In the Groove

It’s day 11, and for the past couple of days I have been caring primarily for other wildlife. This includes the basic duties of the other teams such as food preparation, feeding and cleaning enclosures. Team other wildlife is made up of the animals at the center that do not fall under the two primary dietary divisions of either primates or bears. Other wildlife is made up of two iguanas, two otters, three langurs, a horse, four hornbills, a cockatoo and a peacock. Typically, other wildlife and quarantine go hand in hand. The animals in quarantine are those that are new to the center and are kept in quarantine for a few months before placed within the center in order for staff and volunteers to closely observe the animal to test for everything from health to social behavior. Currently, there are fifteen animals in quarantine, two leopard cats, five macaques and eight gibbons. For the past few weeks, other wildlife and quarantine have been run by a volunteer named Sara. Unfortunately, she will be leaving for India in less than a week, and she and the two volunteer coordinators, Emma and Tommy, have been training me to take over when she moves on. I really enjoy what I’m doing and I know that the more I do it, I’ll love it even more.

Rainy Days

Today was a pretty rainy day, so that means a bad beach day, so therefore a busy day at the zoo. When it rains, we have to do our animal presentations at our covered stage area which is a lot smaller than our normal stage area that can seat a lot more people. When it is busy and we use the covered stage it is always difficult because everyone tries to cram under the covered area and crowd all around me. I always feel like people can't hear me as well in there too. It's a bit stressful.

Anyways, today I got to meet a falconer who lives in MA, and she helped us make new perches for a bunch of our birds. We just got a falcon yesterday. He is gorgeous!!! He is half peregrine, half gyrfalcon, and his name is Denver. He originally comes from Colorado, so the name is fitting.

I have always wanted to work with animals, and a few years ago I couldn't decide if I wanted to work with different animals everyday that were out in the wild and observe them from a distance, or if I wanted to work with the same animals everyday at a zoo. After thinking about it and starting to volunteer at ZooQuarium I quickly decided that I wanted to be able to work with animals that I could interact with, even if that meant taking care of the same animals day after day. I would rather be able to bond with animals like I can at ZooQuarium because it is one of the best feelings in the world when an animal approaches you because they know you and trust you, and most of all understands that you're the hand that feeds them. :)

Also, teaching the public is a great joy as well. I love teaching people everyday about the animals I love and care for so much. Today after my hawk show, a bunch of little kids were buying little stuffed red tailed hawks from our gift shop. That definitely put a smile on my face to know that I had that much of an impact on those kids.

Working with animals and even being on a stage in front of an audience with an animal just comes so natural to me. There is nothing else I would rather do for the rest of my life then to work with wonderful animals and help give other people a better appreciation and understanding for them as well.

Summer is coming to an end

It has been very hot here the past few days. It's really tough doing animal presentations in the direct sunlight, especially while holding a stinky sweaty skunk at the same time. Well, all I know is that no matter how tough some days at the zoo can be and no matter how annoying some zoo guests can get as well, the second I leave to go back to school I am going to want to go back to the zoo. ZooQuarium is like my second home during the summer and this year I have grown very attached to Jasper the hawk as well. I wish I could take him to Maine with me. I know that leaving Jasper is going to be the hardest thing I have done in a long time. If it wasn't for leaving him I would be very excited to go back to school, but right now I am not looking forward to saying goodbye. At least I will be working with him all the way up to the day before I move in.

Doing animal presentations with Jasper is one of the best feelings in the world. He trusts me completely now, and even knows when it's time to go do a show. We have such a bond, and I really hope that when I go back to ZooQuarium he will remember me and that our trusting relationship does not go away.

The Monkey Ate my Glasses!

It’s the end of day five for Amanda and me at the rescue center and we have just had our first day off, although not by choice. The day before we were collecting food bowls from a macaque enclosure when I made the rookie mistake of allowing my face to get to close to the cage and within seconds I received a sucker punch between the eyes and my glasses were gone. Patty, a female long-tailed macaque, was munching on my frames while I called to Amanda to get help. After what seemed like hours and multiple spectators later, a member of the Thai staff at the center simply went into the cage and retrieved what was left of my glasses, two lenses and the bridge of my once beautiful blue plastic and wire frames. By this point in time I was completely distraught, because not only was I in a country where I couldn’t speak the language, now I couldn’t even see. Luckily, I was told by many of the volunteers that optometry was very popular in Thailand, and it wouldn’t be difficult for me to find a place where I could get my macaque scratched lens into new frames. It was also fortunate that, at the time, two of the volunteers spoke Thai fluently and they were able to write me a note to give to an optometrist explaining what I wanted. So with the knowledge that I would soon be able to see again, and with the note from my Thai friend, Lissa, Amanda and I made our first of many trips to a nearby city called Hua Hin (pronounced Wa Hin). Upon arrival to a huge mall known as Market Village, we quickly discovered an eye care center and within twenty minutes, I had received an eye exam, new frames, and contact lenses, so I would never have to relive the experience. Amanda and I also got some pizza, and the indulgence of cheese after five days without was almost as satisfying as getting my eyesight back.

