USFSP senior Kayleigh Hoyt holds an injured red-tailed hawk at the George C. McGough Nature Park in Largo. She volunteers at the Avian Veteran Alliance program, which facilitates therapy for veterans diagnosed with PTSD by pairing them with wounded birds of prey.
The Avian Veteran Alliance offers an alternative stress-reduction therapy
If someone told Kaleigh Hoyt three years ago that she would become an avid bird watcher, she would have responded with, “No, that’s for old people with too much time on their hands.”
But now the USF St. Petersburg senior volunteers at the George C. McGough Nature Park in Largo with Avian Veterans Alliance, a program she co-piloted in the spring.
The AVA seeks to lower stress and anxiety levels for veterans who live with post-traumatic stress disorder by pairing them with disabled birds of prey. It is an addition to an existing program that specializes in caring for wounded raptors like owls, eagles and hawks.
The AVA’s founder Patrick Bradley, is a Vietnam veteran who was diagnosed with PTSD in 1968. His son also suffered from the disorder after 17 years of service.
When Bradley discovered the calming effect the raptor program had on his son, he was inspired to start the alliance.
“He was a basket case,” Bradley told TBN Weekly. “I said, ‘Look, just grab a bird, go for a walk, try to relax.’ Then another gentleman who found me at the Saturday market knew we were accepting volunteers, and he happened to be an outpatient at a PTSD study at Bay Pines (Medical Center.) My son also was a patient there. So I told him, ‘Just grab a bird and go for a walk.’”
Unlike other PTSD therapies, AVA facilitates a “non-committal” setting where veterans are welcome to watch and handle the birds, or simply go for a walk around the park, according to Hoyt, 23.
“Birds are holistic biofeedback animals. They react strongly to your emotional or arousal state,” she said. “It’s alternative vet care that stems far beyond prescription medication.”
In a partnership with the AVA, Bay Pines transports veterans to and from the park twice a week to work with the birds. Bradley also brings the raptors to the center once a month.
The veterans usually start with screech owls because they’re small and not apt to hurt their handlers. Hoyt said “graduation” is handling a bald eagle.
“Can you imagine? A veteran and a bald eagle.”
Birds are the focus of the program, but Hoyt said veterans are free to wander the park as they please, citing a stress-free environment.
“It’s about helping them get back to nature, back to civilian life. From being inpatients to outpatients. They get good exposure to nature that is very non-threatening compared to being in a jungle oversees.”
Although Hoyt has always had a passion for animals —from training dolphins, to working at a wolf preservation in Tallahassee— she originally “hated birds.”
“One day my supervisor was sitting there with a bald eagle. Within a week I was hooked.”
Hoyt will graduate with what she considers some of the best experiences, and said she hopes to join USF’s neuroanthropology program.
Mongolia is at the top of Hoyt’s travel list, where she dreams of conducting fieldwork and studying the origins of falconry and golden eagles.
“I love birds. They’re inherently wild.”
