable channels like A&E, the National Geographic Channel, the Travel Channel, the Learning Channel and more.

His national exposure is turning him into the modern-day Marlin Perkins—famous for spectacular animal shows years ago with ‘The Wild Kingdom,’—even if the networks are still sensationalizing some of the story-lines. And for that matter, it’s questionable how real some of the creatures are that Hales has been sent into the wilderness to find.

While he has found it fascinating to get sent all over the world for different shoots, it pushes the limits of his real interest as a professional zoologist.

“I love bringing exotic places into our homes,” he said. “I love seeing people really appreciate learning, but I want to maintain a good stewardship with what we are doing. Still, the last trip I took went to a place that TV cameras have never been before, and it was quite interesting.”

His first experience on the big stage came in 2005 when the A&E network used him on a series called “Legend Hunters,” which carries stories of various kinds, including anything from animals to the Holy Grail.

This piece was to investigate whether the legend of Bigfoot was real or not, and became one of the highest rated shows ever on A&E. Hales was sent to the Louisiana-Texas border to talk to people who claimed to have seen Bigfoot numerous times.

“These people are hard core,” Hales said. “They told us dozens of stories of seeing Bigfoot, and even of Bigfoot playing with little Bigfoot babies. They take it very seriously.”

Needless to say, Hales was unable to locate Bigfoot himself, although the show was a smash hit, and has been shown dozens of times over the years. That broadcast got Hales noticed, since he has a subtle, yet professional demeanor on air, as someone who comes across as a real expert on the subjects he has been sent to find.

In 2007, he was contacted by the History Channel to work on a series they had dubbed “MonsterQuest,” making it clear right from the title that it might flirt with the irrational.

This “documentary” was seeking facts about Chucacabra, a coyote like creature which has reportedly been sited in the Texas area. Legend has it that the Chucacabra originated in Puerto Rico, more as a large frog type creature with red eyes, that sucks the blood from goats. Somehow, that even Hales can’t explain anymore than others, the legend jumped to the Texas area and Chucacabra became a dog or coyote looking animal that was hairless, or similar to an animal with severe mange.

He was sent to Texas for three days, where he did interviews with people who claimed to have their chickens killed, with the blood sucked out of them. They did one segment with a woman who had the carcass of a reported Chucacabra in her freezeer, displayed completely for the camera, although still inconclusive to confirm the legend.

“In the end, I kind of think maybe it was possums killing the chickens, but you never could tell for sure,” he said.

The Chucacabra show was another of the History Channel’s highest rated shows that also got a lot of repeat play, putting Hales’ face on the TV for many other producers to notice.

He was contacted in 2008 by the History Channel again, this time about the reported siting of bull sharks in the Great Lakes. Part of that show involved an expedition Hales led into the Atchafalaya Basin near Lafayette, looking for the sharks.

Most recently late in 2009, Hales had one of his most interesting adventures when he got a call to head an expedition to Suriname, South America, in conjunction with a story about piranhas that had reportedly been sited in the waters around the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas.

He spent nine days on the trip into the mountainous, rain forest area of South America.

“After we got our interpreter—and this was for just three of us, the producer, camerman and myself—we headed for a village that cameras had supposedly never been at ever before. We drove three hours into the interior of the rain forest, where the road ended. Then we got on a boat and went nine hours upstream to find this small village,” he explained.

Piranhas were common in those waterways, and he said that his job was to try and catch some with a regular fishing pole. He spent two days pulling piranhas out of the water, and couldn’t help but notice village women wading into the same water where he was fishing, as they did their washing. The fish he caught, shown on camera, had very large teeth that clearly were the reason for villagers being maimed.

“Villagers there are missing fingers and toes because piranhas have just bitten them off. They are a big breed, up to 12 inches long or more,” he said about the fish. “And they can bite your finger off at the knuckle.”

When Hales got out of college, he had his first adventure in New York, when he was involved in a slightly more serious quest for bones of a mastadon.

“A farmer was digging a pond in New York and found a tusk the size of a tractor,” Hales said. “So I got to be part of that dig.”

After his stint at the Buffalo Zoo, Hales continued his adventuresome life by accepting a position as a tour guide at Yosemite National Park, where he not only led groups of people on tours, but also helped his share of celebrities.

“We would get calls from famous people who wanted one-on-one tours into the park, so they could have some privacy,” he said. “I remember taking Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston, Shania Twain and plenty of others up there.”

That also built on his television career since he constantly had film crews from California coming to Yosemite to do stories.

He met his wife Karen while in school in Buffalo, then the two traveled out west, before he followed her to the New Orleans area, when she was offered the job as public relations director for the former Delta Queen Steamboat Company. Karen Hales is now Public and Media Relations Manager for Slidell Memorial Hospital.

“I didn’t go into zoology to be on TV,” Hales said. “But doors were opened and I’ve taken advantage of some opportunities to do some very interesting things. I have a passion for this material, and in the end, shows about animals will teach people to care for them, and care about them. That is a good thing.”

