Vote to Build a Radiology Suite to Save Injured Wildlife.

 I volunteer at Wildlife Rescue and am so amazed at the work the staff and volunteers do to save injured wildlife. It's an amazing place. I would really like to see them receive the funding for this idea.

You can "vote for this idea" by going to the Pepsi Refresh Project. You have to sign up if you haven't already, and then you can vote every day for this idea.

The more votes, the better the chance Wildlife Rescue has.

first volunteer days

Saturday I had my training day at Wildlife Rescue. We (there were 5 of us) were given a little more detailed tour of the buildings and what's what. Then we were shown some of the many duties that we get to perform while there.

We learned how to prepare meals for differnt birds following the "cookbook" I'd call it. There's no actual cooking, but just a detailed list of specific diets for each bird. We were each assigned a bird to prepare a meal for. I got a gull. Guess what? The gull does not get a seed mix like the other little birds. The gull gets chopped salmon & herring. Fortunately,  I didn't have to chop the fish...this time. That will be a learning experience since I've never cut up a fish before. An unlikely experience for a vegan, but it's all for the benefit of the birds.

Tuesday I started my first shift, working with a mentor. It was pretty exciting since it's all a big learning experience for me.

The walk from the main road into the park and to the sanctuary was nice. It's a beautiful park in the middle of Burnaby. The highway is on one side so there is some noise, but the deeper into the park you go, the less of that you hear. As I walked along the road I saw a great blue heron and (I'm pretty sure) a red-tailed hawk. I thought that was a good sign.

The first hour I spent stuffing envelopes since my mentor was out doing some releases. Then, when she returned we got to work cleaning out the pigeon aviary and getting them fresh food, grit & water. My first lesson was always wear rubber boots!  My old running shoes were great for comfort, but were pretty damp by the end of my shift.

My second lesson was bring disposable gloves for the aviaries since there's a lot of poop on everything! Gloves will also keep my hands dry while I hose everything down. Yup, it is glamourous work.

We also cleaned 2 other cages (a crow & a thrush), and prepared fresh meals & water for them as well.

Then it was more cleaning & tidying. As my shift is at the end of the day, we are expected to do all of the dishes, sweep up, and do the mopping for the next day's shifts. It is fairly busy even though this is considered a quiet time of year.

Just before we left, a woman was dropping off a heron with a broken leg (not the one I saw earlier that day). When we were leaving the attending vet was trying to work on a splint of some kind. Poor heron.

So far so good. I'm learning and loving it. 

Wildlife Rescue.

I filled in a volunteer application with Wildlife Rescue (remember they were the organization that my last half marathon event supported). I was told that there aren't any positions open, but I could attend an info session that is necessary if I want to volunteer further down the road.

There were about 20 of us at the volunteer info session that lasted an hour. We got a tour of the buildings, and where the birds and mammals are housed until they can be released back into the wild. 

The volunteer coordinator said there was one volunteer position that just opened up on Tuesdays. I saw this as my chance. If I could get LV to give me Tuesdays off (thus slotting me into confirmed Mondays and Thursdays) then I could do this! Things were looking up. I could envision myself cleaning out cages, and doing laundry, mixing up diets for different birds and then doing the dishes. It's all very glamourous sounding I know. 
The coordinator suggested we sign up for the position if available, and she would draw names from the list. About half of the people there were signing up to be vehicle volunteers (i.e. they get a phone call to transport an injured animal to the center. I would do that if I had a vehicle. I can't really do that with a bike now can I?) The other half (the group I was in) were signing up for next week's 2 hour hands-on training session.  I signed that form and then flipped to the next sheet. No one had signed up for the volunteer position! I put my name at the top of the list. Sure I hadn't spoken to my boss yet, but I had to get my name in there.

When I got home, I had already received an email. It looks like I've got a volunteer position with Wildlife Rescue! 

I'm so excited. However, I wasn't excited about the required tetanus shot that I had to get yesterday.
Ouch! My arm still hurts. Fortunately, the doctor who gave me the shot is well practiced from giving so many H1N1 shots that her needle technique was excellent and I didn't even feel it (until later). Well, I'm covered for 10 years now. I think that should be sufficient for my stint at the Wildlife Rescue.