Meeting the public

So for the past couple of weeks I have had a big role in working with the 4 cheetah cubs we are raising to be ambassadors for CCF. Chewbakka, our last ambassador, unfortunately died earlier this year after a 16 year career at CCF and due to that loss it was time for us to begin raising more cheetahs to follow in his pawprints. Last August we received four three week old cheetah cubs from the government of Namibia who had confiscated them from a farmer in the Okakarara area of Namibia who shot their mother and captured the cubs. This is why they are currently called the Okakarara Cubs. Because they came to us at such a young age, there was no hope for them to be released into the wild and we decided to hand raise them and train them to become our new ambassador cheetahs.

Now these four cubs (Kaijay, Peter, Tiger Lily, and Senay) are 11 months old and they are growing very fast. As ambassadors, for the rest of their lives they will be meeting people and the public around Namibia and here at CCF's main center so it is very important for them to be very use and habituated to humans. We spend time with them everyday socializing, while at the same time respecting them for the wild animals they are and will always be. Although they are ambassadors in training and are very comfortable with humans, we always remember the fact that they will always have their instincts and will never be CCF's "pets." We consider them to be more of employees of CCF and ambassadors of the cheetah species.

One of the things we do daily is take them on walks to meet the guest we have here at CCF on a daily basis. It's not quite the same as walking a dog, yet it has similar qualities. Obviously, much more patience and awareness is needed because they are wild, but again because they have been with people their entire lives and are habituated to humans, we can take them on these walks and use them in this way without at all making them uncomfortable. I've greatly enjoyed working with these guys and being one of their handlers. I have learned so much but I have also been able to utilize so many of the things I have learned at Unity. I don't have many pictures but here is one. Again like always I am always happy to answer any questions and welcome any comments. Until next time...

- Eli

Myself with Senay, Dr. Marker with Tiger Lily and Andreas who was a high school volunteer

Does that bird have a mouth?

This week has been a very eventful week with programs just about every day that I worked. Wednesday we drove all the way out to Stamford for two back to back programs at the same place. The first group was pre-K to 2nd grade and the second group was 2nd thru about 8th. I was a little nervous about this one because both groups had upwards of 100-120 or so kids, plus we had to use a microphone! I've never used one for a program before other than for my environmental challenge project, so it took getting used too. It also doesn't help when you like to talk with your hands. Though for the first program we shortened it to about 35 minutes for the age group and I had to present Chico and the environment. I feel like I started off a little rough with Chico, but when I went on the environment next I felt more comfortable. We had a short 10 minute break until the next group came in and then we were off with our talk again. For the second talk I did only Chico and it went a lot smoother. I was so tired this way I was actually falling asleep on the car ride there and back.

Thursday we did our cleaning day due to the busyness of the rest of the week. Me and Jeanne did our regular cleaning routine of raking, watering, and scrubbing. Kyle showed up an hour later and got there for the tail end of cleaning. After cleaning I had the chance to jess up Silo which took no time at all. She's such a polite bird once you get ahold of her. While I had her out I practiced my Emyrs talk being I was to present him at the program on Friday. Our next task was to clean out Spirits carrier. We decided to let Kyle hold him being he was one of the only ones who haven't so far. Only problem is Spirit decided to nip Kyle and his reaction was to open his hand and let go of the jesses. Lucky for me he stayed in between two carriers so it was easier to grab him. We also grabbed Emyrs to clip his nails and went to check the Red-tailed feet. Jeanne grabbed the first, adult Red-tailed and check to see that his feet were looking better since we switched out some perches. Then it was my turn to go and get the baby hawk.

This is when I learned a very important lesson, you can never be too careful about what your doing. I grabbed the baby and had each leg in one of my hands, but he was facing me and he needed to be facing away. So I was able to switch one hand and held him as far out as I could so that I could grab the other leg. He almost got my arm when he swung around to perch of my glove. When I reached in to grab his other leg he reached out and tagged me on my face. For those who don't know, when an animal tags you it means that they either got you with their claws, talons, or bit you. The whole thing happened so fast that I didn't really think he got me nearly as bad as he did. Lucky for me he missed my eye and only got me with one talon, but it was still enough to cut my face a bit to start bleeding. The important fact about the situation is I didn't freak out, I kept cool and continued to restrain him. I thought I had the bird far enough away but you can never be to careful. Like Alan said, next time just let him go and try again. I learned my lesson and that's something I never want to happen again. These birds are powerful creatures and need to be respected at all times. The minute you even start to get too comfortable in what your doing is the time you'll mess up.

And that wasn't even the end of the day! After I had a chance to clean up Jeanne and I had to drive down to Pfizor for our rodent pick up. It was a nice bonding time and we were able to get there just on time. Once we got back it was packing time. We had to take all of the mice and rats from the three boxes we picked up and place them into freezer bags for storage. It took us about an hour to get everything all packed up.

