Day 3 of PACT: Because this line of volunteer work is so
entirely new to me, there have been some bumps along the way. Here at Peninsula
Humane Society in the Wildlife department, as a volunteer I am mostly in charge
of feeding birds, squirrels, and other wildlife and cleaning their cages.
Something I quickly learned was that some birds tend to escape their terrariums
when you open them even the slightest bit to replace the water, food and
newspaper. In these special situations there is a special protocol that is to
be followed. In the nursery, where younger birds and birds that have just been
brought into our department are kept, if a bird gets out we have to turn off
the lights and make sure no one opens the door to the room. We use a pool
cleaning-type net to catch the birds, careful not to further damage any
injuries or harm the birds in any way. On my very first day I accidentally let
out a bird and experienced the stress of trying to catch a small bird that
flies in and around every nook and cranny within the nursery.
Last day of PACT:
Something unique about the organization I chose to volunteer for is that they
have a 6 month commitment, so while the PACT requirement was only 6 visits, I
worked around 17 three-hour shifts at the humane society. This was an
incredibly rewarding experience, and especially unique to me because I had
never experienced anything like it before. I'd never really done any sort of
work before that I had absolutely no experience in, so I ended up learning a
lot. The workers were very helpful and always open to any and all questions I
had, and made sure that I was able to complete the task on my own by the end of
my shift. Every single staff member was incredibly passionate about their job,
and it was clear that they truly had a great appreciation for the animals. On
my last day I got to have a new volunteer as my shadow so I could teach them
the basics of the assignments. This was a really cool way to end my time here
because I got to kind of prove to myself how much I actually knew and had
learned.
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