Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald, a name synonymous with emergency veterinary medicine, is also known for his life outside the hospital. From keeping the peace as a bouncer for legendary bands like the Rolling Stones to following his calling as a comedian, Dr. Fitzgerald embodies the idea that life is best lived with diverse pursuits. Angie’s conversation delves into lessons learned from musical giants like Keith Richards, who encouraged him to embrace his veterinary aspirations. Alongside his storytelling, Dr. Fitzgerald encourages listeners to recognize the critical role zoos play in educating young minds and preserving species. This episode offers a compelling
00:00:00 Introduction to The Good News with Angie Austin
Welcome to The Good News with Angie Austin. Now, with The Good News, here’s Angie.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey, welcome to The Good News with Angie Austin. I’m really excited about today’s interview. It’s my good friend, Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald. He’s been our vet for, oh my goodness, I guess 25 years. And he has just written a book, and it is It Started with a Turtle, One Man’s Life on a Blue and Green Planet, Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald. Welcome, friend.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I’ve known you for 25 years. We did Animal House that you started on Channel 2.
SPEAKER 05 :
It was my dream to do that segment. And everyone said, oh, you’ve got to get Kevin Fitzgerald because you already had a TV background. So tell people a little about that before we start in the book about the TV show that you did that you’re known for.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s when we were doing from 97 until 2008. We did on Animal Planet. emergency vets and emergency vets interns. And so we did 11 seasons of that. And so it was, I was just one of the featured veterinarians that filmed an emergency room at our hospital. So we, we, you know, TV was, that wasn’t staged or it wasn’t, you know, it was just whatever was happening at the time. And they would, they would take the cases and follow them.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s so cool because Alameda East, where you are a vet, when I go there, I mean, it is the best facility that I’ve ever been to for veterinary care. And so I can see that as an emergency room setting, that it would be like really straight out of central casting for it to be used on a TV show because your facilities are so great and you guys have every kind of treatment and vet basically at Alameda East.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, thank you. We’re lucky, you know, that I’ve been there for 42 years. I was the third doctor, and now we have over 50. In the old days, there weren’t specialists, but now veterinary medicine is like human medicine. There are specialists. We’ve got three board-certified neurologists, and we have two oncologists. We’ve got four internal medicine people. We’ve got… You know, two surgeons, board-certified surgeons, criticalists, two criticalists, two board-certified radiologists that read, you know, all the x-rays and the MRs and CTs. And so it really adds to our accuracy. And then there’s people like me, poor but honest, the general practitioners that are there, you know. And then we’re open 24 hours, so it’s a busy place. But it’s been great. Medicine has been a wonderful thing for me. And we’re lucky in Denver. and that Denver has great veterinarians and great veterinary care across the city.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I’ve been there for the emergency care late at night. And it’s kind of like the Mayo Clinic of vet care or the Anschutz Medical Campus of vet care. So you definitely have been at a great facility. You know, the interesting thing about Dr. Kevin is not only is he a vet and not only does he do TV, you know, Animal Planet, but also Channel 2, the animal house that we started together. Now he’s an author and he used to work for the Rolling Stones, which we’ll get into a little bit later because that’s what kind of prompted him to become an a vet in an interesting way. And you were, you were on the CU swim team. I mean, you, you were, you’ve, you’ve got, you’ve led many lives. You said you’re kind of, you’re kind of like Forrest Gump, many lives.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’ve been lucky. I’m like, I’m like Forrest Gump. But our lives aren’t one dimensional. You know, I started off in Denver, you know, 73 years ago. And so I just watched Denver grow. And my story is kind of, it’s a, It’s kind of a coming-of-age story during an interesting time in our country. Well, all the times were interesting in our country. Even now is a particularly interesting time. But it’s also a Colorado story, my story. So people have always said, man, you should write a book. And so I finally did and get stuff down. It’s kind of arrogant to think that you have a book in you, but I think most people do. Most people have an interesting story if you sit and talk to them.
