The day I arrived at Critter Care was a little nerve-wracking. I knew that I was coming to this strange, new place for two months, away from everything I knew. I quickly learned that this would be quite an interesting experience. The first day was a whirlwind, being spent following interns around and trying to get oriented. Most of the interns seemed a little unfriendly, but I quickly realized that they were just busy and tired, feelings that I would experience firsthand in a couple days. I went to bed on my first night a little exhausted from all the excitement and nervous for what was ahead.

After only a couple days, I fell into the routine of early mornings and long, busy days. There were always chores to do, including the endless amount of laundry, food plates, and dishes, not to mention the cleaning of the animal cages. There were many times when the work was hard or a little disgusting, but I just thought of the animals and worked through it. It helped that all the other interns were always around to help out or give support.
Soon I got my first babies: a family of 9 raccoons that I would help another intern raise and wean. It was a little intimidating at first, walking into a cage full of raccoons, but after a couple feedings, I learned how to handle them. They quickly became the best part of my day. Each one had their own personality, and after a while, I began to tell them apart just by looking at them.

I got my first taste of sleepless nights when I was given a baby squirrel to take care of. She was very small, and her eyes were still closed. I fed her every three hours for 2 days, with only six hour breaks over-night. Sadly, she passed away after only a couple days of caring for her. It was my first experience of the sad, but inevitable losses that happen when caring for animals.

About 2 weeks into my internship, I was offered a very exciting opportunity: extend my internship for another month to take care of the two beaver babies we had just received. I enthusiastically agreed, of course! They needed not only multiple daily feedings, but also daily swims to keep them healthy. Although they required a lot of work, they became the first babies that were mine, and only mine. There are no words to describe the feeling you get when your babies start to recognize your voice.

My opossums arrived furless and blind…all nine of them. I was trained to tube feed them, and began with feedings every 3 hours. It was exhausting to take care of them, and after a couple days, half of them were sent to homecare to give us some relief. The five that we kept grew fast, and soon changed from ugly, furless things to cute, curious opossums. They took, by far, the most work out of any animal I took care of at Critter Care, but they were worth it.

My final group of animals was my squirrels. I started out with two closed-eye babies, and ended up with four. They were sweet and fast, and grew up quickly; it only took a couple weeks for them to open their eyes and begin climbing the walls of their cage.

Before leaving Critter Care, I had the opportunity to release two sets of raccoons, one being mine. It was such an amazing feeling, seeing the animals that you had raised from such small babies, now juveniles in the wild. It is hard work getting them into the release locations, but when you open the cage doors and they
experience mossy ground for the first time, it’s worth all the work.

Leaving Critter Care was harder than I had anticipated. By the time my last day had come, I was ready to go home, but saying good bye to my new friends, and my babies that hadn’t been released yet was difficult. In the end, this internship was one of the most significant experiences of my life. There were difficult times and it was hard and dirty work, but looking back on the experience and outlook I have gained, I would not have
changed anything.

Ashleigh White, BSc. Zoology
Critter Care Intern
July - Oct 2009