Intro 0:00
Welcome to the Naturally Healthy Pets podcast. Let's get to it.
Dr. Judy Morgan 0:05
Hello everyone. I'm Dr Judy Morgan, and you are listening to Dr Judy Morgan's Naturally Healthy Pets podcast. My guest today inspires me. Dr Rick LeCouteur is from Australia. Based on a childhood spent immersed in the rustic charm of rural Australia, Rick's love for animals blossomed into a lifelong career as a veterinarian, educator and advocate for animal well being. Currently as Director of Education for a company dedicated to introducing people to the wonders of wildlife in remote locations, Rick shares his love and knowledge of animals with enthusiasts of all ages. Through the telling of stories crafted to inspire love, understanding and advocacy for wildlife, Rick's journey has evolved beyond clinics and teaching into the enchanting realm of children's literature. And I love this because I've actually written a few children's books, but I can't get my husband to illustrate them. So if you'd all like to put in the comments, hey, Hue, do the illustrations. Maybe I'll get somewhere.
Dr. Judy Morgan 1:15
So Dr, Rick, thank you so much for agreeing to be on and before we got started, we were talking a little bit about how you started writing children's books. So tell our audience how you started doing this, because I think, I think it's amazing.
Dr. Rick LeCouteur
It's great to be here. Dr Judy, and welcome to all your listeners. So I was a veterinarian from the age of six and retired in 2015
Dr. Rick LeCouteur 1:44
and spent more time with my grandchildren, just like you, Dr. Judy, and during that time with my grandchildren, I realized that they had a rather biased view of the natural world. They saw penguins driving motor cars and eating pizza and living in houses, and when I quizzed them about
Dr. Rick LeCouteur 2:07
the real habitat of penguins, they were a little bit deficient. So so I determined I would write books for them that were more authentic or realistic versus the whimsical. And so started to write books for them, and the rest is history. It's gone on. I want to share my books now with as many young readers as I possibly can, because I think the next generation, your grandchild and mine, will be the stewards of the environment, the keepers of biodiversity, and they'll be the ones taking care of our planet, no matter what we leave them in the way of a planet that's much in need of attention. So that was my motivation. It's still my motivation, and I can't tell you what a brilliant expenditure of my time, it has become. I was a very busy specialist neurologist and neurosurgeon for many, many years, retired and started to do what I really wanted to do, which is write and take photographs of wildlife and illustrate books. So, Hue, if you're listening, I'm sure you can do a lot better job of illustrating children's books than I can, and we need to chat.
Dr. Judy Morgan 3:34
Yeah, he started out as an architect, and he's a retired architect, so he's he's great at designing houses. He designed our house. And so we've been together for 17 years, and I've been begging him to do paintings for me, because his he does pen and inks that are just amazing, and he'll just pick up a book and just start doodling and make these amazing things. And I'm like, Okay, well, I want artwork on the walls, and he just absolutely has refused. And finally,
Dr. Judy Morgan 4:03
maybe about a year and a half ago, I got a painting, and now he's been doing a lot of watercolors and just dabbling with different things. So now he makes like, all my birthday cards and anniversary cards and stuff. So I finally have gotten him to actually finish something on paper. So I might, I might be in a better place.
Dr. Rick LeCouteur
Things are moving in the right direction.
Dr. Judy Morgan
They are. They are. He's at least letting me see some artwork. So I think this is fascinating. And you know, first of all, neurology and neurosurgery, oh my gosh. You know, that's one of those jokes that you tell like this. It's, it's not brain surgery, and you actually do that. So Wow.
Dr. Rick LeCouteur 4:40
Yeah, I was an academic veterinarian for most of my life, teaching students and residents and interns, and learned more from all of them than I ever taught them, I can honestly say, but it was a wonderful career, but it was time when I hit my mid 60s to do something else, and I don't like the word retirement very much. Dr Judy, I think you will agree with me, based on our conversations, that retirement should be replaced, erased from our language, and replaced with starting over, because I think that's what is most exciting.
Dr. Judy Morgan
And I think, I think we have to start over, otherwise, what are you going to do sit home and twiddle my thumbs? So this is my retirement. When I retired from clinics, I was like, Woohoo. I'm retired in 2020, and so, you know, I was like, I'm never going to have payroll again. I don't have, I don't have to worry about employees. And now, Naturally Healthy Pets, has about 15 employees.
