Jacey Birch is Local 10's Animal Advocate reporter and investigator for animal stories. She is also a weekend evening anchor. Jacey joined Local 10 News in January 2004 and is proud that many of her animal investigations have not only educated people, but changed laws on the books in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Jacey is a born and bred native South Floridian. She grew up in North Miami, but when her family moved to Broward County, she attended Deerfield Beach Middle School and Deerfield Beach High School. After graduation, she attended the University of Florida, earning her Bachelor of Arts in political science and Bachelor of Science in journalism. After college, it was off to Clarksburg, West Virginia, and WBOY for her first job in television anchoring the weekend newscast. Clarksburg, a small coal-mining town, was a big cultural change from Miami. The first story she covered was the Y2K "crisis" on New Year's Eve. Snowstorms were a big part of everyday life while she was there, and this Florida girl still can't believe she maneuvered around those snow-covered roads and mountains hunting down her stories as a one-man-band. After six months, she took her next job at WDBJ in Roanoke, Virginia, where she was responsible for daily weather reports and entertainment stories in the Star City. She loved the small-town atmosphere, the mild change in seasons and the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. From Virginia, it was off to Nashville, Tennessee, country music capital of the world. There Jacey was in charge of anchoring the weekend weathercasts and reporting from the field. While at WZTV, she spent a week in South Carolina going through boot camp with the Marine trainees for a special series. From there, the call to come home came by way of Local 10. She has spent the past 15 years reporting and anchoring, as well as covering weather, traffic, the Heat going to the Finals and more hurricanes than she can even count. But nothing beats being home, working at the station she grew up watching and learning from her "TV idols," Don Noe and Dwight Lauderdale. Jacey lives in Fort Lauderdale with her son, Jupiter, and their three rescue pups, Simba, Jagger and Radar. She is a huge animal advocate and is constantly encouraging pet parents to "adopt, don't shop" when it comes to saving homeless animals sitting on doggy death row. Animals are near and dear to her heart as she works closely with all of the rescue groups in South Florida, especially the Humane Society of Broward County, where she serves as a board member of PAWS. She also serves as a board member of Zoo Miami. Jacey takes her animal advocacy so seriously that she even became a vegan so that she could "walk the talk" and protect all animals, not just cats and dogs. She also embraces the title "tree hugger" wholeheartedly as she spends much of her energy on efforts to save our earth, including driving her faithful Prius. An avid environmentalist, Jacey works to make a difference in preserving our planet and loves covering stories in South Florida regarding the ocean, reefs, beaches, parks and alternative sources of energy. Jacey spends most of her spare time on the water snorkeling, on land exercising, at home reading, writing her blog whenever the mood strikes and saving animals no matter where she is or what she's doing.
