RoraRenee
Registered: August 2019 City/Town/Province: West Palm Beach Posts: 1
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Contrary to popular belief, Florida is more than just sandy beaches and theme parks. I, single handedly, spent 250 hours as a volunteer wildlife educator and opossum keeper for a wildlife rehabilitation facility in Jupiter, Florida. In this time, I truly learned, and understood, that the world is much bigger than I. I was granted the gift of seeing the joy and wonder in children's eyes when they learned opossums are actually more closely related to kangaroos than rats and other rodents. I was able to see eagles, one of the most majestic and heroic looking birds in the animal kingdom, go from being terrified and fighting for their lives after being hit by a car, to soaring high above my head. Before I started my volunteering project, I never cared about birds and, honestly, I did not see why they were so important and did not understand why so many people were in awe of them. Now, I find myself getting excited over having to clean the owl enclosures. It was volunteers like myself who inspired me to want to become a zookeeper for endangered Florida native snakes. I learned every creature, from the biggest Florida Black Bear to the smallest Marsh Rabbit matters and plays an important part in, both, the Florida Ecosystem, and in inspiring the next generation of ecologists and zookeepers and biologists to help save the beauty of Florida's ecosystem.
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