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Welcome! You have just become a CCF intern. Would you like to know what your day looks like? Well, you are one of nine interns, and a few interns will be leaving in about two days. We will come to that problem later though… Congrats on becoming one in a few!
You wake up, tie up your mosquito net, get dressed, brush your teeth, and take a 5-minute shower because you are in a desert, after-all. You cannot utilize too much water because you still need to water animals. Have I told you when your alarm woke you up? Well, if you are doing goat bottles, you woke up at 5:30 because you need to be at work at 6. If you are lucky enough to sleep in, you start at around 7:30. At 6:30 is breakfast, but you can be a bit late because it is either cereal, toast, or fruit. Would you like some coffee? It might taste weird at first because it is instant coffee, but one day you will be begging for it.
Your first task of the day could be goat checks, cheetah run (where you speak to the public about cheetahs and CCF), or it could be Dogs AM, which means you feed dogs, replenish their water, clean their water troughs, spray fly spray, pick up dog poop, and more; but do not worry because you will be working with one or two other interns. All tasks here at CCF are a group project, so you get to have a close relationship with someone from France, the Netherlands, the U.S., England, or other crazy locations you cannot imagine. The best part though is that the tourists you meet and talk with are from even further away! This is no ordinary zoo… Welcome to the Cheetah Conservation Fund!
Following your first task, you could do Husbandry, which is feeding the cheetahs in the bush (releasable and non-releasable) or Feed Pen Cleaning. You go into the feeding camp and rake, clean, and prepare the feeding camp for the guests to view for Center Feeding. Following, mostly everyone participates in Meat Prep where you very carefully select the pieces of meat for each cheetah and cut off any loose bones or fat. Did you know that cheetahs have trouble chewing fat and could easily choke because they eat too fast? The pressure is on.
Without thinking about it, it is already lunch time! You rush back because if you are ten minutes late, you should text your friend to save you some food. Lunch is typically salad, pasta salad, hot dogs, sandwiches, or other light items. Here is an interesting fact: All of the interns here have admitted that they did not eat this much salad until they started working here! We are quite the healthy bunch!
All the meat prep pays off when you watch Center Feeding and participate. You will be getting your hands bloody though, putting each piece of meat in a bowl (because cheetahs are picky and do not eat meat that is dirty. In the wild, they eat their kill from the inside-out, making a clean bull for themselves). Then, for the cheetahs that run often, you give a supplement to help their muscles and prevent cramping/pain. After the talk is given about the meat they eat, how many cats we have, and who is releasable (or not) and why, you are responsible for placing the bowls inside of the feeding camps for the cheetahs to devour once they are let in. Many people say that you are what you eat, but you can also learn a lot about a person or a cheetah by what they eat.
After answering questions for the public and watching the center feeding, it is already time to clean the pens behind the feeding camps (pick up scat and bones). I know, none of these activities sound too bad to someone who is devoted to working with animals, but I can imagine some of the faces that you are making just listening to me. So, after washing the bowls and asking if there are any more tasks you can do to help, it is time for dog feeding, dog walking, goat bottles, and then dinner.
If you have any time in between, you are responsible for keeping yourself busy: ask to help, work on your project, find a new project, etc. There is no finishing the day early or going home in between tasks, but if you do well and put yourself out there, you can do the following: more husbandry tasks that are fun, meet new puppies and dogs, give them baths, participate on necropsies, watch a cheetah check-up, and more!
Although my days are busy, and the tasks seem hard because of the heat, you bond with the people and animals that you work with, and the project you work on is focused around your interest, so you truly take something away from being here: friendships, family, a cultural experience, and work experience with a successful non-profit organization!
I understand that the day may sound scary, but the night becomes so much cooler, in both connotations. You eat a pretty-great dinner among your coworkers, and then you play games after (Cards Against Humanity, UNO, Jenga, Cranium, Spoons, and more!). That is where the real bonding begins, and you go to bed happy and full. You plug in your phone, send your last Whatsapp message, lay the mosquito net around you, count the days until your day off (which is once a week), and fall asleep.
Even though this may have sounded like a rant, I love everyday that I am here. I learn something new, have a new story to tell, and I have been filling the pages of my coloring book (that I have been using as a journal). This is exactly what I needed, and I am so proud of myself for being able to do this everyday for 10 weeks because I know that not everyone can do what I am.
-Farewell
- comments
Evan So happy to hear you’re loving your time at CCF! Can’t wait to hear more about it in the Spring Time. Best wishes from Corvallis!
Ray Gruesbeck This is my favorite blog entry of yours. I love your enthusiasm and detailed overview. Love you and miss you! -Dad