SPEAKER 05 :
yeah i i think you’re right you know i was just gonna watch uh one of your comedy shows because dr kevin’s also a comedian and so he works you know full-time as a vet and he’s also doing a lot of comedy at night um and uh i think we all probably do have uh you know a book in us but being your friend for 25 years you know i followed some of your journeys you know uh to with working with polar bears and you know giant snakes and taking these exotic trips around the world to help with tracking and tagging of animals, etc. So you do have, you know, quite an interesting life. You’re kind of above average in the interest arena. So let’s kind of start off, you know, you’re from, you know, you’re Irish. You know, you said that this all started with a turtle. So let’s go back, you know, at the beginning of the book and talk about that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, my cousins and brother, we were raised by my grandmother a lot. And so we were over there. And in those days, in the 50s, dime store turtles, you know, the little red-eared sliders were real popular. And then later, so many children got salmonella from them that they had made them illegal to sell a turtle under four inches because that’s the width of a five-year-old’s mouth. So they wouldn’t let them sell these little things anymore. But they were so popular and the poor things, they would probably die. I mean, kids would forget about them. And so they shouldn’t have sold them. It wasn’t a great thing. But we had one and his name was Sam and he lived He lived in this little – oh, there was a plastic palm tree and these little pink stones, this little plastic pond that he lived in and a little place he could pull out and haul out. And so we loved him and fed him, you know, the little food came, little flakes and dried flies and stuff. We would feed him this stuff, and I was crazy about him. And my grandmother one day said, well, you know, I talked to Sam, and he’d rather – go and live at the zoo, which was across the street. You lived just across the street from the zoo. Oh, how funny. He’d like to live with the other turtles at the turtle pond. He’s lonely for other turtles. And so I never saw her talk to him, you know. And she said, tomorrow we’ll take him over and drop him, you know, at the zoo. So, you know, I was sick about it. I talked to him all night, you know, and the governor didn’t call me. you know with a pardon but she was going to take him the next day so she did so we all walked over there she didn’t drive she wrapped him up in toilet paper and put him in her purse and she she sneaked him in we went through the gate we all kind of our little group went up to the cousins and brother we went up and and she the big Irish woman and she stood up straight and and dropped a little turtle and we watched him hit and The little waves went out and he spun around a little bit. All of a sudden, this giant head came up from underneath. These big jaws and just, bam, he was gone. The big snapping turtle was underneath. You are kidding me. So we were all like, ah. So it started with a turtle. So I think somewhere in the back of my mind, you know, helping animals, I’ve always tried to. save a little turtle, you know, back in my day.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, my gosh. You were traumatized. You became a vet because of the turtle eaten by the giant snapping turtle. That is crazy.
SPEAKER 03 :
But I think, you know, then later I became on the board at the Denver Zoo. And, you know, I was against it when I was in vet school a lot. You know, you don’t want to think about animals in cages and stuff. But then I realized later, that more children visit the Denver Zoo than adults go to the Broncos, Avalanche Nuggets, and Rockies combined. We put 2.3 million kids into the zoo last year, and all these little minds get turned on, you know, and they see things in the nice programs and projects that the zoo has, and keepers, they’re so devoted to the animals they care for. So it’s, you know, Plus, the animals that live there, they’re not wild-caught. They’re all born in captivity. So they couldn’t make it if they released them. Some of them are fourth and fifth generation born in zoos. And they take great care of them. And they’re kind of ambassadors for their species. And then children go. And so I think it’s a great thing to turn on little moths.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, I love the zoo, and we always were members when the kids were until they were like maybe 12, 13, within the last few years. And that zoo, Denver Zoo, like you said, they do so much. It’s so interesting. Every trip is different. You know, you see different things every single time. And the other one I’m really impressed with is the zoo in Colorado Springs. I believe it’s the only mountain zoo in the world. And they have done a great job. Haven’t they done a great job with that? I mean, they have really done some improvements there. It’s pretty mind-blowing now.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, that’s a wonderful place. That’s a wonderful place. So I’ve had a great experience. I was a researcher associate on several trips where we went to the polar bears and then to Mongolia. The zoo had acquired… Oh, 187,000 acres in Mongolia in 1994. Cool. And got it back to the Mongolians as one of their first national parks and animal preserves. And so there’s a bunch of endangered species there that we studied and wrote papers about and put radio transmitters in and vultures and giant Cenarius vultures and the The bighorn sheep, the Argali, the largest bighorn sheep on the planet, 100 pounds bigger than ours. And then wolves are there and snow leopards. I mean, it’s an amazing place. Mongolia is a wonderful place.
SPEAKER 05 :
So how do you tag them? So you’re there and there’s snow leopards and vultures. Give me an example of an animal that you might tag and how you go about doing it and releasing them.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. The baby vultures, they stay in the nest for four months. And by the time they’re four months old, they have an 11-foot wingspan and weigh 25 pounds. It’s a huge bird. But they can’t fly yet. So we catch them and then get a, oh, it looks like a little backpack, and it’s tiny. It weighs less than a cigarette pack. And I pack cigarettes, and it’s small. And they wear this little vest, and it’s tear-away if they get caught on something. But it transmits. It’s got a solar panel on the back that regenerates the battery. It transmits for up to two years. And then we can trace them and track them, you know, and then learn more about them. We didn’t know where they went. And Dr. Kenny and John Azua and the wonderful people from Azua, they found that they went to South Korea. And they fly all the way around North Korea. They stay away from that guy with the funny haircut.
