Jeff Corwin (4 page)

The following summer, when Jeff was twenty-two, he traveled back to Greece to work at Hercules’ serpentarium in Athens. Hercules had built the snake museum in order to teach Greek people about their native reptiles. Jeff really enjoyed working with Hercules that summer. Jeff lived with Hercules and his family in their home, so he got to know him very well. In fact, Jeff calls Hercules the Greek version of him!

When not working hard at the serpentarium, Jeff took advantage of his free time to travel around Greece, and other nearby countries, like Turkey and Egypt. He observed wildlife in the area—especially its snakes!—and learned about archaeology, anthropology, and the local cultures.

One day, while riding a burro, or donkey, through the Valley of Delphi in Egypt, Jeff came across a sinkhole. A sinkhole is a hollowed-out area of stone that is connected to an underground cavern or passageway. He got off his mule to check it out, and what he found inside was incredible.

When Jeff shined his flashlight into the depths of the sinkhole, he found himself face-to-face with an ancient tomb filled with an entire family of mummies! A mummy is a dead body that has been preserved and wrapped up before burial. This was a very common practice in ancient Egypt. Jeff had seen mummies in photos and museums, but he’d never been quite so up close and personal with one before! He found it amazing to examine the details of these preserved pieces of history without glass or velvet ropes blocking his view. He was thrilled at the feeling that he had discovered something that perhaps nobody else had seen in thousands of years! Afterward, Jeff exited the sinkhole, respectfully leaving the mummies just as he’d found them.

Jeff’s trips throughout the world, including to the rain forests of Belize, were always filled with interesting encounters with animals. And by the time Jeff graduated from college in 1992, he had had many adventures and successes. He had been in the military, had received two bachelor of science degrees—one in biology and one in anthropology—had started a foundation, and had numerous incredible animal adventures. But this was only the beginning for Jeff. The best was yet to come!

Famous

After graduating from Bridgewater State College, Jeff returned to his beloved rain forests. He lived in Central America for most of the next few years and worked at a field station. A field station is a facility set up in an area that scientists want to study. By being in the middle of the area of interest, scientists are able to observe and document things more easily. So Jeff was in the middle of the rain forest, able to study everything! At that point in his life, Jeff figured his career path would be in academics. But then in 1994, Jeff got a taste for television.

Jeff’s first big break in television was thanks to a man named Dr. Robert (Bob) Ballard. Dr. Ballard is an oceanographer, which means he is a scientist who deals with the oceans, including the water, the wildlife, and the health of these bodies of water. He discovered the shipwreck of RMS
Titanic
.

In 1994, Dr. Ballard was producing an educational documentary and interactive project series in association with National Geographic called the JASON Project. The JASON Project was a program that taught kids biology, the importance of wildlife, and the delicate balance of the environment and ecosystems. The JASON Project got its name from a Greek hero named Jason, who was an explorer. Dr. Ballard gave the organization its name because he wanted to spark students’ imaginations with exploration and real-life science.

Jeff had met Dr. Ballard about a year prior at a reception at Bridgewater State College. At that time, Jeff pitched Dr. Ballard the idea of filming a segment of the JASON Project in the rain forests of Belize. Dr. Ballard thought it was an interesting idea and agreed to do it. He hired Jeff to be an expedition naturalist during their broadcast from Belize.

In 1994, Jeff spent two weeks doing live broadcasts from Belize. He did five live broadcasts per day and loved every moment of it. It was a welcome experience for him. He was able to serve as a naturalist, do hands-on fieldwork, and further expand his knowledge of wildlife. But perhaps best of all, Jeff was able to use his performing talents to share his passion for the rain forests with the world. It all felt very right to Jeff. He began to picture a career for himself that would allow him do more of the same.

After doing the broadcasts for Dr. Ballard, Jeff decided he wanted to turn his adventures in the wild into a television program that would both educate and entertain an audience. The friends and colleagues he met on the JASON Project encouraged Jeff to pursue this goal. So with their help, Jeff made trailer videos and sent them to various production companies. On these videos, Jeff talked excitedly about animals and his passion for conservation.

