It feels like Mike has been around forever, but he only started volunteering with us last May. Mike helps us out mostly in the Farmyard. It’s no wonder he likes being in the Farmyard so much- for the past 20 years he’s lived on a farm in Durham with a bunch of horses and dogs (as well as some parakeets, a tarantula, and a human). He takes Max and Lightning for walks. He is also mainly responsible for keeping Lightning’sRead more
Posts tagged: #volunteers
Taking the bad with the good
Everyone is different when it comes to choosing a career that best fits their interests and desires. A good place to start when it comes to deciding if a job is right for you is to look at what the job really entails. If you are thinking about being an animal keeper, the first thing you should know is that your days would not consist of just playing with animals. In fact, if you would rather not clean, get dirty,Read more
Rubber donkey you’re the one…
Just a quick post to show you a donkey dust bath. Lightning the donkey gets to go on a walk in the mornings before the museum opens. One of his favorite things to do while out is to scrape up some stone dust and roll around in it. Lots of mammals take dust baths to add to a layer fine grit to their coats. The powdery material is irritating to small insects and thus cuts down on the annoying fliesRead more
Spotlight: Volunteer Donald
Donald has been coming to the museum for 25 years as a visitor, bringing his children and grandchildren here, which gives him a very unique and committed viewpoint as a volunteer. For over two years now he has been coming in every week and helping care for our farmyard animals. On the right you can see him preparing feed bags for the farmyard critters. He is so important to our collective mood, that the Keepers actually argue (in a funRead more
Spotlight: Volunteer Annie
Annie has been an outstanding volunteer for many years now, about 8 years! 2-3 days each week she comes and passionately takes care of our education animals. She has incredible observation skills noticing the slightest of changes in behaviors which is critical in preventative health care for our animals: her ability to spot small changes in behavior as she works with the animals has helped us to provide excellent medical care. Even when Annie is not here, she’s working forRead more
Young Volunteers Get Hands-On Experience
For some of our young volunteers, working with the Animal Department is a great way to get experience for the future. That’s because some of our kids come to us with great enthusiasm and love for animals and hope to one day be a Veterinarian or maybe even an Animal Keeper like us. One of our volunteers, Sarah (pictured above), enjoys weighing our smaller animals and reptiles to get experience in the field of veterinary care… and we are happyRead more