Friday was another program day, and another 2 hour ride. We were doing a program for a library that Hope Douglas had done programs for 18 years, so we had big shoes to fill. It was an extremely varied group from young children to adults. I had to present Emyrs for the first time to this group, and it went well except one thing. I was talking about his weight, and it's a natural thing to kinda lift the bird up and down, but with Emyrs that’s not good cause he has a balancing issues. I just glad he didn't bate, he just turned around with his back facing the crowd.

Yesterday was a fun day because we were at Riverfest. We arrived at 3 in the the afternoon and got everything set up with enough time to do a quick walk around. At 4 we started to take the birds out, only 3 at a time, and cycled them every 30 minutes. That way all of the birds, and handlers, got a short break from the crowds. I handled Herc for the day and switched of with Rose every other cycle. Rose is one of Hope's old volunteers who's trying to start off on her own. Herc did well but could only stay out for 10-15 minutes at a time because the music was stressing him out. It's amazing at meet and greets how little people know about these birds. We stayed there until 8pm in which we packed up and left. We wanted to be out of there before 9pm when the fireworks we going to be set off. Over all it went very well.

After a crazy week of programs and lessons learned I have a day to rest before I start all over again. Though I only have 5 weeks until my internship is over and school starts shortly after.

-Heather

week 4 state capital internship

This week was pretty calm. I got my first draft of my op.ed. done. I am learning about writing this, and how my style is and what i need to do to change for talking to constituents and what words they like and the wording they look for when reading.
I also had a chance to talk to our legislative director and learn more about what he does and how he balances all his jobs. As well what it takes to get something done. One thing i found out is that you must really follow bills cafe fully and talk to everyone who is effect by this bill as it goes through the process. This is because u must talk to them before u emend so that can let you know how they feel. I also learned you have to learn how work with each member because they all have very different ways of handling legislation. It is also very important to remember you won’t be an expert on everything. So rely on the experts, often times they come to you, and want to share their knowledge. Use that and also use your Caucasus experts and annalist.

I also have been doing a lot reading. This week i have been going through and reading the water code. This is because i would like to become an expert in water in California and i have access to them, and the time to read them. The part i have read this week deals with funding and appointing the chairs to the state water committee.

-rae

African Safari 3D

So I know I'm almost a week late on my week 4 update, but last week internet here wasn't working so well and I finally have found time to update everyone on what has been going on. Last week a large film crew was here to get shots of our cheetahs for a full length feature film they are working on called African Safari 3D. From what I understand, the film is about kind of a mix between a documentary and normal film in which the two "actors" lead the audience on a safari through Africa from the southern portion of Namibia to Mt. Kilimanjaro in Kenya. It's being filmed in 3D and is set to be released sometime in June or July of 2012. All last week we were all extremely busy getting the film crew the shots they needed plus taking care of the normal day to day activities of CCF.

The reason this film crew came to CCF was mainly to get footage of cheetahs running, so we did our best to provide good opportunities for a usable shot. They came in and filmed at our normal cheetah runs, but we also allowed them to come along for feeding. For some of our cats, we run them behind our feeding truck before they are fed in order to exercise them, so rather than use our own truck we fed out of one of theirs that had a camera and a stabilizer with it. I unfortunately didn't get to come along for this but I saw it from a distance and it looked really neat. Here is a picture of the crew and the truck with the camera with our lead cheetah keeper.

Juliette, our lead keeper, is near the middle of the image with the brown hat

In the film there are two "actors" who are more of guides than actors. One of these people is Kevin Richardson who is a lion and hyena enthusiast who has a center in South Africa. Kevin is well known in the wildlife world, especially when dealing with lions and I got to spend a good amount of time talking with him. We had an 1 1/2 hour conversation about what it is he has been doing and his outlook on conservation and issues surrounding the lion. He is often criticized for the way he works, but after talking with him I know he is in it for good reasons and has a very good outlook on conservation and the issues surrounding the animals he is passionate about and caring for them in captivity. I really enjoyed spending time with him and Mara, the "actress," during the time they were here.

That was pretty much the most exciting part of last week. Again, I know this update is late but when you are in the middle of Africa 45 minutes from the closest civilization, internet is not always the best. I will post the update for this week in a few days. As always, I'm happy to answer any questions and I welcome any comments. Until next time....

- Eli

Happy 4th of July!

It’s been a crazy and long week filled with GPS training, river rescues, and 4th of July fun! The week started out with a trip to the Delaware Water Gap to learn about GPS units and mapping the park. My housemate Becky and I will be working on a project that involves taking pictures of any man-made structures along the river corridor and recording their location with GPS units. When it’s all said and done, you should be able to go onto Google Maps and basically go on a virtual “trip down the Delaware”. We’re doing a test run this Friday so it should be exciting!

