Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 27, 1995 TAG: 9508280109
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV16 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ADRIANNE BEE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
In the next room, there is a clatter of paws across a floor. "That's "Nes Quik," Bowen explains. "That's the other chocolate Lab; her mother was Nestle." There are cats around somewhere, but Bowen said they tend to disappear when people come to the door.
Although she has just a couple of dogs and cats at home, Bowen has dealt with quite an extensive menagerie - lions and addaxes and kangaroos (oh, my). Bowen and her husband, John (or Jim to friends), operated a private veterinary practice in England for 10 years before making the United States their home.
John Bowen, a veterinary professor at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech, keeps race horses breeding. His speciality is equine reproduction.
The Bowens met at Royal Veterinary College in London. After graduating, Jill Bowen went to Australia and New Zealand for three years before returning to England where she and John Bowen were married.
Working with animals has always been Bowen's ambition. "I announced at age 12 that this was what I wanted to do," Bowen said. Bombed out of her family's house in London during World War II, Bowen grew up on a farm in the county of Suffolk.
Bowen left her families' ponies, with names like Mouse, Tufty and Jingles, to work with animals a bit more exotic. "In Australia, we worked with kangaroo joeys whose mothers had been shot by hunters, so we tried to rear them," Bowen says.
When the couple came to the United States in 1974, "I thought we were only going to be in America for a year," Bowen said and laughed. "We're still here."
The couple lived in Colorado and Canada, then moved back to England for a few years until John went to interview at Texas A&M. "I knew we were in trouble when he got off the plane from the interview," Bowen said. "The first thing he said was 'Texas A&M has a lot to offer.'''
When the couple moved to Texas, Jill Bowen worked at Texas A&M as a research scientist. Baboon hormone research, occasional jaunts to Sea World in Galveston to work with dolphins, and embryo transfers and artificial insemination in addaxes (large, whitish antelopes with long, twisted horns) are just some of the activities that kept her busy.
Bowen described giving ultrasounds to the crafty dolphins at Sea World. "You have to reach way over their bodies to do this," Bowen said. "They'd jump up on the side of the tank, lie on their side and wait till you reached way over by the water ... then they'd flip their tails and splash you with water, always watching your reaction from the corner of one eye."
A job offer led the Bowens from Texas to the New River Valley, and they like it here. "It reminds my husband of the countryside in Wales," Bowen said. "And it's an excellent area for pets."
Bowen likes the moderate climate here that allows for comfortable living among various breeds of dogs. She hasn't found serious flea and tick problems in the valley. She does, however, miss the absence of many leash laws and other restrictions.
"We don't have rabies in England," Bowen said. "There's no fear of getting bit because all animals that come in are quarantined for 6 months."
Many American ways have surprised Bowen. "I still think when I run out of milk, 'Uh, oh, it's too late' at 5 p.m.," said Bowen, who is used to the English 9-5 store hours.
Bowen also finds us Americans more informal. And in England, most people who run businesses live on the premises.
"We lived over top of our veterinary practice," Bowen said. "We had 60-, 70-hour weeks and hard work." Bowen believes her children chose not to follow in their parents' footsteps because of this lifestyle.
Bowen works part time at Radford University as a laboratory animal veterinarian, volunteers at the Red Cross Bloodmobile and occasionally does college lectures. President of the Virginia Tech Faculty Women's Club and member of three book clubs in Blacksburg, Bowen also reviews mystery books for The Roanoke Times. "I got started on Agatha Christie, of course," Bowen explained as she points to shelves filled with P.D. James and Dick Francis books, among others.
Sometime in the midst of these activities, it occurred to Bowen that a pet column would fill a need in the community. "My husband gets so many calls at work, so I went through the messages and decided to answer some of the questions," said Bowen, who has found that most people want to know about their dogs' house-training and injections.
If you have a question, Bowen may have an answer. She has seen it all when it comes to pets and wildlife. "I have had some weird experiences," Bowen, who has kept emu chicks in her bath, said.
If you have a question for Bowen, please write to her in care of the Current, P.O. Box 540, Christiansburg 24073 or send e-mail to Currentbev.net.
Keywords:
PROFILE
by CNB