Dr. Judy Morgan 5:46
We've grown into this huge company. I'm like, Oh, well, so much for that retirement.
Dr. Rick LeCouteur
yeah, but it's so important what you're doing and and what your company is doing. And I applaud you for all that. And we've had conversations about this, you and I, and I'm totally on, on board with, uh, alternative approaches, or complementary approaches to traditional care. I think there's room for all of that. And just as there is hopefully room for me in the in the world of children's picture books.
Dr. Judy Morgan
Well, there's, there's so many out there, and I can tell you that my granddaughter, oh my gosh, the number of books that that child has. My mother, her great grandmother, was a reading specialist and taught first grade for over 30 years. So you know, books are pretty important in our world, my mother, she's gonna be 87 are you say 87 or 88?
Dr. Judy Morgan 6:46
Okay, she's going to be 88 soon, and she reads about a book every two days, like big novels. She's just, you know, reading is just something. I was the kid growing up. I would read with a flashlight under the covers, you know, and try to hide from my parents. And my favorite Christmas gifts were, you know, the whole series of books. Oh, like, I got number 99 in the series. This is awesome. And so reading has just been huge for us. And you know, now I've become an author, and I've written eight books, but they're all like, you know, medically, holisticy things. And I would just love to get into the world of the children's books as well, because you are right. There are studies that I have read where they take kids from the inner city who have never been to a farm and they've never seen a farm animal, and, you know, they say to them, Well, how big is a cow? And they're like, oh, a cow's like, you know, this big, it fits on the picture book page. You know? They think a cow is about four inches tall, and, you know? So then when they go, they get out of the city and they go, actually see a real live cow, it's like, oh, you know. And wow, look at that. The cow can't drive a car, and the penguin can't drive a car. And so I think you're right. And I have bought a lot of particularly when I go on vacation to fun places like Yellowstone, and we did a out west Canyon tour this past year. And so in all the gift shops, I was always buying those books for her that had the real animals in them, you know, like they would draw the animals in their real life habitats and talk about, you know, like, I buy picture books that are like, and who does this poop belong to? Oh, that's a raccoon's poop.
Dr. Rick LeCouteur 8:29
Fantastic. You know, well, books, you're an avid reader, and from a family of avid readers, and books are so important, particularly in you've, you've suggested one aspect where kids don't get out into nature like you and I used to. My parents used to say, and your mom can probably identify with this. My parents would say, come back before dark. That was about it. And I was safe out there roaming through the forest and looking for birds and creatures and insects and everything. These days, kids have to be a little bit careful, and so their access to the outdoors is limited. Plus, they've tried to replace that with, of course, screen time, which is a double edged sword as well. I don't want my books to become ebooks. The publicist I work with is very keen that I should do that, but I want my books to be read on a lap or in a bed next to a parent or a teacher or or a carer, and where they can stop and ask questions and point at the pictures, and this balance between authentic and whimsical is really, really important. As I've said already, similar to the balance between traditional approaches to veterinary medicine and the holistic approaches to veterinary medicine. They complement one another, and certainly picture books complement screen methods of exposing kids to nature, but picture books also complement the more traditional methods of education about nature, going outside, looking in a bird's nest. Kids don't have that access these days, much as the pity, but it's, and that's what I feel my books address. That's a niche, if you like. I've read a lot over the past 10 years, because during my years as a veterinary, veterinary neurosurgeon. I was also a researcher. I had a brain tumor research lab, and so I had to read everything as it came out. And I'm still a researcher at heart, although not into science and medicine as much as into children's picture books. And there are wonderful studies, psychological studies in the literature, controlled studies, prospective studies that address this whimsical versus
Dr. Rick LeCouteur 11:11
realistic approach for kids, and they all come to the conclusion that the balance is what matters, And that if kids are going to become future nature lovers, advocates for Conservation and Biodiversity and wildlife lovers, they must have that balance. They must know that penguins live in Antarctica and have a very tough life, and that they don't eat pizzas, they eat krill, and what's a krill? And they need to know what a krill is, because that's the basis of all of that marine life surviving. So yeah, it's a there's room for my books as well as Dr Seuss and Beatrix Potter and all of the other ones.
