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'I knew I had to change' | Falconry saves DC man from life of drugs and violence

Now, Rodney Stotts is using his passion to help kids stay off the streets.

LAUREL, Md. — Birds of prey are typically seen as predators to the animals below, but they ended up saving the life of one D.C. man.

Rodney Stotts grew up in what he calls "the ghetto" of southeast Washington in the early 70's and 80's. 

"Got into a little trouble here and there ... when the crack epidemic and everything really first hit the District, I decided I want to be a hustler, so got into that whole dumb drug life," Stotts said. "Then, you end up going to funerals, and getting shot and stabbed and robbed.”

About 14 years later, he ended up in jail for about five months. That moment marked a turning point in Stott's life.

“You’re not the mistakes you make, unless you keep going back, so I knew I wanted to change," he said. "I knew I had to change.”

He turned to his love of animals and the non-profit he helped start in the 1990's, Earth Conservation Corps. Stotts said he realized the money he could make selling drugs wasn't worth the years it would steal from his life.

He decided to devote himself fully to helping the injured raptors, the term for birds of prey.

“The raptors we have are all non-releasable birds, meaning they can never hunt, so if you look at a young person who’s locked up and [whose] basically future is determined because of a few mistakes that they made early on, you start looking at it like a bird," said Stotts. "They’re injured for life, just like the youth, they’re wounded for life.”

He wanted to develop a program that allowed young people to nurture young birds, before either of them got into trouble. So, he founded Rodney's Raptors.

The program introduces children to caring for animals as a way to keep them out of jail.

Credit: Jess Arnold
Rodney Stotts, founder of a program to introduce kids to birds of prey, holds his Harris Hawk, named Agnes.

Now, he said he's teaching them as one of about 30 master falconers in the entire country, a prestigious title that takes seven years to earn. He received his certificate in 2017.

For Stotts, falconry is more than a hobby, it is a way of life.

“One of the major things it did for me was gave me a chance to look at myself and realize what I wanted to do and who I wanted to become," he said.

Now, he has become a person who helps others, instead of hurts them.

"When I look in the mirror, I'm happy at the person who's looking back," he said.

Credit: Jess Arnold
Agnes, a Harris Hawk, perches on a wooden ladder. Her owner, Rodney Stotts, named her after one of his mentors, who passed away.

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