For the next two years, Jeff received many negative reactions to his television show ideas from industry insiders. People told him that he was simply not cut out for television, and that his ideas would not be popular with audiences.

By 1996, Jeff was feeling as though he should pursue other career paths. He decided to go back to school and enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Jeff continued his studies there until 2003, when he earned a master of science degree in wildlife and fisheries conservation. Not too shabby for a guy who failed high school biology!

Also in 1996, Jeff’s personal life underwent a big change. That was the year he met his wife, Natasha. Natasha Soultanova is Russian, but was born and raised in Germany. One day, while grocery shopping in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the couple met. Jeff knew he had found a very special woman, and they married only three months later.

Jeff had just enrolled in graduate school, and Natasha was still finishing her undergraduate studies at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. This posed a problem for the young couple: they could not afford to pay for both educations. So Natasha put her studies on hold for a while so they could afford to pay for Jeff’s schooling.

Jeff and Natasha were excited to be starting a new life together, but it was difficult for them. They packed up their belongings and moved to Deerfield, Massachusetts, where they lived for a year. They needed to be closer to Jeff’s school. They had no car, little money, and no friends in their new town. But they had interesting experiences of their own—especially with their new apartment.

Their first apartment was in an old bakery located between a pickle factory and a candle factory. This was not a typical place to live. Jeff says, “There were always strange smells in our apartment!” Some days, their place smelled like vinegar from the pickle factory. Other days, it smelled overly sweet from the scented candles at the candle factory.

But just as they started their life together, that summer, Jeff returned to Belize by himself as a part of his graduate work. Jeff had been to Belize dozens of times, but this trip became his most memorable. He had a lot of responsibility there. He was researching bats and running a field station. Jeff was also conducting an inventory of amphibians and reptiles of the area. In doing that inventory, Jeff frequently came across a type of snake called a coral snake. And he discovered that there were many varieties living in Belize.

Coral snakes are generally small and brightly colored. They are part of the same very venomous family of snakes that includes the cobra. There are about fifty species of known coral snake, and most of them live in Central and South America. Coral snakes usually have a pattern of black, yellow, and red bands on them.

Shortly before Jeff was scheduled to leave the country to head home, he went out for one last hike. Jeff knew the area well and was comfortable hiking alone there. During the hike, Jeff encountered a coral snake.

Jeff wanted to stop the snake in order to observe it, so he tried to pin the snake gently with his walking stick. But before he could do so, it slithered away from him. Jeff did not want the snake to escape before he could examine it. So without thinking, Jeff pinned the snake down with his foot.

There were two problems with this situation: coral snakes have short fangs through which they inject poisonous venom. Their venom is deadly to humans. The other problem was that although coral snakes aren’t usually mean, they will bite if bothered or held down.

And that is exactly what the coral snake did when Jeff stepped on it. It bit Jeff’s big toe, which was exposed in his sandals. Immediately, Jeff felt a terrible pain shoot up his foot into his leg. There he was, alone in the jungle, suffering, with a snakebite that could kill him within four hours.

Jeff had to think fast. He knew he needed antivenin. Antivenin is a cure for a snakebite, and Jeff needed to be given this antivenin in order to survive the bite. Jeff had been staying in the nearest village, so he knew its layout. He felt he had two possible options: He could try to hike to the local hospital. But the hospital might not have the antivenin he needed to survive. Jeff’s second option was to hike to the site where he knew a small British international school was being constructed. Both places were miles away, so Jeff would have a long haul to get to either location.

This was a dangerous situation. The clock was ticking, so Jeff chose to make the long hike toward the British school site. He felt they might have the resources to get him out of the jungle and to a hospital that
did
have antivenin. As Jeff hiked, the pain in his leg got worse and worse. The snake venom spread quickly through Jeff’s body.