Dr. Judy Morgan
Absolutely you, you are, you are so correct. We need to take a quick break to hear from our sponsor. Stay tuned. We're going to talk about Rick's newest book and some of his others that he's written. We'll be back in just a minute.
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT #1
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PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT #2 12:55
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Dr. Judy Morgan 13:40
Welcome back. I'm Dr Judy Morgan, your host of the Naturally Healthy Pets podcast. My guest today, Dr. Rick LeCouteur is a retired veterinary neurosurgeon. He really is one of those brain surgeon guys that's so cool, but he is spending his rejuvenation, not his retirement,
Dr. Judy Morgan 14:02
he's reimagined himself as a children's book author, and I'm just I'm in awe, because I think this is great. Now, how many books have you written?
Dr. Rick LeCouteur 14:13
I've written five. Three of them are now available on Amazon. So all about animals
Dr Judy Morgan
So, all about animals and like real animals. And so your most recent one is Nasty Names are Hurtful, an Australian White Ibis responds to name calling in the city. So first, okay, so we took this bird out of the country, and now he's in the city. So,
Dr. Rick LeCouteur 14:44
yeah, there's a there's the cover of the book, and you can see the Australian White Ibis with the long, curved beak for delving down into the into the mud of the wetlands to find beetles and worms. By the way, he's a magnificent bird. The character, the lead character in my the proponent in my book, is actually a female named Penny, but this is a wonderful bird. It has a little sensory organ, a little sensor at the end of it, at the tip of its beak, where it can sense vibration. And it's amazing to watch it plunge its beak into the mud and pause and then come back with a beetle. It's just this is an incredible bird. And as you said, Dr Judy, this bird, through no fault of its own, ended up as an environmental refugee in Australia. You know, back in Egyptian days, this bird was revered, worshiped. As a matter of fact, there was a God with a an ibis head called Thoth, t h o t h, who was the God of the universe. The Egyptians lived in harmony with this bird. And indeed, this bird was in Australia before people arrived. The Australian Aboriginals were the first to arrive there, and they also worshiped this bird. They lived in harmony with this bird. And then people that look a little bit like you and me arrived in Australia, and they started agriculture. They dried up the wetlands, and this bird almost became extinct. However, a shout out for zoos. There was a population in a couple of zoos in Australia, and that's all that was left of this vast population of birds. And the birds escaped from the zoo, found the parks in the big cities and thrived. It's really true. They're in every city in Australia. Now they've just made them their way over to the very western most Coast of Australia. How they did that, I don't know, but they are excellent flyers, even though people think of the Ibis as being stationary in a swamp. And so this bird is truly to be admired. And yet, in the city where it's a refugee, kids call it names, throw stones at it and chase it. And if you want to see that on the most popular animated cartoon, you can watch it on Bluey. There's an episode where Bluey, bless her heart, chases an Ibis and calls it names, names like bin chicken. A bin in Australia is a trash can or picnic pirate or flying rat, very derogatory terms. And so this book is about an Ibis who talks to her parents about the nasty names and the chasing and the derogatory behavior of of kids in the cities, and the parents give her great advice. And so it's a story about name calling, but it's also a shout out for the Ibis, who is a magnificent bird, and there are some instructions at the end for what kids can do. The first one is just stop and watch an Ibis for half an hour and see what you learn. Because they're wonderful parents. They're wonderful citizens. The only reason they eat rubbish is because humans make it available to them.
Dr. Rick LeCouteur 18:19
Humans are behind all of this. And so that's the story I want to get across to these, to these uh kids in Australia. But of course, the message resonates around the world. And there's a picture from the book to give you an idea of what the book looks like.
Dr Judy Morgan 18:39
Your drawings are beautiful. Wow.
Dr. Rick LeCouteur
Thank you. They're derived from my photographs, and so they're very, very authentic. And here's one of a person have a having a picnic and actually feeding the Ibis. One of the instructions I give to the kids is, please don't feed the Ibis. And I give them ideas about how they can advocate for re establishing wetlands in Australia and so many ideas. There's also a section at the back of the book which tells parents the story so that when kids ask questions, the parents are equipped to give authentic answers. So all my books have this same sort of structure to them, and so far, they're all about birds. But Dr Judy, I have written a couple about mammals. I've got one about cheetahs and coming
Dr. Rick LeCouteur 19:39
coming out, I hope next year, and so all wildlife, it's a privilege to bring,
Dr. Judy Morgan
is most is most of your wildlife, your books are they mostly Australian wildlife?