SPEAKER 05 :
And then when you went to, was it the North Pole, South Pole, the polar bears? Explain what that was about.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I got to go with the North American Veterinary Society up north at Churchill. And some of the bears were breaking into the town. And rather than kill them, the Canadian researchers would dart them And then we helped and got radio transmitters onto them to do the same thing, to trace them.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, because if you’re walking your kids to school and there’s a polar bear, I mean, people don’t even – these aren’t comic book polar bears. These aren’t animated polar bears. These are ferocious bears.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, you look at them and you think, this is like a big dog, and you want to hug them. Then you realize they eat your face off. I wanted to film that. I was with a sled dog driver and I said, man, I’d love to film at night. And he said, You’re aware that they eat us, aren’t you? Right.
SPEAKER 04 :
You’re aware they eat us, aren’t you?
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, I’ve also seen some of your safari videos from Africa that were just mind-blowing to me, and we can talk about all that when we come back. If you’re just joining us, this is Angie Austin with the Good News, talking to my good friend of 25 years, Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald. His book is coming out. It started with a turtle, one man’s life on a blue and green planet, Dr. Kev. All right, Dr. Kev, we’re going to break down some of these chapters. I want to get into, too, how you work for the Rolling Stones. You’re a comedian. You’re a vet. We’ve got to get into some of these other stories. We’ll be right back with Angie Austin and Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald on The Good News.
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 04 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
Hey there, friend, Angie Austin and Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald with The Good News. We are talking about his book, and I just wanted to get into some of the other cool things, Dr. Kev, about, you know, we’ve talked about your show on Animal Planets, Emergency Vets, your segment on Channel 2 with me that we started together 25 years ago, Animal House. You started it, yeah. Yeah, and I picked you.
SPEAKER 04 :
I love it.
SPEAKER 03 :
I mean, there’s 10 million other forms of life on the planet besides us. And so, you know, all the other animals are waiting for us. We’ve been given our intellect and this wonderful biodiversity. All the other animals are waiting for us to use our intellect and save the place. We aren’t yet. But, no, you’ve always done a great job and been a good friend to animals.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, I’m a little bit of an animal nut. My husband says if I get a sixth one, they will have to get a permit to be a zoo. So we’ve got Dr. Kev’s book is It Started With a Turtle, One Man’s Life on a Blue and Green Planet. We’ve talked about some of your exotic trips tagging animals around the world. And I know you’ve dealt with those big snakes as well. We’re going to talk about you working for the Rolling Stones. We were on the swim team in college. You… or a comedian. So, um, before we get done with the trips, when I saw one of your, I want to hear about the snakes. And then when I saw one of your videos from Africa, you were like chased down by an elephant. Like it was super dangerous.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I mean, sometimes you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. And I think, um, I think oftentimes you’re in the right place at the right time, but, but, um, I think most of the time you try and be very safe. I mean, like with the polar bears, the animals are anesthetized and, and, You know, you’re pulling blood or you’re putting the transmitter on. With the rattlesnakes that I did, the snakes were sedated, you know. And so, I mean, it’s not as dangerous as it looks. But you’re with people that work with them and know what they’re doing. So I think you’re okay. But to be a little boy from Denver and get to be. up close and personal with a polar bear has been magic, you know.
SPEAKER 05 :
I know. And the snakes, didn’t you do something with the snakes that were taking over the Everglades? People were like dumping their pet snakes and then they were eating like all the rabbits.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I got to do that with my friend, Dr. Doug Mader. And the snakes, they washed in from a pet store supply place. And so we think maybe 387 pythons during Hurricane George got washed across the street into the Africa. It’s from this animal supply place. Whoa. And so then with no predators and no, they’re not natural, they’re not a native, you know, not a native resident. These things just took off. And, I mean, eating the local rabbits off. Mater was involved in a study where they put 100 transmitters into rabbits, and they found in the first year 77 of them in the pythons.
