Fantastic News!!!

Hello faithful readers!

Here it is, finally, the moment we all have been waiting for (or at least, the moment I have been eagerly awaiting with bated breath for months!)

ANIMAL ASSIGNMENTS HAVE ARRIVED!!! I will be training.... (drumroll please)

JAMES THE DONKEY

MICHELLE THE CAPUCHIN

CAIN, MY BEAUTIFUL AND CRAZY CHATTERING LORY

and MOWGLI THE OCELOT!

Pictures to come soon, but I don't have a whole lot of good ones. I'm working on it!

I am so incredibly excited to be training all of my first choice animals. It feels so good to finally be given a real, tangible reward for working so hard last semester.  I am facing a whole heck of a lot of hard work this semester with turnovers. I have to write at least one paper for each animal (two for Cain), do several hours of observations, learn SO much about diets and behaviors and training, implement new behavioral enrichment plans (and observe some more), and for the animals that appear in shows, bring them onstage for staff to prove my proficiency. On top of that, the extras list has been posted and we now have our chance to ask for animals that have not been assigned yet. My first choice is NADIA, our kinkajou. She has been largely neglected in past years because she is nocturnal and hard to work with, but she should be able to come out and be in shows! I am SO passionate about all these big plans I have for my animals and the upcoming semester/year. I am just bursting with excitement. My goal is to have all my turnover papers done by the end of this week, so hopefully I can stick to that goal. This coming week is Caretaking Week while our second years are in San Diego, so even though I'll have to devote a lot of time to caring for Nyani the Hamadryas baboon, Scout the coati, and of course Cain, next week is also flex week so we don't have any classes to worry about. I have plans to use that extra time productively!


I will update everyone as soon as all of my final extra assignments are made, hopefully with pictures this time. For now, I just want to express how unbelievably out of my mind happy and ecstatic I am. There was a moment of doubt when I wondered if I should have stuck with my original plan of asking for Scooter. She is the easier choice and would in some ways be more fun. She is easier to get out on walks and in some ways easier to train. However, I have to remind myself that I'm not just here to have fun and play with animals. I am here to challenge myself, to push myself, to learn. I picked four animals that are going to test me, challenge me, and force me to learn and grow. And I think that's ultimately the right choice for me. As fun as this program is, I'm not just here to have fun. I want to come out of these two years not only having had some amazing and life changing fun times, but also knowing that I pushed myself, challenged myself, learned a lot, and ultimately became a better person for it.

I'll leave it at that.


I am one happy girl.


Love and bellyrubs,

Christy