Dr. Rick LeCouteur
no, no, they're, they're, they're the best.
Dr. Rick LeCouteur 20:00
They are animals in their natural habitat. So this, the first one I wrote was about a flightless Cormorant from from the Galapagos Islands. And then the second one I wrote was about penguins, and of course, they're from Antarctica. The one after the Ibis book set in Australia. The one after that is going to be about an African bird, a little red billed Oxpecker, which is a tiny little bird. It's called the tick bird, and it removes ticks from all the mammals, and it makes friends with a big rhinoceros. And the message there is, of course, you don't have to look like another person to be their friend. And here's the unlikely friendship of a little tiny bird and a great big rhinoceros, and their common ground is the tick, which is a parasite on the big creature and a meal for the little creature.
Dr. Judy Morgan
How perfect. Oh, perfect. I love it. I love it.
Dr. Judy Morgan 21:04
It's very cool. So where do your i where? How do you get your ideas? Like, what's your inspiration?
Dr. Rick LeCouteur 21:12
Oh, that's, that's, that's a revealing question, which I must answer now that it's been asked. My inspiration is from the animals themselves, of course, and I've been so privileged the last 10 years, since retirement, to take small groups of people around the world to observe wildlife with a company that I'm Director of Education for which is called Veterinary Expeditions. And so that's enabled me to see the wildlife and to take photographs. And like everybody who takes photographs, I was, I became better and better, and I now call myself a conservation photographer, not a wildlife photographer. That's the pinnacle.
Dr. Rick LeCouteur 21:57
that would be beyond my abilities. But I'm a conservation photographer, meaning I take photographs to send messages to people and to kids. So there's a purpose to my photographs. But as I took the photographs, like everybody out there, I thought, What should I do with them? And then this circumstance with my grandchildren, where they didn't know anything about penguins, caused me to think, I've got lots of photos of penguins. Let's turn that into a book, and the rest is history, but, but it was, it was circumstance after circumstance. I think life is like that. For me, it has been and, and it's a matter of seeing what's in front of you and and trying to take advantage, that sounds a little mercenary, but trying to make the most of the opportunities. And so these opportunities of grandchildren and wildlife and conservation were in front of me, and so I put them all together and have found my true vocation, I've got to tell you,
Dr. Rick LeCouteur 23:05
I wake up in the morning with 10 things that I have to write down every day, and I wake up earlier and earlier and earlier, and go to bed later and later and later, and there just isn't enough time. Your mom will understand perfectly that when you're passionate about something, you begin to worry about the time passing, because you know there's so much inside waiting to get out, and will there be time? Well, I hope that I pass away with a pen in my hand, I really do.
Dr. Judy Morgan 23:44
Well, hopefully that won't be anytime soon. I think there's, I think there's lots more stories in there, but you are so right? I mean, I am in the position I am in now, because things just kept getting thrown in my path. And it's like, why is that there? What does that have to do with me? And I don't even know what to do with this. And it's, it's funny, because, you know, I've even had coaches and mentors that have, you know, said, Oh, you need to be doing this. And I'm like, No, not doing that, you know. And the next year I meet with them again, it's like, no, you need to be doing this. And I'm like, No, I'm not doing that. And then the next year, I'm like, Don't even bring that up. Like, don't even bring that up. And then the next year, it's like, Oh, crap, I'm doing that.
Dr. Rick LeCouteur
Yeah, but there's a message there for young children too, and for parents and for grandparents and even great grandparents. And that is, how will your child know what's out there if you don't tell them about it? In other words, if, if a famous violinist was never given a violin,
Dr. Rick LeCouteur 24:50
you would never know that he or she was a famous violinist, violinist. And so for me and for you, it's being exposed to opportunities, and perhaps like you resisting them at first, but ultimately saying, I want to try that. I'll give it a go.
Dr. Judy Morgan 25:10
Hey, look at that. It worked.
Dr. Rick LeCouteur 25:12
Sometimes it works. But failure is a great teacher, too.
Dr. Judy Morgan
Oh, god yes. I've had many of those.
Dr. Rick LeCouteur
Yeah, failure. I I like to think of failure the following way, failure is a reality.
