Caretaking, Back-ups, & Fires OH MY!!

So these 3 words have definately been buzzing around school quite often lately and getting everyone especially the first years quite excited. In the last couple of weeks we have definately learned a lot both expected & unexpected. As I mentioned before we were learning how to be a caretaker on Schmoo the Sea Lion if we wanted. Sadly, I didn't get picked which I was pretty bummed about but with some wishful thinking maybe I will still get to be her trainer. Either way I am confident I will love and learn from whichever animal I get. So we also have been assigned more animals to caretake on such as some birds and primates. I got to be a caretaker on the Capuchin troop which should be really interesting. We also will be finding out some more animals we get to caretake on when the second years go on their field trips.

Along with the excitement of the oppurtunity to caretake on certain animals we have all been learning how to be back-up certified and learning how to handle certain domestic & "handler" animals which are animals we as first years are allowed to take out, interact with, & hold without having to be that animal's trainer. Back-up certified also means we are able to go with trainers & their animals if they need a "back-up". This is important at our school because no animal is allowed out of their enclosure without 1 person & a back-up. Yes, this includes the rabbit, Chinchilla, & even the dog. This may seem strict & unordinary but it teaches us discipline & also in my opinion prevents some people from being over confident with animals which can sometimes lead to unsafe conditions and ultimately cause harm to humans or the animals. So the second years are very excited now that we are all back-up certified because they can take out their animals more often since there are more of us and ofcourse us first years are more than willing to assist. Also, all the first years are so excited to take out certain animals like the Tegu, the turtles, & the bunny. All the handler animals are definately getting lots of attention!

..::Me & Max the Black & White Tegu...Pretty much my favorite reptile so far::..

..::Me, Ashley, & Jenny holding one of our large Pythons::..

So you may be wondering what fires have to do with anything at the zoo. Well, let's just say we definately had a scare. One Tuesday afternoon we were sitting in class and were interrupted by our zoo director and she let us know there was a fire approaching near the surrounding hillsides. Surprisingly after the announcements & some slight organizing & direction we pretty quickly manage to put together all the crates for all the animals in each area in order to prepare for a possible evacuation. Despite the stress and suddeness of the situation, and the fact that we haven't even had our fire drill yet, everyone worked together extremely well and were very effiecient if we did need to evacuate. Luckily the fire did not get close enough for us to evacuate, but Wednesday morning the fire did seem pretty close and looked very dramatic before the sun came up at 6 in the morning, and we made the decision to put all of our birds in a classroom because birds are extremely sensitive to smoke. Thankfully shortly after the sun came up the fire closest to us was put out and not long after that the other fires were extinguished. So eventhough we did not expect this experience I think it was great that we were able to learn exactly what to do because sometimes drills don't/can't cover some details. Ofcourse none of us wanted such a threat or would ever hope for it, but it definately gave us a positive outcome.

..::Fire at about 11:30 am on Tuesday::..

..::Kind of blurry but an idea of how close the fire got at about 6:15 AM Wednesday morning::..

So we have been learning more and more things each day and frankly it's quite exciting and overwhelming. It's definately good that we are staying on our toes because some days are so rigourous and tiring we definately need these spurts of excitement to keep us focused. It definately seems to me and some others that especially right about this time we are kind of hitting a wall, exhaustion is setting in, homework is piling up, & bank account are running low, so challening and rewarding situations alike absolutely help me to always re-evaluate why I'm here and why I'm working so hard to be here and not to forget how lucky I really am to be able to chase my dreams.

The Days are Longer and the Coffee is Stronger

So a few weeks have pasted and so much has happened. I am getting pretty adjusted to my new schedule. I have also been getting used to morning Areas. So far I have been placed in the Show/ Aviary/ Wildlife Theather , and Hoofstock areas. I have to say I really enjoy both so far and I don't really understand why getting up so early to pick up poo, sweep, rake, and bleach still excites me but it does. So my first week in Area was in Show/ Aviary / Wildlife Theater which was a lot of different areas & responsibilities crammed into one. We got to do such things as, clean a beaver pool, rake the aviary & scrub the ponds, big up galapagos tortoise poo, feed & clean weezer (the opossum), Dusty (rabbit), & Aladdin (chinichilla) and give him a dust bath, which if you haven't seen before...well let's just say it's one of the cutest things in the world to watch! haha!

