Nielsen, Leon 1937-

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Nielsen, Leon 1937-

PERSONAL:

Born April 26, 1937, in Viby, Jylland, Denmark; immigrated to Canada, 1967; naturalized Canadian citizen; immigrated to the United States, 1976; married Jill R. Turcott (a psychotherapist), November 29, 1985; children: Logan. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Attended public school in Viby, Denmark. Politics: Conservative.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Brookfield, WI. Office—Leon Nielsen Collectible Books, P.O. Box 1654, Brookfield, WI 53008-1654. E-mail—lnielsen@wi.rr.com.

CAREER:

Served in Danish Air Force for eight years, and Danish Army, Special Operations Forces, for three years ending in 1966, leaving service as first lieutenant; Alberta Department of Lands and Forest, Alberta, Canada, worked as forest ranger and wildlife officer, beginning c. 1967, and as instructor in wildlife management, conservation biology, veterinary science, ecology, and law enforcement; Wisconsin Humane Society, Milwaukee, assistant manager, c. 1976-1979, executive director, beginning 1979; independent wildlife and zoo manager, law enforcement and animal welfare officer, and wildlife management consultant to Safe-Capture International, Inc.; Exotic Wildlife Management, Brookfield, WI, former owner and manager; past director of St. Maarten Zoo in the Dutch West Indies; Leon Nielsen Collectible Books, Brookfield, owner and bookseller.

WRITINGS:

Chemical Immobilization in Urban Animal Control Work, Wisconsin Humane Society (Milwaukee, WI), 1982.

(Editor, with M.E. Fowler and J.C. Haigh, and contributor) Chemical Immobilization of North American Wildlife, Wisconsin Humane Society (Milwaukee, WI), 1982.

(Editor, with R.D. Brown, and contributor) Translocation of Wild Animals, Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute (Kingsville, TX), 1988.

Chemical Immobilization of Wild and Exotic Animals, Iowa State University Press (Ames, IA), 1999.

Arkham House Books: A Collector's Guide, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 2004.

Robert E. Howard: A Collector's Descriptive Bibliography of American and British Hardcover, Paperback, Magazine, Special and Amateur Editions, with a Biography, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 2007.

Contributor to books, including Lumb & Jones's Veterinary Anesthesia, edited by J.C. Thurman, W.J. Tranquilli, and G.J. Benson, Williams & Wilkins (Baltimore, MD), 1996. Contributor to military and wildlife journals, including E: Environmental Magazine, Wildlife Control Technology, Burroughs Bulletin, Cimmerian, and Community Animal Control.

SIDELIGHTS:

Leon Nielsen told CA: "I began writing short stories (primarily mystery and horror tales, largely inspired by Mickey Spillane, Raymond Chandler, and Edgar Allan Poe) and essays on military subjects in my twenties. While some of the military essays were accepted within the service, I was not successful with my short stories. After receiving a drawer full of rejection slips from various publishers, I threw in the towel and focused my time and energy on other matters.

"In my mid-forties I began to write again. This time it was nonfiction, textbook writing as it related to my profession. I had numerous essays, articles, and books published on the subject of capturing and translocating wild animals. My motivation for writing or editing was in response to a pronounced need for more knowledge and information on this animal handling technique. Too many workers were using the methodology without understanding its applications or consequences. As a result, numerous animals (often of endangered species) died during capture attempts, and even more were injured in the process of restraint and handling.

"In 1996 I began work on my last book on chemical immobilization, and it was published in 1999. It is the most comprehensive text currently available on the subject and encompasses many of my personal field experiences. By then, though, I had turned my attention to book collecting, an interest I had cultivated more or less since the late 1970s. As I became more involved in the world of collectible books, I recognized a general need for accurate bibliographical information and began writing in that genre. The first result was Arkham House Books: A Collector's Guide. This was followed by a bio-bibliography of the Texas writer Robert E. Howard, and I am currently doing research for a bio-bibliography of serialized military fiction and a history of the German attack and occupation of Denmark in World War II."