His newest feature on the piranhas will air in the new History Channel “MonsterQuest” series which is starting in the coming weeks.

Forget Jeff Corwin. Slidell’s got Lee Hales, its very own traveling wildlife expert.
Describing exactly what he does for a living can be a bit tricky, however.

A naturalist isn’t one specific science,  said Hales. “Geology is my foundation, but what I do incorporates sciences, from animal behaviorism and  paleontology to astronomy and meteorology.”

'Hunt for the Chupacabra'

Hales said he knew from the time he was a child he wanted to work in the outdoors. Born  in Manhattan, he  soon moved to upstate New York. He grew up next to a stream, where he would spend his time watching  all forms of wildlife and wondering  what they were doing.

An early childhood idol was Marlin Perkins, host of “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.” The long-running television show followed a format still in use today, to build a story around the challenges faced by the host and his crew as researchers studied animals in their natural habitat.

Hales loved the show. It stayed with him as he grew older, and when he enrolled at the State University of New York he decided to major in earth sciences. A lifelong fan of dinosaurs, he also minored in paleontology.

“At the end of my senior year , I was the first one  ever to argue with their  student adviser that there has to be some more classes I can take!” he said, adding… “you  have no idea how many credits I have,  I liked college.”

The avid student got a job with the Buffalo Museum of Science, where he started doing presentations to back up the exhibits. It was there Hales got his first media exposure, as he began appearing on the news and morning talk shows as a museum spokesperson.

During this time he began studying for a Certificate in science education and  took a student office.  It was there he met his future wife, Karen, who occupied the office next door as editor of the school paper.

Hales went on to work at the Buffalo Zoo, where he became a zoology instructor at the zoo’s on-site Science Magnet School as well as an animal handler and trainer. He conducted presentations that incorporated some of the zoo’s residents, from prairie dogs to skunks.

Hales also assisted in early a distance-learning programs, doing remote presentations to outlying schools.

“It was a good way to bring kids to the zoo who otherwise couldn’t make the trip,” he said.

From there, Hales and his wife headed west after he was offered a job at Yosemite National Park in California.

He spent three years there, working under National Park Service guidelines to develop public programs on natural and cultural history to audiences of between 200 and 600 visitors. His topics ranged from indigenous wildlife and peoples to the architecture of historic landmarks, such as the park’s Ahwahnee Hotel.

In each presentation, he took great care to involve audience members and various objects, such as a bear hide or Native American artifacts.

“The idea was to present enough information to instill stewardship, to make people care about the natural world and how their actions affect it,” said Hales.

Hales also served on the park’s Bear Council. Prior to his arrival, the park was experiencing hundreds of campsite break-ins by foraging bears. Park Wildlife Rangers realized that educating the public on things like how to store food and other items, such as toiletries, could help alleviate the problem. Hales was instrumental in getting the word out nightly through public presentations during a critical time for the program.  Once the public education program was full instituted, the number of break-ins dropped drastically.

While at Yosemite, Hales started  appearing in documentaries, serving as a guide for the National Geographic Channel’s “Secret Yosemite.” Others followed for PBS, the Travel Channel and the Learning Channel.

Relocation came again in 2003, when Karen had an opportunity to take over public relations at the former Delta Queen Steamboat Co., and the couple moved to Slidell. Hales spent some time working for the Stennis Space Center museum then found out about the Insta-Gator Ranch, the alligator farm and hatchery located in Covington.

He went to work as a tour guide, also participating in field collection of alligator eggs. He had been there for a year when Hurricane Katrina hit.

“I didn’t do anything for the year after Katrina except rebuild my house, but I was lucky I had something to rebuild,” he said. “One employee who totally lost his home lived on the floor of the Insta-Gator gift shop for several months to keep the operation going.”

Shortly after moving to Slidell, he met Ken Gerhard, a part-time musician who was staying with friends when his band passed through New Orleans. Gerhard’s main calling is crypto-zoology, or the study of hidden animals, and he was preparing to film an episode on Bigfoot for A&E’s “Legend Hunters.” The series explored iconic legends and employed people going in search of the unexplained. Gerhard invited Hales to join the expedition.

Since then he’s gone on to serve as wildlife expert for the History Channel’s “MonsterQuest: Hunt for the Chupacabra,” which began airing in July. The show followed a team of researchers on a search for a mysterious reptile-like beast reportedly killing hundreds of farm animals in Puerto Rico and Texas.

He served as expedition leader for another MonsterQuest episode to air later this year (08), “ Shark in Illinois” investigating sightings of bull sharks as far north as Illinois.

Hales’ colorful career has taken him down many paths, all of which he said have helped him look at things from different perspective. To him, it validates the idea of staying close to one’s childhood dreams.

“I get really excited about this stuff, like going outside at night and listening to the frogs and insects,” he said. ” I want to share that exciment;  It’s why I truly enjoy doing what I do.”