Wandering Wildlife Vet

It’s officially the end of week two! Victoria left this morning and it was very sad:-( You don’t realize how close you get to people so fast here because we spend 24 hours together (most of the time without access to the outside world). I love having the opportunity to meet people from other countries and even other parts of the US. It’s also nice having people to visit all over the world but having this connection between us.

Before I tell you about the rest of my week, I just want to write a little disclaimer about what I am doing here. I just want everyone to remember that these are WILD animals. While most of the animals are extremely habituated to people, they are still wild and will always be wild. Even little Andre (the baby baboon we take on walks) will one day grow into an adult male baboon that is fully capable of killing a person. It’s easy to forget that we are petting a leopard because she is allowing us to pet her while she purrs and rolls around like a house cat but she is still capable of hunting prey and hurting us. Instincts can kick in at anytime and they are still fully capable of killing us. It’s unlikely that we would ever be in that situation (reason why we still have a fence between us) but accidents and mistakes happen so it is important to always be aware. We are not petting these animals because they are pets or tame like your dog or a cat. We are allowed to pet them because they have decided that people aren’t too scary. Yes it’s cool and amazing that we are allowed these opportunities but it is always better for these animals to be out in the wild doing what they are meant to do. It is unfortunate that they now associate people with food because that means it is actually dangerous for them to be released because other people don’t know that they mean well. But if a leopard or a lion starts running at you, your reaction is going to be to shoot them to save yourself. It’s the unfortunate reality and that is why the orphanage is home to 17 lions and 4 leopards. It is safer for them here. They are not here to be pets or for us to cuddle. That is just part of their lives here in order for them to be safe. It is always our goal to release these animals but sometimes it is in their best interest to be here and out of harms way.

Now back to the end of my week! Friday, we received a cow that had died of natural causes from a local farm. Obviously, the cow was going to be used for food but we couldn’t put the entire cow in the freezer so it had to be cut up. This is about a weekly occurrence but it is so helpful because red meat is much better for the carnivores than chicken. Chicken actually makes them much fatter than red meat does. Personally, I would rather deal with cutting up a cow than the rotting chickens so I will volunteer whenever there is a cow (photo of us before cutting it up).

Saturday was a hard morning for everyone. We all woke up exhausted and were slow to start our morning. Luckily, I was in the nursery so we just had to feed and clean up after all the babies. I also redid an exhibit for a chameleon which was a lot of fun! It was a beautiful day and night so we decided to watch the sunset before dinner. It was a lovely sunset and a nice last night for two of the volunteers. After dinner, we played pool in the entertainment room and had a nice relaxing night.

Sunday morning we attempted to watch the sunrise again but it was super cloudy so we didn’t even leave our cabin. We are not very good at seeing sunrise but we’ll get there one day. The weather was cold and rainy so we weren’t able to get much done. It was our half day though so everyone got a nice nap after work. The baby guinea pigs are doing well and I promised pictures of them.

Today was our day off. We all slept in and had a late breakfast. After breakfast, I went for a run in the game park. It was such a nice morning! We had grilled cheese and vegetable soup for lunch which was perfect for the cooler weather. After lunch, we laid out and enjoyed the weather.

Tomorrow Jemima leaves and there’s only two of the four originals left. Lindsay and I get to work together this week since she leaves next Tuesday. Here’s to week 3 in Zimbabwe!