Dr. Rick LeCouteur 25:30
Failure happens to all of us, and perhaps not failure but setbacks. It's not what happens, it's how you handle it, and how you handle it is going to develop into resilience. And I think resilience is one of the most amazing of human characteristics. Not everyone has it, but anyone can develop it.
Dr. Judy Morgan 25:54
It's true. And you know, I keep seeing these things that it says, you know, the guy who ends up under, the person who ends up on top, is the person who kept getting up every time they fell down. You know, it's just, that's the way it is. And we are all going to have those times where there's a stumble, there's a, you know, a veered off course. But we all have the ability to kind of correct course as well. And I think it is amazing that you have found this incredible passion for your reenvisioning your life. Your passion is obvious that I I'm actually going to go find your blogs, and I'm going to go find all your books. I think this is great, and I think all of our children need to learn about the real world of animals. And I particularly love the one with the tick bird, because, you know, it just shows, you know, it's one man's trash is another man's treasure. You know, it's like, Oh, great. I want to eat those ticks. And the big animals, like, Oh, my God, I can't stand these things. So maybe we all need some tick birds, for those of us who have who live in high tick areas, with our dogs with Lyme disease and all those things. So maybe we can abort some of those
Dr. Rick LeCouteur
damage when they remove the tick. They They also like just a little bit of sauce, which is blood on the tick, but, but, and they're maligned for that, but their motives are very pure. They want to remove the tick, and they want to have a meal so I won't hear any bad words about them. And you know your your words are so true. Dr, Judy, I'm I'm just thinking of my favorite three words, and I used to tell my students, and and I tell my grandchildren all three of these words begin with P to see if they're listening. So let me try them on you, patience, persistence and time.
Dr. Rick LeCouteur 27:55
Three P's, yeah, I think you've got it. So if the little kids don't say time, doesn't begin with P
Dr. Rick LeCouteur 28:06
I know I have some work to do on the listening side.
Dr. Judy Morgan 28:11
there you go. I was sitting there thinking, okay, there's a joke here somewhere, like, how are we spelling time?
Dr. Rick LeCouteur 28:16
Don't think too hard. I'm a mile wide and a quarter of an inch deep, so there's no depth to what I'm saying. Perhaps
Dr. Judy Morgan 28:27
I love it. We are out of time. This has been really fun, and I am so inspired. I love what you were doing. I'm going to go home and tell my husband, it's about time to start putting, you know, pen to paper or paintbrush to paint, whatever it is he's going to do, because I this is really fun, and I think that our grandchildren deserve more and more and more books and good books. So thank you very much.
Dr. Rick LeCouteur
My pleasure. If Hue is listening to the end here, because he's taken a few knocks during this,
Dr. Rick LeCouteur 29:01
I'm going to give him a little piece of advice, which is totally unsolicited and from somebody who's not an expert, but it's a well known saying in American present day culture, Happy wife, happy life.
Dr. Judy Morgan 29:16
Yes, that is true.
Dr. Judy Morgan 29:18
Well, I'm finally getting some paintings for me, at least. So whether they ever get to a book, I don't know, but anyway, well, thank you, Dr Rick, just amazing. Keep doing what you're doing. Your passion is contagious, and clearly you enjoy it, and you love your grandchildren, and I'm so glad that they were such a great inspiration to you to make this happen. So thank you very much for being my guest. This has been very enjoyable.
Dr. Rick LeCouteur
Thank you for having me, and thanks to all your listeners. If they've made it to the end.
Dr. Judy Morgan
they do.
Outro
Thanks for listening to another great Naturally Healthy Pets episode. Be sure to check out the show notes for some helpful links. And if you enjoy the show, please be sure to follow and listen for free on your favorite podcast app. We value your feedback and we'd love to hear from you on how we're doing. Visit DrJudyMorgan.com for healthy product recommendations, comprehensive courses, upcoming events and other fantastic resources. Until next time, keep giving your pet the vibrant life they deserve.
DISCLAIMER
The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. It is no substitute for professional care by a veterinarian, licensed nutritionist or other qualified professional. You're encouraged to do your own research and should not rely on this information as professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Dr. Judy and her guests express their own views, experience and conclusions. Dr. Judy Morgan's Naturally Healthy Pets neither endorses or opposes any particular view discussed here.
