Car Talk radio show tackles wildlife topic

Kieran Lindsey, former Texas A&M University wildlife major,
and now Virginia Tech professor, tackles the subject of
wildlife and automobile maintenance.

Any of you who find yourself out driving around on a Saturday morning, and have happened to tune into an National Public Radio station, have probably heard the show Car Talk. Who would have guessed that two goofy brothers answering car maintenance questions on the radio would have been successful? I wouldn't. Yet they've become an enormous hit with a syndicated newspaper column and with NPR listeners with cars over a certain age.

The Car Talk brothers usually make me laugh. So I was pleasantly surprised a few months ago when I got a call from someone purportedly working for the show, and who needed some advice about pest problems in cars. It turns out that my caller was Dr. Kieran Lindsey, a Texas A&M grad who now works at Virginia Tech and who is moonlighting her wildlife biology skills and knowledge as the "wildlife expert" for Car Talk. An article about Kieran and her new gig just appeared in AgriLife Today.

I'm proud to report that a couple of the issues we discussed are now part of Kieran's Car Talk webpage called Wildlife and Your Car. So for all the times you wake up in the middle of the night in a panic, worrying about spiders or bed bugs in your car, you now have a place to go online. I know I'll sleep easier knowing that Car Talk has all the answers about what to do should be car is invaded by snakes, rats, goats and cats. Oh, and don't forget the perennial worry about what will happen to your dog in the front seat should your airbag deploy.

Given the current state of the Texas budget and the economy, Dr. Lindsey gives me great hope. If a wildlife biologist can get a gig advising people how to keep wildlife out of their cars, perhaps there's a place for an unemployed Ph.D. entomologist in the new economy.