On Saturday I went canoe roving with my other housemate, Will. Since it was the start of the 4th of July weekend, it was extremely busy (not to mention it was a beautiful day). We contacted over 400 people, and had to rescue 3 because they capsized and ended up floating down the river. Since it poured on Sunday, the river was over 6 feet again which meant we couldn’t be on the river. Since I was scheduled to canoe rove on the 4th and couldn’t, 2 other rangers and I went down to the Barryville bridge and watched people pass by. I would look upstream with my binoculars to make sure that everyone was wearing life jackets, and if they weren’t we would inform them that it was mandatory when the water is over 6 feet.


After “spying” on people all morning, I had the opportunity to walk in the Narrowsburg, NY 4th of July parade. Three other staff members and I decorated the van with safety paraphernalia and walked along, passing out safety tip cards with lifesavers attached to them (clever!). I had a blast, and it was awesome to have the opportunity to represent the park service.


I’ve been working on my fishing program and it is pretty much completed, which is good because my first program is next week. I also have a “river reading” next week, which is basically just going to a local library, reading a book to kids, and then doing a simple craft project with them. Summer is flying by and I can’t believe I only have 1 month left here! I’m definitely going to try to enjoy it as much as possible!

Until next time,
Lara

And soda cans take 200 years to decompose...

This week has been the beginning of my participation in the education part of Horizon wings. Monday we had a program at a Starbase camp near Bradley airport in which I did the environmental part of our program. This section is supposed to be about 10 minutes long and we talk about things people can do to help protect the environment, more specifically recycling. We have a few items like a soda can, plastic bag, fishing line, and a few other things that we explain what happens to them when they are thrown away in the trash or thrown in the environment. Also to beat home the point we tell them how long it takes said item to decompose, and that brings the reality to it. Being this was an environmental camp so they were really into the whole talk, even asking questions which we usually don't do with this part. When we got back from the program I got to unjess Athena and feed the turtles. That's the funniest thing to watch and hear is a turtle eating some earthworms.

On Wednesday it was just Jeanne and I at work. We spent the majority of the day cleaning out the travel boxes. Not that most people see the inside or care what the birds come in, but some of the birds can be pretty nasty. It's mostly the hawks and falcons that make the biggest mess. So we cleaned out the inside of all of them and polished the outside. Boy do they look pretty now, which is good because we are being flooded with programs. After cleaning I had the task of weighing all of the babies we have now, which is up to 6 (2 Barred owls, a Great horned, Screech, Red-tailed, and Red-sholdered). It's fun trying to catch a feisty, flighted baby bird. The Red-tailed was constantly jumping when I went to grab for his upper leg. The Barred owls flew everywhere and hung from the ceiling. Little baby Screech owl stirred up all of the other owls in the aviary flying around. The worst of them all was the baby Red-sholdered hawk. From the moment I walked into the aviary the bird started screeching like crazy, hopping back and forth. I was afraid it was going to jump on my head being it was on a perch above me. Birds defiantly keep you on your toes, which is a important thing to learn in my field. If you let your guard down for even a second you could be dealing with a talon wound.

Thursday was our next program day for another summer camp. I went to jess up Herc the Screech owl for the program, but come to find out he had a gunky eye. Mary-beth thinks something scratched up his nictitating membrane, or third eye lid. So I had to catch Cedar and jess her up, which was fun. We also brought along Chico, Oscar, and Athena. I had to do the environmental portion again AND talk about Chico. I feel like I did alright when I did my talk on Chico, even though I did miss a few facts. No matter how many times I have to do a talk in public I'm always nervous. The only bad part about my Chico talk was that he got tangled up in his jesses when I went to go put him back in his box. I wasn't entertained by that because I had to do my environment portion! Jeanne helped me untangle him while Mary-beth started the talk off. Other than that it was a great group of kids that were engaged and asked a lot of good questions.

Like usual, Friday was cleaning day. Patricia showed up about an hour after Jeanne, Brenda, and I had already started. We had to clean faster than usual today because we had a family coming over for a tour of the facility and see the owls. When we were done I went and talked to Julian, in which I got a very quiet and shy "Who's a good bird". That many my day more than anything. When the group got there Jeanne gave them a tour while the 3 of us got out some owls. I had Cedar, Patricia had Silo, and Brenda had Emyrs. While Brenda and Patrica were talking about the birds Jeanne grabbed Oscar. They loved being able to see the owls up close. That's probably one of the more rewarding parts of doing educations or up close and personal things is see people’s faces light up when they're that close.

Well this week is going to be a short-ish one due to the holidays. Hope everyone has a happy 4th of July.
-Heather

Week 3 of state capital internship

I was out sick this week, but really looking forward to next week