And Then Came the Storm

This morning started out as a bit of a mess. Josh (one of the interns) called out, and Rachel (another intern) also called out. Josh was sick, Rachel just decided to stay at the beach an extra day.

So I headed out with Kristin to feed the binturongs, and was supposed to then head down and clean a tiger pool at the very far end of the compound, which was supposed to have cleaning tools dropped off for us. Me and Kristin got all the bints fed and their fish oil capsules dispenesed, headed down to Bali's enclosure and there was nothing there. Now we all carry radios on our belts the entire time we are in the compound in case we need to get in touch with a keeper, volunteer, intern, etc. Bali's enclosure is in a hole of sorts where no reception gets through. So after messing with the hose and trying to get it even close to the enclosure, looking everywhere for the supplies and in general wasting a good half hour of time, we finally got some reception on the radio and called in to find out what was going on. We were then mildly berated for not re-checking the schedule after we fed the bints, because we were actually supposed to clean another tiger pool... Apparently no one had seen fit to radio and tell us that the plans had changed. Nice. We finally got directions to do Nitro's pool, so we cleaned it, filled it and finally got something done. By this time it was already 10:30 am! Most of the morning gone, and in a stressful state.

I then did some enrichment with the tigers. Spraying some perfume on crumpled newspaper and tossing it into the enclosure- easy enough. But unfortunately it was like 90% humidity and 90+ degrees, so no one was moving or wanted to even check it out. This meant that my enrichment (which would normally take .5 hours or more if the tigers were interested) only took me like 20 minutes. I guess I kind of made up the time I lost? I did get to spend some time with Bali again, which I enjoyed as I quite appreciate his personality. He is a handsome fellow with a cleft/scar in his nose (not sure the story there), a big boy with a big attitude. When I walked up today he was giving me the biggest "I'm a tiger and I'm going to eat you" face that I have ever seen. He then grunted, groaned and growled at me, and we played a little predator and prey- I crouched down and hid behind some grass making distressed animal noises and he rushed the fence and tried to scare me (I played along). He looked so happy with himself at my feigned terror (though my heart did race- it is impossible not to be at least a little bit scared when a huge creature with fangs is running at you)!

The handsome Bali. The cleft on his nose can be seen on his right side.

The rest of the day was mostly finishing the dewormers (just the three that turned their noses up yesterday), and then fixing shift gate handles with broken wood, loose bolts or wires sticking out. Yay power tools! In the middle of this we were all interrupted by a huge, random thunder storm that shook the buildings with it's force. The compound closes down whenever lightning is seen, so we all ended up cleaning the keepers' "cage"- their office was absolutely filthy. Jared considers this all "slave labor," but I consider it part of the experience... you have to take the good with the bad- the vet exams with the physical labor. I enjoy it all, and am happy to lend my hands where they can be of use.

Anyway, I did really enjoy getting to know Kristin a little better today. I find it fascinating to learn about other people, their lives, personalities and character facets. Kristin is also pre-vet, about a year or two older than me, went to community college for two years, is engaged, and just a very nice person. She also has worked in a nationally famous genetics lab, is a vet tech for a sport's medicine equine vet, vet techs at a small animal hospital, has a job as a waitress, another job working in the Bio department at UNC, and is in the intern program at Carolina Tiger Rescue... WOW. I was very impressed... and also became very worried about my own vet experiences... I have around 400 hours of equine/mixed medicine experience, about 5 hours of small animal (I will be working on this when I get back to MD)... and that is it. No exciting research experience or shadowing with world famous vets. One of the friends I have who is in vet school interned at the Baltimore Aquarium and drove like an hour and a half to get there every day! Is it that I am just not committed enough to drive that far, that I am too afraid of failure, that I just lack the ambition to go for it? I am not sure... It did definitely solidify my desire to help out at a local spay and neuter clinic, and to apply for a pre-vet paid internship with the FDA in Rockville, MD next Summer. And cross my fingers that I get in. I am going to have to step up my game this year if I want to make my dream happen!

~Rich With Life~