SPEAKER 05 :
Whoa. Well, and you told me something really, something really interesting as well. You said like when you first started going down there and they first started opening these pythons, they were finding rabbits and then deer. And then they were getting up to like alligators because they were running out of rabbits. I mean, if a hundred rabbits were tagged and 77 of them ended up inside a python, they’re running out of food.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. They’ll eat anything and they don’t really have a, and once they get to a certain size, there’s not really a predator for them, but yeah, they’ve been eating everything. But that’s another example of, you know, invasive species where an animal gets into a place where it shouldn’t be, you know, naturally, and then just kind of with no checks and balances on it, just takes off. So that’s happened a lot over the years, even with pigeons, you know. They’re not European rock doves. They’re not native to the United States. They were brought over to a Shakespeare festival.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, my gosh. That’s crazy.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. So in the absence of any kind of natural predators, a lot of these guys just take off.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, let’s talk about your, you know, working for big bands like the Rolling Stones and how you got to know some of these guys. And that’s before you were a vet. Tell us about that because that led to your vet career.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, it did. I was going to school in Boulder, and I was working the door for Chuck Morris, you know, the promoter. And he wasn’t a promoter yet. He was just managing the sink. That’s where it all started for me at the sink, you know, and just a 3-2 place. Boulder was 3-2. The city was dry because it was too red. And then I went with him to Tulagi, you know, the music place, and then to Ebbets Field. He became partners with Barry Faye. Barry started doing big tours, you know, and he had all the family dog here at Ebbets Field. He was putting on shows at Red Rocks. He started doing shows at Red Rocks. So I was a bouncer at Red Rocks. And then I got to go with certain bands that I hired and then worked for Bill Graham, another promoter. And then I got to go with different bands, Rolling Stones and The Who. Willie Nelson was living in Evergreen at the time and Pudi Locke, his bouncer, hired me and Chuck Grant, another friend of mine. We went with Willie and then the Parliament Funkadelic and later on the Wu-Tang Clan. Like I said, to be a little boy from Denver and see a polar bear or to be a little boy from Denver and see the world with bands that go throughout the whole United States and you get to see Louisiana and see New Orleans and see these wonderful places that you’ve only heard about, you know, so I think travel is the best thing a kid can do, really. You know, the best thing a child can do is to see different places and experience different things. The different foods and stuff. You know, because here we got King Soopers and stuff and then you get to the south and there’s Piggly Wiggly.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, there’s different places that you did Piggly Wiggly. Where’s the King Soopers? We need to, you know, we don’t have King Soopers. You’re in New Orleans, you know, and go to Hawaii and shave ice or whatever, you know, the different things. And so, yeah, so I think traveling, you’ve traveled a lot and your children have traveled a lot. And this is the best thing a kid can do.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, and trying to branch out a little bit more, you know, as they get a little older. All right, so how did the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards in particular, didn’t he kind of like set you straight about, you know, doing something with your life?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, at the end of the 78 tour, you know, they traveled about every three years, and they were going to go out again. And so I’d gotten into vet school, but then there was always another tour coming. And so I asked him, I said, man, I got into school and Jimmy Callahan was the head bouncer. And he said, we’ll go talk to Keith. He took me and said, Hey, Kevin got into Vesco. What should you do? You know, should you stay with us or should you go to school? What should you do? And he said, Oh, look, he goes, he said, wouldn’t this not going to last forever? They never dreamed that he’d still be playing. He said, we’ll be like the flavor of the month. You know, I mean, the public be onto something else. And he goes, no, you can’t be a bouncer when you’re 50, you know? So, Hey, go to school. I’ll help you. So he wrote a letter for me, you know. Oh, that’s so cool. But, yeah, I mean, so anytime I’ve seen him after that, he’s like, you know, he’s proud. I’m like, you know, I did it for you. Otherwise, I would have still been with him probably. You couldn’t be a bouncer when you’re in your 70s. But it was a nice thing. It wasn’t about Bloody Mouth. It was about keeping people safe and being proud that you had – you know, 70 cities on that tour and that nobody died, you know, and that you got everybody in safe.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, and doing security for big concerts like that. Yeah, making sure everybody’s safe and 70 cities with the Rolling Stones and getting to work with The Who and Willie Nelson. I mean, what an exciting thing. But then you decide to go to vet school. And then how did the, how did the, you know, you’re a comedian as well. Where did that come in?
