As this is posted, it would have been Steve Irwin’s 63^rd birthday. As you’ll know, he was passionately devoted to preserving animals and their environments. He and his family worked hard to educate us about the other animals that share our planet. He was a very well-known naturalist and environmentalist, but he’s not the only one with those interests. Many people, including fictional characters, care for animals, guard their habitats, and work to educate people about them. Those characters can be interesting in and of themselves, and animal sanctuaries and preserves, as well as zoos, can be effective settings for stories. Even crime stories.

For example, Edward D. Hoch’s short story Captain Leopold Finds a Tiger tells the story of Jack and Maggie Drummond, who own a small zoo. They care a great deal about the animals that live there, and work to keep them safe. One morning, Maggie’s body is found in the tiger enclosure. At first, the theory is that she accidentally fell into the enclosure and was killed by a tiger. Captain Leopold is assigned to the case and starts asking questions. He soon discovers that there were stab wounds on the victim – wounds that a tiger could not have made. Now it’s clear that someone murdered Maggie and left her body for the tigers. In order for Captain Leopold to find the killer, he’ll have to uncover several secrets about what’s going on at the zoo.

Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon is a National Park Service Ranger. As such, she is responsible for the land and animals in whichever national park she assigned to patrol. She cares deeply about the outdoors and about wildlife, and, as fans know, she has a habit of getting mixed up in murders that take place in those preserves. For instance, in the first Anna Pigeon novel, Track of the Cat, she’s been assigned to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas. When a fellow park ranger is killed, it looks at first as though a mountain lion is responsible. Anna doesn’t think that’s what happened; more than that, she’s worried that the incident will spark an ‘open season’ against the mountain lions she’s supposed to be protecting. So, she starts asking questions. She uncovers some dark things going on in the area and ends up in very real danger as she works to solve the case.

Deon Meyer’s Blood Safari is his first Martin Lemmer novel. In it, Lemmer, who is a professional bodyguard, is hired to protect Emma le Roux as she takes a trip from Cape Town to the Lowveld to find out what happened to her brother Jacobus. It seems he went missing years ago, and it was always assumed that he was killed by poachers, since he worked at Kruger National Park. But Emma doesn’t believe that’s true, since she’s just recently seen him on television. When she and Lemmer get to the Lowveld, they trace Jacobus’ whereabouts from the park where he was last seen and try to find out his fate. It turns out to be an extremely dangerous undertaking as they search for answers. There are several animal preserve settings in the novel, and readers get a glimpse of what’s being done in South Africa and nearby countries to take care of the animals and their habitats.

In Dave Butler’s Full Curl, we meet Jenny Wilson, a game warden stationed in Canada’s Banff National Park. When she discovers a dead elk with missing antlers, she suspects poaching. So, she and her partner, Bill Forsythe, begin an investigation. They don’t get very far, though, because whoever is responsible is good at covering tracks and intimidating anyone who might talk. It’s a full-scale poaching operation, though, and the two game wardens know that there are plenty of wealthy collectors who won’t ask a lot of questions. Together, Jenny and Bill dig into the matter and find that they’re up against wealthy buyers and ruthless poachers. If they’re going to stop the criminals, they’re going to have to use everything they know about the land and the animals that live there. I know, fans of C.J. Box’s Joe Pickett novels. He’s a great game warden and does a lot to preserve the land and animals where he works.

There’s also Betty Webb’s Theodora ‘Teddy’ Bentley. She is a zookeeper at the Gunn Zoo in Central California. While she lives on a houseboat, her real interest is the zoo and the animals that live there. She works hard to keep them safe and to educate visitors about conservation and animal preservation. In The Anteater of Death, the first Teddy Bentley novel, the body of Grayson Herrill is discovered in Lucy the anteater’s enclosure. Teddy’s sure that the anteater isn’t responsible for his death, but she’ll have to find out who the real killer is if she wants to save Lucy. It doesn’t help matters that Sheriff Joe Rejas wants to shut down the zoo for as long as it takes to find the killer.

There are thousands of people who work hard to preserve animals, take care of their habitats, and support the environment. These people do a great deal of good in real life, and they make for interesting characters in fiction. And the settings in which they work can be breathtaking. These are just a few examples. Which ones have stayed with you?

ps. Oh, the photo? I met that wombat at a lovely South Australia animal sanctuary when I visited Australia several years ago.

*NOTE: The title of this post is the title of a song by Neil Young.