Kamloops resident and falconer Jamie Pearce feeds a raptor at the BC Wildlife Park in Kamloops.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Jamie Pearce

Jamie Pearce has been flying birds of prey for audiences at the BC Wildlife Park in Kamloops for over six years in demonstrations that bring awareness of the beauty and importance of different raptor species in the local ecosystem.

He learned the ancient art of falconry while working at the London Zoo decades ago.

“I still remember to this day the first time a bird came down to the glove,” Pearce said. “The bird came out of the tree and glided all the way down and landed gently on my hand and took the reward. My boss said to give my wrist a flick and I did, the bird went back up into the tree. Ever since then I was like ‘this is so cool.’”

Pearce isn’t just passionate about falconry and the birds he takes care of at the park, he has a deep respect for animals of all kinds, including reptiles and insects that can trigger fear in some people.

He has a popcorn spider living inside his house that he feeds crickets and a snake he cares for. He's known at the park for collecting and moving black widow spiders found in the main buildings to safer places. 

“I get radio calls from people who are afraid, to come get black widows,” he said. “Every winter I house a black widow at work in the kitchen, I always find one and its skinny, you can tell because the butts are skinny. We have crickets in the centre for feeding animals so I catch one and throw it in the web and watch her spin it up. If she lays an egg sac, I'll move it to a safe place outside in the spring." 

A popcorn spider hangs in the doorframe in a house in Kamloops.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Jamie Pearce

Pearce believes education can replace fear with appreciation for even the creepiest looking creatures, and he quickly got over any of his own fears about them through learning. 

“Fear of what you don’t know is half of it, I never grew up liking insects the way I do now, I still don’t want spiders crawling across me,” he said. “I was always fascinated by a lot of them. Learning how bees communicate, the little wiggle they do, they wiggle when they get to the hive to tell others the direction to go to get the food, that kind of stuff blew me away.

“Most people are fearful of the unknown, until they realize a spider doesn’t want to attack them.”

Pearce's dad had a snake phobia so he didn’t start learning about snakes until later in life. 

“I couldn’t even say the word 'snake'. I said it one day when we were walking and I’ve never seen him run so fast,” he said. “When I started working with them, I saw they were cool, fantastic animals. Snakes feel cool, they wrap around you and it feels nice. I’ve owned snakes for years.”

He said wildlife has important roles in the environment, and some species don’t get the appreciation they need because of what they look like.

“Growing up you heard about the pandas, the polar bears, the tigers but you don’t hear about the vultures that are critical for the environment.

"When they eat something like salmonella they poop it out and it's gone, they can smell gases coming off a body so they can get down to it before it's rotten, before diseases have a chance to spread.”

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He said vultures have suffered population declines globally for several reasons, while bald eagles in BC suffered in the past due to pesticide use. After DDT was banned the populations bounced back.

“Bald eagles, though a beautiful, iconic bird, is going to get a lot of attention where the bald vultures with poop dripping down its leg isn’t going to get as much attention it needs, but it's just as critical as other species out there."

Falconer Jamie Pearce holds a raptor at the BC Wildlife Park in Kamloops.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Jamie Pearce

Pearce grew up exploring the outdoors around a small lake in Peterborough, Ontario and always knew he wanted to pursue a career working with animals.

“I was out fishing, and catching snakes and frogs,” he said. “My dad was an outdoorsman who loved hunting and fishing, my mom loves nature.”

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Unable to get high enough grades in calculus in high school to get into veterinary studies, Pearce took animal biology at university, where he realized he wanted to learn more about exotic animals. He started working at a pet shop, then at an exotic pet shop where the staff were all interested in reptiles and exotics.

He later landed a job at the Indian River Reptile Zoo just outside Peterborough doing educational shows for the public, holding up a snake, a tortoise and a small alligator. He wasn’t afraid of holding reptiles, it was the public speaking that challenged him.

“Some of the top phobias in the world are public speaking, snakes and spiders so I literally would make jokes to people that I was killing all the number one fears,” he said. “Once I realized I could speak in front of crowd, I started doing outreach programs with the zoo so you go to schools and do talks there, so I just built up my confidence with public speaking.”

He then worked at the London Zoo in England where he was trained in falconry.

Learning the behaviours of animals isn’t all it takes to work with them, patience is a big factor.

“I have zero patience for humans,” he joked. “But animals are different. You have to be calm, patience is key. If you have a nice, calm demeanour they pick up on that. Birds get wound up and upset without a calm demeanour.”

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Roughly a decade ago, Pearce moved back to Canada where he worked at the Calgary Zoo for a couple of years before taking the falconer position at BC Wildlife Park.

“I put a microphone on and fly birds over the audience, I use at least three of four birds for that,” he said. “It’s about bird health, education and birds being an ambassador for their species. It’s important for young people to get excited about animals and being out there, if you can find a couple of kids that appreciate nature instead of their iPads.”

Kamloops falconer Jamie Pearce holds a burrowing owlet named Remington who became an ambassador for its species at the BC Wildlife Park.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Jamie Pearce

The park has a breeding and release program to help increase populations of the endangered burrowing owl. A burrowing owl that was an educational ambassador for its species at the park died of old age last year, so a new one was chosen.

“An older breeding couple had a baby that wasn’t doing well, I brought him home and hand fed him,” he said. “We had a bunch of us do that, so when the owl was imprinted, it’s not stuck on a boy or a girl or someone with a beard.”

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Pearce continues to advocate for all species of animals inside and outside of his job where he can be found exploring nature and gold panning on local creeks. 

“Some people think animals don’t have personalities or feelings, but every single animal has its own individual personality, even the spider in my kitchen,” he said. “In today’s world that lack so much empathy and simple basic caring, it’s like nature just deserves every chance it gets.”

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