He worked at the post office for 31 years, served his country in the Navy for six more and yet that is not what he is known for. Angel Lange's work with winged creatures has earned him the right to be called Angel.
Angel Lange is a man of few words.
"Go on get up there," Lange said to two Texas longhorn steers he was herding in his backyard.
"Three horses, three buffaloes and two Texas Longhorns," Lange revealed.
Those are the animals that Lange has in the backyard. Don't forget the chickens and the doe over in the pen. And then there are the three owls.
"I got one that has a concussion. One got caught in a trap and the other has a broken wing," Lange said.
"To work birds of prey, you have to be a federal rehabber and there are not many of them around. Almost everything we get within our district comes here to Angel," Department of Natural Resources Office Joe Haywood said.
"So why have you been doing this for 42 years?" we asked Lange.
"Why? The good Lord wants me to, I guess," he answered.
"You must get something out of it or you wouldn't do it," we pointed out.
"I get satisfaction when we turn one loose. That is beautiful, isn't it? If you turn one loose in the evening and watch him fly off," he shared.
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52 birds were brought to his farm last year. 44 of them were released.
"Are you strong enough to fly away? Are you strong enough to fly away?" Lange asked an owl he was gathering up out of the cage. "You ready? I am going to see if this one will fly. I'm going to see if he'll fly. Okay."
He tossed the owl into the air. If flew momentarily and then fell into the chicken coup.
"He went over by the chickens. If I leave it there I don't want it to get my wife's chickens or she'll probably get me," he laughingly said as he made his way toward the chickens.
This Post Office retiree who could sub for Santa could just as easily work for the DNR, but he refuses.
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"If you go to the academy, the first thing they want you to do is cut your hair and your beard. I did six years in the military. I don't want anyone to touch my beard," Lange responded.
"She's just in bad shape," he said as he looked toward the cage of an injured eaglet who has touched his heart.
"She hit a power line and broke a wing. So they called the DNR. The DNR brought her straight up here," he explained.
Liberty is headed to Purdue University for surgery. For this 65-year-old Vietnam-era veteran, this is personal.
"Owls, hawks, I will work well with them and I do real well, but an eagle, I don't want to lose them," he said.
Just because of the symbolism?
"Yes, that is our American bird. You got to put it out back in the wild," he said proudly.
"This is not a petting zoo. We don't want people coming out and petting the animals. They are wild animals and they go back to the wild," Officer Joe Haywood from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources explained. "They will tear you up. I've seen Angel bleed a few times," he continued.
"You see that?" Haywood asked Angel after the owl he was holding bit him on cue.
"That is okay, though. It's okay," Lange said as he wiped his bloody right hand on the back of his pants.
So now we know wild animals will bite the hand that heals them. By doing so, at least in this case, they prove that angels do bleed.
Angel is a nickname that he was given during his service during the war. His real name is Robert. There is only one animal Angel says he will not work with. He says snakes are out.
Angel has another hobby: painting. He has painted many scenes depicting important periods in his life.
