Veterinarian Dr. Peter Batts has cared for the wildlife of Mercer County, New Jersey, for 30 years. He is a volunteer, donating his time and supplies to help wildlife.
So, when a reporter recently asked if I knew of an “everyday hero,” someone who quietly worked to make his community better, I mentioned him instantly.
Dr. Batts opened his vet practice 30 years ago, in downtown Trenton. He is in the middle of a low-income neighborhood. What we call “projects” -- cement block apartment buildings put up by the government for the poor and homeless -- are one block away. It was a tough neighborhood when he moved in, and it hasn’t gotten better.
Dr. Batts has a second practice in upscale, respectable Frenchtown. He could have moved his work to Frenchtown fulltime. Or he could have moved his practice near his home, in rural and lovely Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
But the people of the inner city needed a veterinarian. So, he stayed there.
The Mercer County Wildlife Center is about half way between his two practices. He stops there several times a week, spending time examining a hawk with a broken wing or a litter of tiny rabbits that lost their mother and must be tube fed.
One case involved an Indiana bat -- important because they are going extinct. Its wing was broken -- unfortunately, by wildlife handlers who put a heavy band on it so they could track it. It fell to the ground and its wing was broken -- the kiss of death to an animal that lives only in the air. Dr. Batts used a fine hypodermic needle to make a pin for its wing. He inserted both ends of the break and hoped for the best. Two months later, a wildlife volunteer opened its cage and the bat sailed out -- healed and flying again.
There was a fox who had a fractured femur and tibia that looked irreparable and required complex surgery. Dr. Batts said, “The greatest pleasure I had was going with the person who released it back into the wild. She opened the cage and the fox walked out, not even limping. He looked around at us and then he was gone. He just melted back into the brush. I felt so good about the way he just disappeared. He was back where he was supposed to be, doing what he was supposed to do.”
Then there was the Northern Flicker, a ground dwelling woodpecker that was ill. The Redtail Hawk that a careless hunter shot. The Merlin, a small predatory falcon whose humerus was shattered into many parts. “I told Diane (the center director) that this bird will never be releasable. It might live, but it would never fly.” He laughs. “It was last seen flying north, gaining height at a great clip.”
One of his veterinary clients, Abby Coles, said, “He is a shy example of a person who sees his mission and does it. That’s inspiring to me, that quiet peace he has from following his mission.”
My dogs are his clients. He has taught me to pay attention to little things you can do for animals to help them. He has shown me that one person’s determination can pull an animal through a bad illness or injury. He is an everyday hero to me, and to many people.
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