It was pretty fun in that area however, Hoofstock I think was my favorite of the two, especially because we got to walk the mini horse, Nick twice a day :) . That alone probably made scooping up toddler sized buffalo poo up!!! We also got to learn how to switch the camel and buffalo (switching him from one enclosure to the next). Seems like it might be easy but sometime both of them get a little curious and can stick their giant heads out to grab you farther than you think!

So far I've learned that eventhough days like today which start with me getting up at 4/4:30 am..staying at the zoo until 5pm or so, and then getting off work at 10pm can be really rewarding even if the reward seems as small as getting to walk the mini horse for a few minutes a day.
Also today we got to learn about the oppurtunity to be Schmoo the Sea Lion's caretaker and/or trainer. She is a lot of work so anyone who if even thinking about asking to either caretake or train her has to go through a series of workshop like activities to recognize and learn how much time and committment she takes. I'm really excited because I'd really love to train her however, there is definately some steep competition for her as students have to compete with grades, attendence, volunteer hours and such in order to be able to get to train her, but the caretaking positions for her are picked at random. I really hope I get to caretake on her because I would really love to learn more since I definately want to go into the marine mammal field. Although I will be thrilled enough just to go through the workshops and learn a lot there as well.

Last week we had 4 bobcats and a coyote from the Wildlife waystation come stay at our zoo for a little while because of the fire problems they had down there. I thought it was pretty cool that we were able to help them out, and I wa slucky enough to take a sneak peak on all the new critters as I was doing a round for daywatch. Luckily they all got to go home and are hopefull happy to be back home.

On a sad note, today our caracal Samburu was put down. Apparently he wasn't doing very well and was having some nuerological problems. For us first years, this was the first death at the zoo we experienced. It just made me feel for the trainers because it could happen to anybody's animal, and it just sucks when you loose an animal you have been loving and taking care of. But it's something we all know going in and I think all of us just want what is best for the animals and to make sure their quality of life is sustained as long as possible and when it can't be any longer to do the right thing.

Getting Better Everyday

Me and Arrow Me and Nova

Me and Arrow again...

Another few days has gone by and I'm starting to realize how much this program is going to change me and how it has changed me already. For one, it only took 3 days of getting up between 4am-5am to turn me into an avid coffee drinker (I have always hated coffee). I also feel a tad more like a hippie now a days, especially after watching a movie in my wildlife conservation class and finding out what my ecological footprint was (you can find yours at http://www.earthday.net/ click on ecological footprint)which was 4.9 planets meaning I use up a lot of non renewable resources in order just to keep my lifestyle.

On a funner note I've gotten to do some really cool things lately. I got to walk an emu...so cool! I got to man 3 birds of prey, a blind barn owl named Sweet Pea, a red-tailed hawk named Arrow, and a great horned owl named Nova. It was definately a really cool experience and I was so excited to finally get some hands on experience, and I can't wait to do it again. I also started what was pretty much our first day of area yesterday and my job was to clean the cement slabs and mats in our mini horse Nick's corral. I thought this wouldn't be too hard, except the hose had a huge leak and I pretty much got all wet and I wasn't very good attatching the bleach bottle to the hose and I'm pretty sure I got most of my clothes bleached. But all in all it could have gone a lot worse I guess.

First week accomplished!

