The People Behind the Refuge
Our Founders
Dianne Odegard
After 12‑½ years as Education and Public Outreach Manager at Bat Conservation International by day and bat rehabilitator by night, Dianne has now gone full-time with her true passion, as co-founder of Austin Bat Refuge. Dianne has been a wildlife rehabilitator since 1990, always working with animals that live in close proximity to urban areas and human structures, with the hope of educating people about ways to live harmoniously with wildlife. She considers bat care to be service work, benefiting both bats and humans.
Lee Mackenzie
As a carpenter, and then a nationally-acclaimed design-build remodeler, Lee has been humanely dealing with a variety of small mammals in structures his whole career. A wildlife worker for over 20 years, and now co-founder of Austin Bat Refuge, he creatively combines rehabilitation and permaculture, providing the highest possible quality of life in our “bat gardens,” an Austin Bat Refuge original concept and the first of its kind.
