My Daily Life

As I have resumed regular duties at the center, most of my days follow a general pattern. I get up around 6, have breakfast (my diet consists mostly of grains, fruit, and veggies now) and put on my 10 cups of sunscreen and head up to the center by 7. The morning is spent in the kitchen preparing food. The center caters mostly to mammals and birds. I have developed the ability to separate my mind from my body in order to prepare chopped chicks, exactly what it sounds like, for the carnivores. My favorite part of the food prep is setting out the romix, a mix of grains for the waterfowl. The mix is the sweetest smell, similar to a barnyard, and allows me to escape both the heat and somewhat offensive smell of the kitchen.
   After feeding, we sit around waiting for someone to tell us if they need help with anything. On Sunday, I helped turn the ground in an exhibit in preparation for a new resident. Lunch runs from 12 to 1, and is a welcome break from the heat and sun. I have found several books, mostly British, in the house that I have taken to reading in my free time, and have gotten through 6 already. Obviously, we cannot leave the center after dark, so there is not always much to do. After lunch, there is another feeding, then more waiting for assignments until 3, when we get off. I like spending time with the staff and learning more about the different cultures of the people around me. Something that really surprised me to learn is that there is no curfew in the U.K., my roomates laughed and laughed at the concept.
   Robby, the baboon, is being testing for TB (deadly to primates) so hopefully it will be negative so I might resume my nanny duties. The staff can see I am quite interested in primates, so I was allowed to go on a vervet rescue, only to get there and find the male had died from a pellet gun wound.
   Death is a daily shadow over the center. I am saddened by the amount of deaths that I deem unneccesary. The attitude of South Africans is that a wild animal cannot live a full life in captivity, so even if an animal could live a full life, say as an eternal educational resident at the center, it has to be put down if it would not be able to be released. Please keep Robby and myself in your thoughts, and keep warm!

-Becca

Tough Times

   These last 48 hours have been quite hard for me. First, I was told I was going to foster a baboon, and got used to him. Then, I was told I was to foster a baby vervet, and I got used to her. Later, my brood expanded to two when a newborn (literally, with umbilical cord and all) vervet came in. I had just got the two settled, when I was told someone was coming to pick them up. What? This made no sense to me, everyone who had talked to me had implied that I would be keeping the babies for several weeks. It turns out that CROW was well past its legal limit for baby vervets, and had to call on a foster to help. This is not what bugs me, but simply that I was given the false impression of hope, as well as just enough time with the vervets for us to bond. Not only am I upset, but Snookie was terrified when the lady came to take her away, bouncing from foster mum to foster mum is definitely not good for anyone.
   I do however have some pictures of the babies that I should be posting later today, and hopefully things will improve for me in the days to come.