Bill Van Bonn is no stranger to Ravenswood Media. In 2005 we did a short clip about him for the Envirovet website about his experience at Envirovet and how it helped his career in veterinary medicine. Bill went to veterinary school because he saw what being a vet does for the whole animal system. Taking what is known as the "traditional route", he worked in private practices with mainly cats, dogs and horses. Through that experience he began to look into alternative practice types. His love for the Great Lakes system and his vet training were the inspiration for getting involved with the overall health of the environment and the animals that live there. Bill attended Envirovet in 1991 and was introduced to a new path that would lead him further into environmental medicine. After Envirovet he worked for the U.S. military for fifteen years, mainly working with large aquatic mammals.

Presently Bill Van Bonn is The Senior Director for Animal health at The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. As the Senior Director for Animal Health he believes it is crucial to connect the public with animals and wildlife to promote their health in the wild. "To truly understand an animal's health and welfare it requires collaboration between the individuals focused on the animal in the wild and the animal in a managed environment. One cannot truly understand the animal by looking at it in only one environment; you must compare it to animals in different enviroments." This is what Van Bonn is driven by in his work and he uses this belief at the Shedd. "When you look at an animal in the wild you see blips of it at the surface, what it eats etc., but what happens when the animal is not in sight?" This is what Van Bonn and his team gets to see. And they use what they learn to contribute to maintaining the health of the animals in the wild where the details of so many are unknown.

For example, some dolphins have been watched on a 24 hour monitor in the wild. Through that biologists have concluded there is evidence that they have a high activity level at night. At the Shedd they are able to verify this on a daily basis, when in the evening they can watch the dolphins and track their activity levels. The dolphin exhibits and shows are very often more lively in the evening. Also, no one has ever witnessed a dolphin birth in the wild, but since they have been kept in aquariums they have been witnessed there many times. "This is truly an amazing thing to watch" Van Bonn says. Events like this are crucial in figuring out ways to keep these animals healthy and thriving in the wild for future generations.

The animal care team at the Shedd consists of three full time vets, five vet techs and one veterinary resident. They work hard to educate and encourage the public to get involved and do their part in conserving the environment and the wildlife that lives there. Van Bonn is proud to say that every animal in the Shedd Aquarium whether fish or whale, receives the same level of care. In fact, a reconstructive knee surgery for an American Bullfrog was performed recently with great success and a full recovery for the bullfrog, another first for wildlife health.

Sue Crombie has worked with Ravenswood Media since 2005 as an editor/production assistant. She is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago. Some of her experience has been as a videographer at Lollapalooza in 2005, Sound/Production assistant on the feature Wrigleyville, as well as freelance projects. She won a US Forest Service Supervisor's Honor award for her work on Caves: Life Beneath the Forest. Her role at Ravenswood has nurtured her love for animals and the environment.

Jacek Lupina has worked for Ravenswood Media as a cameraman/ sound recordist since 2004. He is a director and is in the final stages of completing a documentary which follows Jacek Czyz, a world-renowned climber, as he pushes a new route up the face of El Capitan.

David McGowan is president of Ravenswood Media, Inc. and has been making documentaries for twenty years. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject in 1991. He is currently working on a program for Envirovet, an organization which brings veterinary medicine to wildlife health issues. Recently, he produced "Caves: Life Beneath the Forest", a half hour program that explores the biological systems in the caves of southern Indiana. McGowan has also pioneered a new genre of video on the Internet called the "webumentary." The website www.midwestfrogs.com is a series of video clips of calling frogs and interviews with scientists about frog issues. He is looking forward to his work with The Nature Conservancy this fall on the Blue River system of southern Indiana.

Coulter Mitchell has worked with Ravenswood Media since 2006 as an editor. He has worked extensively as an editor and cameraman and he has studied editing, computer modeling, and animation in Chicago and New York. He travels extensively while specializing in documentary work. He is currently involved in the production of a documentary for a Florida company. As a filmmaker he won a Chicago International REEL Shorts Festival Audience Choice Award in September 2005.

Ken Redeker is a network specialist at Ravenswood Media. He is currently pursuing a degree in computer networking, repair and web design. He has a certificate from College of DuPage for Internetworking Technician. In his free time he enjoys exploring caves, backpacking and canoeing or kayaking. In the past six months Ken has done a 3-day solo canoe trip in the Everglades, a solo day-trip into the Okefenokee Swamp, and is currently planning a 5-day high altitude hiking trip to Rocky Mountain National Park in August.

Kathy Robinson is an intern at Ravenswood Media and a 2005 graduate of Columbia College's Film/Video program with an emphasis on film editing. Kathy is a second Class Legalman with the Naval Reserve and works full time as an Investigative Support Specialist with the Dept. of Justice. She has worked as a Video Tape Operator for the television ministry at the Apostolic Church of God and as an intern at Ki Edit & Design. She hopes to become a skilled and proficient editor.