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Marla J Isaac
1957- 2022
Marla was an avid artist, naturalist, master falconer and overall wildlife enthusiast, and that passion went into everything she did from art all the way to starting a business performing educational wildlife programs and later a nonprofit rehab that specializes in birds of prey. Born in Taunton, Massachusetts on December 22, 1957, to Edna Isaac (Crisp) and Donald Isaac. Throughout her childhood Marla was inspired by nature and was encouraged to delve further by her older brother Donald Isaac Jr. This passion for nature made such a lasting impression on Marla that she incorporated it into her artwork and even science fairs, even winning the science fair at the state level. She even kept various insects and other animals as pets during her childhood.
After high school Marla entered college at the Swain School of Design in New Bedford studying graphic arts and fine arts. During this time Marla was building a collection of reptiles. Her knowledge of reptiles had garnered her a reputation of being a wildlife expert. In 1983 Marla was invited by Dr Skip Lazell of Harvard University to mainland China and Hainan Island with other members of Harvard University to collect and document specimens. The trip to mainland China was an eye-opening experience for Marla. She got to experience China in a way that no westerner had ever experienced. The trip involved going to Beijing and then traveling via train to Guangdong province to spend time in the jungles there followed by Hainan Island for further work. The trip to China and meeting many of the locals inspired Marla to become a wildlife educator. Upon returning from the month long stay in China, Marla decided to start putting an effort into creating a wildlife program.
At first, she started out with Reticulated pythons, Burmese pythons, yellow anacondas, green anacondas, African rock pythons and a couple of Alligators. Marla also was one of 2 people at the time who were licensed for venomous reptiles in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts forming a collection that included cobra’s, western diamondbacks, eastern diamondbacks, timber rattlesnakes, cane brake rattlesnakes, copperheads, sidewinder rattlesnake and Gila monsters. During the 1980’s Marla became the President of the New England Herpetological Society in Weymouth, Massachusetts.
At the time the business Marla had started was called Biological Graphic Arts and specialized in nature inspired artwork and education reptile shows. As time wore on the graphic art business waned and the reptile educational programs took off. Marla was doing reptile shows all over New England, often traveling just outside of New England to do shows, often with her young son in tow who was often helping with the shows. Around 1994 Marla made friends with a Falconer named Alan Holick who was a master falconer and took Marla on as an apprentice. Marla soon picked up the art of falconry and had her first bird, an older red-tailed hawk named Fred. She flew Fred on many hunting trips down on Cape Cod but released him to get a younger Red-Tailed hawk who she named Zeus.
By this time Marla was well on her way to being a master falconer. At this point Marla decided to change the name of Biological Graphic Arts to New England Reptile and Raptor Exhibits which meant that she could do reptile and bird of prey educational programs with over 200 different species of reptiles and 4 birds of prey. Marla did shows at schools, military bases, church functions, 4H, boy scout camps and even birthday parties across New England.
Marla’s expertise in the field of all things’ nature had gotten her into teaching and animal science advisory roles at Bristol County Agricultural High School in Dighton, Massachusetts. Marla has even taught members of the law enforcement community all over New England in proper handling and containment of various species of reptiles and birds of prey. She also was a docent at Capron Park Zoo in Attleboro, Massachusetts and helped her friend Amber Santangelo of Wild Again in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Marla was appointed by Mayor Charles Crowley of Taunton, Massachusetts to the Conservation Commission for the City of Taunton as a board member where she helped create and enforce green zones within the city. She was also a 4H leader and ran a 4H group in Taunton that was called the wildlife researchers and member of the Friends of Gertrude M Boyden Wildlife Refuge where she was president.
In 2014 Marla started a 501c3 non-profit organization called the Massachusetts Raptor Center. The purpose of the organization was to rescue and rehabilitate birds of prey along with educating the public about conservation and environmental concerns. Often these birds would have injuries ranging from automobile strikes to tree service companies felling trees disturbing a nest of owls. Many birds were helped through the Massachusetts Raptor center with care from an on-call veterinarian who provided care and necessary medical attention to these birds of prey. Many of the rehabbed birds were released back into the wild from where they were rescued, while others who were more than likely not to survive in the wild were transferred over to the Mass Raptor Center as an educational bird to be used at outreaches.
Some of the bird’s that Marla had owned over the years include Kestrel’s, Merlin’s, Harris Hawks, Several Red Tails, Barred owl’s, Barn Owls, Great Horned owls, Snowy Owls, Osprey’s, Turkey Vulture, Saw Whet owls, Screech owls, peregrine falcon, Sharp Shinned hawk, Coopers Hawk and Red Shouldered hawk. Marla’s passion and commitment to wildlife was inspired by her own mother Edna who always pushed to leave the world a better place than when you found it. Marla even made it into a book that was published by Harvard University press called Rarest of the Rare where there’s a small writeup about her. Marla was a member of the Massachusetts Falconry and Hawk trust, Kiwanis, Franklin Lodge #23 Independent Order of Odd Fellows Taunton, MA.
Marla touched the lives of many people and animals and her legacy will carry on. She will be missed by her family, especially by her son Jason, daughter-in-law Olivia and grandson Carter as well as her many friends.
