Week 7

I've decided to leave the reserve early. My seven weeks are up but I was still planning on doing service there even after my hours were up for Bonner. The owner of the reserve came up to me and told me that she heard what was going on. Luckily, she has cameras all over the reserve. She told me that she has seen and has proof how hard I work and that she knows everyone else is lying. She apologized for their behavior and told me that she likes me and wants me at the reserve. She told me that I am welcome back any time I want and not to let anyone scare me away. That made me feel a lot better. I am sad to leave the animals. I've really grown to love them. The owner let me take pictures and say my goodbyes. I would like to work there again but I feel very unwelcome from everyone else there. I really want to come back in the winter when I don't have to work in the heat. I also want to see the wolves beautiful full winter coats. Overall this was a wonderful experience. I got to work with animals that most people have to stay fifteen feet away from at a zoo and I learned so many interesting facts about the animals. I really enjoyed my summer of service.

Week 6

This week was the worst week possible. Somehow the other volunteers found out that I was getting paid to work their and they made life hell for me. Even though they know it's not the reserve that's paying me, they still resent the fact that I'm making money off of working there. They didn't take the fact that I gave up a summer job to do service for them and help with all the hard work that they have to do with such a short staff. The temporary volunteers lied to the senior volunteers and told them that I wasn't working and pulling my weight. They've liked me this entire time and they know how hard I work, and now all of the sudden, I don't do anything. In most cases, I work twice as many hours as any other volunteer there. I was approached by two of the senior volunteers and told what was being said. I started crying really hard because I work so hard and for everyone to say that I wasn't doing anything was just so hurtful. I know who a few of the people that were lying about me were, and they don't know that I know yet. They're acting really fake and pretending everything is fine. I cried the whole day and then had to help give a tour. I just wanted to leave.

Week 5

This week I was allowed to go into a cage with one of my favorite wolves at the reserve! Sierra was the first show wolf for Bush Gardens. She's around fifteen years old. This is even better than the tiger walks because she wasn't on a leash. It was just me and Sierra. There was a senior volunteer in the cage as well just to be safe. I was so excited because she is such a sweet wolf and it's hard to love on the animals as much as you want to through a cage. She was as excited as I was. She actually jumped up on me. There was one paw on each of my shoulders. It wasn't aggressive (she was licking my face) but it was a little scary. She's so big and powerful that she accidentally pushed me against the cage. After the senior volunteer got her down, she laid down on the ground and exposed her belly for me to rub. Work was a little difficult this week because everything is outside and it has been pouring rain. You have to do all the work even if it's lightning because the animals still have to eat. There's not much shelter except for a shed so after work is done, we all kind of hide in there. I hope it stops raining next week.

Week 4

This week I was given permission to touch all the animals!! I am so excited. I finally get to love on these amazing animals. Their fur feels amazing. Slowka, one of our asian leopards, has fur that feels like silk. Serabi is the female lion. She won't stop licking my hand and rubbing against the cage so that I can reach all her favorite spots to be pet. I've really started to build relationships with the animals as well as the volunteers. Most of the volunteers are really nice and hard working. I'm really enjoying my time here. Now that the animals are comfortable with me and I can interact with them, it makes all the work I do for them easier. Lately I've been doing some manual labor. I've had to mulch quite a bit all around the reserve, and I've had to put some wheel barrels together. I've also had to fill in some ditches that they dug to put in piping. All of this in the hot sun is really taxing. I've been crashing really hard when I go to bed and I always take two showers because I smell like poop, raw meat, and sweat when I get home. My parents and my boyfriend came on a tour this week. It was really fun having them involved in what I've been so passionate doing this summer. I'm happy they're getting to see all the animals I've been ranting about all the time.

Week 3

This week, we got to take the two youngest tigers, Seze and Toruk, on walks around the reserve. I don't hold the leash but I get to walk next to them. It's really an amazing experience. This was the first time that I got to be near one of the tigers without a cage in the way. It's an amazing feeling being so close to such a magnificent animal with nothing separating us. These are the times that all the poop cleaning really pays off. Although it's not fun to talk about, removing poop is a large part of my job. I have to sweep the path clean on tour days so that the guests don't step in African Geese poop. Then I have to lock out all the animals in the small part of their cage in order to find their bathroom spot and shovel it into a bucket. Some of the animals don't have lock outs, which means that I can't enter their cage to clean the poop. They have made makeshift scoopers for us to use. They used the pole of a duster attached to a large kitchen spoon. I have to put the spoon through the holes of the cage, get the poop in the spoon, and then pull the spoon back out the cage. Sometimes the poop falls off the spoon and I have to do it all over again. Once I've collected all the poop, I take it to the poop pit. The poop pit is in the back of the reserve where none of the guests go. We put lime over the poop and then bury it in the dirt. Thanks to the lime, it actually doesn't smell that bad. Shoveling feces is well worth the experience of being with these animals.

Week 2

Now that the senior volunteers have gotten to know me a little bit, they've started to give me more responsibility. I am not only making the diets now, but I am giving the animals the food. I am also helping on tours. The reserve allows tours every Wednesday and Saturday. They last about two hours long and describe why the reserve exists, each animal's personal story, and general information about the type of animals that are housed. It is a feeding tour, which means the guests get to watch the carnivorous animals feed. This is my favorite part of the tour because some of the tigers and leopards are food aggressive. They get very upset when you are near them while they are eating and they growl and jump at the cage. They put on quite a show. My job during the tours is crowd control. I make sure the guests are standing at least five feet back from any cage at all times and are not teasing the animals or interrupting the tour guide. Every tour day, the tigers get bubble baths and all the animals get their cage scooped for poop. The animals are so fun to play with in their tub. Chakra, a very energetic and playful white tiger, will purposely splash everyone with her bubbles. When we fill her water, sometimes she will take her front paws and dump all the water out of the bucket, just to make us mad. I love her attitude though. Some of the animals are sniffing me out more now. I think they're getting used to me being around all the time.

Week 1

My very first day at the reserve, I was already allowed to pet one of the Siberian lynxes and go in the cage with the White Nosed Coati. The work is very hard, I can tell already. It's extremely hot and I'm always in direct sunlight. There is only a porta potty to use as a rest room. Most of my work is very physical and requires a lot of energy. I am also making the diets for the animals, which means sorting through a lot of produce as well as working with hundreds of pounds of raw meat with my bare hands. This is not a job for a princess. All the hard work is well worth it though. Although I am not allowed to pet any of the larger animals yet, I am allowed to get right up to their cages and interact with them. The animals are amazing. They have a lot of tigers, leopards (black as well), wolves, two lions, foxes, a coati, two cappybaras, Indonesian squirrels, chickens, goats, a deer, three lynxes, four cougars, and a cockatiel. The animals are amazing and they are so sweet! Most of them especially the tigers and one of the lions, will come right up to me and lay their bodies against the fence for me to pet them. I can't wait until I can touch them. I feel bad not petting them when they want me to. I understand the importance of getting the animal accustomed to before I touch them because they can be dangerous to people they don't know. I love the reserve already! I can't wait until next week.