Day 15 - Education

Wow is the one and only word that can sum up today. Busy would be the other.
You know when they memorial day kicks off summer? Try the weekend before.

The phone calls started as soon as 8:10am and did not seem to end until around 5pm. We had roughly 7 different phone calls regarding fawns people have found in random locations. This factor leads me to post a very special announcement for everyone!!!

IF YOU FIND A FAWN -- LEAVE IT ALONE

Here is why -- Deer fawn do not leave a scent trail like adult deer do, this is why the mother deer leaves her fawn for hours on end and only returns for a short duration of time and why you always seem to see the fawn by itself. This is a technique used by deer to keep predators away from their babies while also providing the fawn with the nutrition they need. A mother's care is the best care despite how much you think your care is better; it's not. So what about wildlife rehab? Well, we have connections to pharmacies, veterinarians, and other medical related industries that allow us to provide fawns with formula that is very similar to what a mother fawn provides. These connections are earned by acquiring license, experience, and so much more. Goats milk and cow milk DO NOT CUT IT. If you find a baby fawn then please monitor it for at least a day before giving your wildlife rehabilitation center a call. Wildlife rehabilitation centers receive phone calls all the time about "fawns left alone" - the reason explained before is why. They may seem left alone but mom typically returns later as said before. Oh, and keep dogs away as much as possible too. Don't be afraid to go talk to your fellow neighbors about a fawn around so their dogs leave them alone.

Any way, so besides answering phone calls through out the day and trying to keep track of who was going where since the rehab staff was in and out through out the day, picking up and dropping off animals (if possible), the education assisstant director and I worked on giving tours. She practically did all of them except one which I am VERY grateful for because I could tell she was getting tired and all I was doing was standing/watching/listening. The standing/watching/listening portion of things though REALLY helped because when I gave my first tour I was able to regurtitate practically everything she had said and was able 95% of all questions asked making my first tour and very successful one. A family even talked to me for a good 10 minutes afterwards about who I am, where I was from, and about the internship. They got a volunteer form from me for one of their children who seemed very excited about becoming a volunteer so it was very rewarding!!!

I gained a lot of confidence today and feel like all the pieces are starting to click together. I was able to handle fawn phone calls, halfway handle a bird phone call, learned SO MUCH about animal/human related events such as birds hitting windows), and just about the center in general. I mean there was so so much learned today and I am very thankful to all the staff/interns/etc who have guided and helped me get to this point so far. It has only been 2 weeks but WOW. Just wow. I have learned so much and all the skills previously learned are starting to truly apply. Mr. Buchanan, my environmental engineering teacher, was right about everything he had taught us and now I am able to see it in full perspective by actually working at a wildlife job.

And everyone, I can finally give a presentation / speak without stuttering and getting super nervous! The people skills, they have returned! haha. This shy guy was slowly becoming unshy and now things are coming into full perspective. I am so excited for not just this summer but also for the future. May I see ODNR or Fish and Widlife in my future? Who knows.

I know one thing though, Wildlife IS my niche! :)

In other news, the executive director took two other interns and I out to dinner which surprised me completely because the two interns were spring and leaving soon (which is why she took them out) but I am still fresh/new. Two weeks in and I feel so welcomed, I mean I just love it here so much and stuff like this truly helps. Everyone here is already a good friend of mine. Two weeks and I feel I can seriously count on and trust these people which says a lot when trust was hard to come by in the past.

Now then...I must makes plans for tomorrow. I have another day off so you know what that means. Adventures and photos!!! :)