Coral snake venom hurts the human nervous system, so Jeff’s heart raced, he drooled, and his eyes watered. Jeff began to lose use of the leg that had been bitten, so he had to drag himself along.

One hour after being bitten by the coral snake, Jeff finally reached the British international school, where he was met with help. The staff there was able to contact the British embassy on Jeff ’s behalf. A British Defense Force helicopter was sent to get Jeff.

And that’s when Valerie Corwin got a frightening phone call. The embassy called the Corwins to let them know what had happened to Jeff. They told Valerie and Marcy that someone was on their way to try to help Jeff, but that they might not make it in time to save his life.

When the helicopter arrived, it airlifted Jeff out of the jungle. It headed to a hospital, where he could receive antivenin. All the while, Jeff was calculating how much time he had left. He realized that the soon est he could possibly receive medical attention was three and a half hours after being bitten. By the four-hour mark, he could be dead.

Surprisingly, Jeff never really thought he would die. He did, however, realize what a foolish mistake he had made in getting too close to a coral snake. Fortunately, Jeff received the coral snake antivenin in time, and he was soon on his way to recovery.

But then Jeff had to face another frightening creature: his new wife. When it was clear that Jeff would be all right, Natasha was relieved but also very angry with Jeff. She was mad that he would act so carelessly. She reminded Jeff that he didn’t belong only to himself anymore. He had a wife who loved and needed him.

After the snakebite scare, Jeff returned to his normal life back at home. He continued his graduate work, and he was earning money by waiting tables, tending bar, and doing voiceover work. Voiceover is when a person who cannot be seen speaks during a television show or movie. Since Jeff had always been talented at doing impressions and accents, it was a natural fit for him. He worked with a production company creating education videos for young people. He also played the lead role in a film called
Jaguar Trax
, in which Jeff portrayed a science teacher.

In 1997, Jeff and Natasha moved back to Cambridge, which was a place they knew and loved. Jeff commuted to Amherst a few times a week, which was “quite a hike,” he says. It had been several years since Jeff had had his first taste of television with the JASON Project. Jeff had pretty much given up on the idea of being a television naturalist. But something inside him told him to keep trying. So he continued to meet with production companies, asking them to let him make a show.

Then one day, Jeff received the call he had been hoping for. Jeff heard from a production company called Popular Arts Entertainment that had seen his promotional videos. And they had good news: they sent Jeff’s videos to Disney, and Disney was interested! An executive at the Disney Channel was impressed with Jeff’s knowledge and relaxed personality. He thought Jeff would be great for television.

After meeting the people at the Disney Channel, Jeff was hired to create and host a nature show. So Jeff and a television crew traveled to Belize to film a pilot, or first episode, of
Going Wild with Jeff Corwin
. The pilot was well received by viewers, and the show was a go! Jeff was so enthusiastic about the opportunity that he decided to put his graduate study work on hold. Jeff’s professors were surprised at the news of Jeff’s television offer. In an interview with
UMass Magazine Online
, one of his advisers, Curtice Griffin, said, “We were all shocked. We had no idea that those were his ambitions. We knew Jeff was a very energetic guy, always very creative, always making things happen. When he told us this was his dream and he had been offered the chance to do it, we told him, ‘You’d be crazy not to.’”

From 1997 to 1999, Jeff cocreated, produced, and hosted the Disney Channel’s
Going Wild with Jeff Corwin
. The program appealed to a family audience. It was equal parts fun and education. Jeff wanted to deliver his lessons with adventure and humor, and that he did. His fun behavior and animal knowledge made the show a hit. Jeff was thrilled with his new job. His dream had finally been realized.

The popularity of the show gave Jeff the chance to do a lot of cool things. Almost overnight, Jeff was a television star! People began to recognize him when he went out. Once, so many screaming fans greeted Jeff at an event, he required a police escort to get inside. And famous people loved Jeff, too!