So today officially marks my second week of EATM and I've already learned so much but am afraid of what I may or may not forget. There are just so many rules and what not. So this last week I got to watch and observe a baby siamang who was just irresistibly cute, which makes it even harder because until students get animal assignments we can't talk to, look/smile at, pet, touch or anything to any of the animals. For all us animal people it's probably one of the harder things to do especially when the monkies consistently howl at you, or the dog Sierra wags her tail and wimpers everytime you walk by, and even when Taj the tiger sits in her pool and looks like a little house kitten. Although it does makes sense why we have that rule, it allows for the animals to bond better with their trainers amongst other reasons but it just makes me more excited to get my animal assignments in the spring!
This last week I also learned how to do more things around the zoo, did some volunteer work, and did what we call "all day area". I learned how to walk and groom our mini horse Nick, learned how to properly place a choke chain on a dog, and ofcourse more cleaning. For volunteer work I helped dig some holes for our sea lion Schmoo who is getting a new deck and I also helped paint the 3 little pigs coral, which was pretty nasty since I kept getting paint everywhere including my hair. Then at all day area yesterday I learned how to do the ticket booth, answer phones and enter daily records, and watched the primates to make sure the public wasn't messing with or feeding our monkies. So all in all I had a somewhat eventful and somewhat tedious day, but somehow I still managed to enjoy myself and have fun. :)

Wake up call 6:30 AM!!!!

So I got up this morning around 430am...and let's just say yes I am a morning person but I can tell this feeling is going to wear off real quick. We survived workday which was Friday which included weeding, shoveling & raking dirt, leaves, etc. For our group we also had to disassemble a rusty primate cage which was no easy feat. Then at the end of the day we were apparently initiated by being coaxed out to the lawn to "take a picture" when really the second years were just gathering us all together so they could dump water, spray hoses, & turn on the sprinkers from the roof above us.

So, yesterday was the real first day of EATM I guess...didn't last long though. I donned by weekend EATM uniform for the first time which was pretty cool I guess, but i'm sure I'll get sick of wearing the same stuff every day eventually. We learned how to do what we call "AREA" in parts of the zoo. This includes cleaning, feeding, and checking on animals in certain areas of the zoo. We also learned how to tie a falconer's knot(shown above) with one hand which scared me because we have to be tested on this and all I could think of is how long it took me to learn to tie my shoes. Fortunately I finally figured it out and can tie that knot with my eyes closed. :)
So any way I have to get going soon in order to be at school by 630am SHARP or else points get deducted.

Orientation continues

So first day of orientation was awesome, finally gave us all a chance to actually realize what and where we are all going to be for the next 2 years. Second day...eh...well let's just say it was "pigeon pulling" day. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is killing a pigeon by cervical dislocation. In other words killing a pigeon by ripping off it's head with your bare hands. For all of you who have never heard of this...yes it is a real pigeon...yes it is alive when you do this...and yes EVERYONE in the program has to do this...at least once. Granted I really don't think anyone actually enjoys the fact that we have to do this, but some appreciate what it teaches us and why we do it.

So when it came to that time of the day suprisingly most of the class raised their hands to do it and get it over with right then and there. Me being one of them, because honestly I really never want to have to think about this situation ever again. I'd like to do it, get it over with, then put it behind me. Unfortunately I was not picked to get the chance to do it as they were short of pigeons. So now I have the image playing back in my head over and over again of watching about 20-30 pigeons get their heads pulled off by my classmates and I know that I will have to do it soon, but no idea when. It could be weeks to months, kind of frustrating but not much I can do.

On a much happier note, today all the first years get our uniforms today. I'm sure that once we all put it on the true feeling will sink in that we actually got in this program and will be able to do what most of us have hoped and dreamed to do since we were children.

First Official Day at EATM Jitters

So today is the big day! First day of orientation of EATM!! YAY! I've waited hope dand dreamed so long I can't believe this day is actually here! But ofcourse any of you who know me at all know that when it comes to trying new things I am all in but not without throwing up and having a few anxiety attacks first. However, lately I have been doing pretty well under these kind of circumstances, have pretty much deleted the anxiety attacks due to sometimes violently throwing myself into uncomfortable situations in order to overcome my irrational fears. So I am happy to say that today, yes my tummy is in knots and have already drank several doses of pepto bismal which I now have come to love I have so far had no shortness of breath, panic or anxiety attacks, or vomiting so yay for me. Seems like just a normal day to everyone else but it's pretty much a triumph for me.
So wish me luck today will be the first day of my new direction in life, on many different levels. I just hope the excitement will last and these tummy pangs will go away and the knots will unravel.