Inquiry: BIRDS, BEASTS & BUREAUCRATS: A NATURALIST ON A CARIBBEAN ISLAND

HERBERT A. RAFFAELE has been engaged in wildlife conservation in the Caribbean for over 35 years and has authored two important field guides to the area. He also spent some time as a naturalist for the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources and his new book BIRDS, BEASTS & BUREAUCRATS: A NATURALIST ON A CARIBBEAN ISLAND is his fascinating memoir of those years. For Herb it was a time of exhilarating discoveries of new breeding species, as he wrote the definitive guide to the birds of that island. But it was also a time of frustration working for a bureaucracy that was under funded, understaffed and that sometimes had crazy ideas about natural resource management. Like the plan to introduce hippos to control water plants!