week 6 at camp farley

This past week was not the best, but it was still a good week. My cabin was more talkative, but they were not as friendly to each other. It was hard trying to balance the different personality clashes. As long as I make the effort it will be okay. The kids this week were good and very fun during recreation. I love when they get so competitive and express so emotion when they are playing games. The excitement uplifts the counselors and it is a great feeling when you finish a game of capture the flag or kickball. There was one camper in particular that was so postivie during a game of kickball. We were down by 5 points, but she kept encouraging the whole team and it is moments like that that remind me how much I love this career choice.

Ropes was okay this week. We actually were able to get to a new element. They were good towards the end so I am glad I did not let the first few days get me down.

Week 5 at Camp farley

Well yet another week at Camp Farley. This week in ropes went amazing! The kids were cooperative, great listeners, and the best part ctually enjoyed ropes! A lot of times we get kids that sign up for the wrong reasons and it was refreshing to get kids that wanted to be in the adventure! Unfortunately it rained on their last day so a good hand full of them did not get to finsih the zip line and I felt so horrible about that, but the weather is unpredictable. Sometimes you get lucky and what you say actually gets through some kids so the lesson I learned this week is to always kepp changing things and reinventing yourself. Never stick to the same routine because it won't always affect one group like it would another. I had such an amazing week with them and I have to say they were my best group all summer!

My cabin was a little different. They were so tightly wound together that it was nearly impossible for me to get to know them.I felt like outsiders in my own cabin. I felt as if they did not care at all, but I undrestimated them. At the end of the week they hugged me and thanked me for such a good time. I was so surprised, but I was so glad that they had a good time. Even though someone does not express their every feeling and thought does not mean that I should have freaked out.

Cape Cod Canal Flows On

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted. A lot of water has passed under the dam (what dam? There isn't one) since the nail incident. We've had everything from technical difficulties in the theater to near-drownings in the canal. I have been getting a steady increase in attendance at my Sagamore Hill Hike; this past Friday, I had eight people! That was really good, especially since my previous maximum was four.

So far I have worked two evening programs, both of which were Kevin's. The most recent one featured a climatologist from NOAA, who talked about hurricanes and other storms that affect the New England Coast. I have also worked two Canal Kids programs, which are held on Wednesday mornings. The first topic was a touch tank of canal critters, which is so popular that we had about 90 people (including adults) show up. This past Wednesday we talked about marine debris and did a beach cleanup. The kids were more interested in looking for starfish and crabs than in picking up trash, but by the end of the program we had enough material to create an art project out of trash. The final result is on display at one of our recreation areas along the canal.

Every afternoon at 2pm, we give a tour of the Vistor Center, in which we focus on how the Corps of Engineers works to keep all ships that pass through the canal safe. When I'm working I'm usually the one to give the tour, since I'm the one doing an internship. We don't always have people interested in going on the tour, but a couple of times I have had about 10 attendees.

Last Friday one of the bosses at the Field Office taught me how to drive the full-size company pickup. I had never driven anything that big before, but it was a lot easier than I expected. Now I can drive any of the company vehicles anyone might ask me to. Being able to drive a truck will be a useful life skill, since park rangers' company vehicles tend to be a little on the big side. Driving that big boat-on-wheels really made me appreciate my little car!

Also on Friday was our Founder's Day celebration. Founder's Day commemorates the founding of the Army Corps of Engineers back in the 1700s. We had a cookout at Midway Recreation Area, and we all ate way too much! It started to rain right in the middle of the meal, but we were sitting under a pavilion, so it didn't matter. It was nice to have a(n authorized) 2-hour lunch break and hang with coworkers on a social level.

Today we had an unfortunate incident involving a couple of near-drownings. Two men almost died after disobeying orders not to go scuba diving in the canal. The Coast Guard and one of our patrol boats saved them, and I'm sure that now they understand why swimming in the canal is prohibited. The current moves at about 6 mph, which is faster than anyone can swim.

Well, that's a quick synopsis of what I've been up to. The picture below is of a tall ship that passed through the canal days ago.