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, I was like comedy and I had a friend that was doing it. he was getting paid a lot, you know? And so I was like, man, I can be this bad and get paid. And so, so yeah. So then I, I started doing standup. We’re lucky here. And then we’ve got the comedy wars. Wendy Curtis has started two great places, you know, the one downtown and then the, uh, the one out South and the tech center. And then there’s all the little workout rooms, you know, in different breweries that have them. And, you know, uh, They’ve got the Denver Comedy Lounge with Ben Kronberg out there. And, you know, the Colorado Sake Company has that beautiful back room, 100-seater. And then my friend Ben Bryant’s got the Denver Comedy Underground where he’s got another beautiful room. And, again, you know, 125 seats, 150 seats, and runs that every week. So there’s lots of places to work. Then you can do corporate stuff, and then sometimes – a comedian will like you. And I’ve opened a lot for George Lopez and Craig Ferguson and, and, uh, getting Kevin Nealon a lot. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
I knew you’d open for some big names. So you become friends with those guys over the years. And then when they come to town, they ask for you to open.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. Or if they’re going to, they’re going to do Aspen and, you know, Cheyenne or Carlos Springs and you get to go with them or, you know, California. So, yeah, it’s been, it’s good in comedy. It’s fun, you know, to see what works and what doesn’t, what, Nobody laughs at us. Our lives are hard, and so making people laugh is a good thing.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. And I’m just astounded because I’ll see that you’re doing one of these. I know you were recently in Boulder and I was astounded that you’d be out like sometimes you’re out like, you know, one, two o’clock in the morning, you like post something on Facebook or you’ll send me a text about one of my pets because I’ll be like, my dog ate three chocolate chip cookies. What do I do? And you’re like, don’t worry, he’s not going to die. I know you went on the internet and you’re freaking out, but And it’s like two in the morning. And then I know you have surgery the next morning. Like you’re not a big sleep guy.
SPEAKER 03 :
I never was a big sleeper. I don’t know what happened when I was a little kid. It was just, I always thought I was going to miss them. You know, I guess I never was a big sleeper. You know, it’s, it’s, it’s a sleep is great and you need it. You need rest. But, but, um, I think that, um, for some people cat naps or, or just, you know, um, I’ve just never been a big sleeper. Yeah, probably you’re going to miss something, but life is good and there’s a lot to do. Wow.
SPEAKER 05 :
So how many hours do you sleep a night, like on average?
SPEAKER 03 :
If I get four, I’m strong.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, my God. I knew you were going to say that. There are some people that can do four to me. They’re like, there’s so much to do. Why would I want to sleep longer if I can go operate on animals in the morning and do comedy at night with George Lopez?
SPEAKER 03 :
They say it’ll kill you, but I mean… That’s what I’ve always done. And, you know, I’m 73, so I’m not dead yet, you know. So, I mean, maybe it would have lived to be 74.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, but, I mean, you’re still working.
SPEAKER 03 :
It could have been 74. Double time.
SPEAKER 04 :
You are so funny. I just get such a kick out of Dr. Kevin.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, so tell people why they should pick up your book. It started with a turtle.
SPEAKER 04 :
You’re like, it’s cheap. You’re like, go for it. I bought it last night.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, it’s, it’s a strong story. It starts off, you know, being Irish Catholic in the fifties and the superstitions of the Irish and, and some of the things that give you some insight into that and, and Denver in the fifties, you know, some of those stories and, and then, um, and then bouncing stories, traveling with different bands and, and, and seeing the world, you know, through the eyes of, of, you know, the back of being on Willie’s bus, you know, or, or, or traveling with your band and, and, uh, I couldn’t, I loved the music, but I couldn’t sing or play an instrument. You know, I’d rather sing than eat, but most people would rather hear me eat, you know?
SPEAKER 05 :
Hilarious. You are so funny. Well, where can people get your book, by the way? We’re almost out of time.
SPEAKER 03 :
Where can they get it? You can get it on Amazon. You can get it at, um, if you, uh, get it at Barnes and Noble, you can get it at, um, also with, uh, if you just write Archway Publishing, they’ll send you one. So yeah, lots of places.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, if you go to Archway Publishing too, and you look up Kevin Fitzgerald’s book, you can, I downloaded a copy too. So you can buy, you know, a copy that you can download your computer. Dr. Kev, we’ll have you come back because there’s so much more to talk about. Just a joy to have you in the program. Thank you, friend.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, thanks for all you do for animals. You’ve always been a big advocate for the animals. So, you know, God bless you. That’s not enough. And, and, You know, the problem in the United States is, you know, we’ll talk about that sometime, but, you know, 2,500 kittens and puppies born every hour.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, that’s true. Yeah, well, all right. We’ll have you back in a couple of weeks. All right, Kev? All right. All right, cool. Thanks. Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM670 KLTT.
