2015: Highs. Lows and a Look Back

This year has been a strange one, from completing a placement year to travelling with my best friend and then having to head back to university. I have experienced pretty much every type of emotion and gained a better understanding of who I am as a person along the way so I decided a look back at the largest events this year was in order.

Iberian Lynx Back from the brink

I love a story of conservation success and this is certainly one of them, hence me sharing it all with you today.

10 years ago the Iberian Lynx was nearly extinct with numbers thought to have dropped below 100 due to habit loss, prey loss and disease but due to a large conservation effort in Spain they have managed to gradually increase numbers and bring the species back from the brink of extinction. Numbers are now thought to be at 327 individuals roaming around southern Spain and some parts of Portugal.

Finishing my Placement at the Wildlife Heritage Foundation

Last week I finished my last placement for my placement year which was at the Wildlife Heritage Foundation in Kent. It is crazy how quickly my 9 months of placements have flown by but this last placement was certainly the quickest.

My time at WHF was brilliant and part of me wishes I was still down there now. From getting to educate people about all the cats on site with the guest experiences to looking after the cats and food prep the whole 3 months was incredible. Getting the opportunity to train a cheetah and also do a talk about white lions to over 100 people are experiences that I can not forget and the team there really did make my time so incredible.

Personal Post; Finding Your Own Way In The World; Travelling Alone

Hello hello. Firstly I just want to say sorry for not posting in what seems like forever. I have been so busy with numerous things including finish placements, moving home and sorting my life out that I just haven't had the time to really sit down and blog.

To start things back of again today's post is a personal post and something that I have wanted to write about for a while, especially because in the past year my own experiences have given me food for thought.

Now I have never been an individual that was afraid of exploring, I know some people are true home birds (I would say I home in on where the important people in my life are) and may have never been out of the country or Europe. I was very lucky when I was younger because my mum travelled a lot for work and so she wanted me to see at least some of the world that she had experienced and that travel bug has only grown more and more. That being said though, having the travel bug doesn't mean going out and finding my way in the world was an easy thing. In high school I would always try and fit in with what my friends liked and not always what I liked. I would lack the confidence to stand up for myself and was a real push over. 

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Rewilding- Part One

Last month I went to a talk at the University of Leeds all about rewilding in the UK. The talks were given by George Monbiot and Alan Watson-Featherson.

George described how although there are many upland reserves in the UK, they are only maintained to have the lowest level of biodiversity. This is because many years ago, someone decided that heather and scrub should cover most of the land despite the fact that forests would have historically covered these areas. To prevent the regrowth of the forests, sheep were used to over graze the land along with burning and cutting. George found that this is a problem all over the country as in lowlands there are few trees, but, in the uplands, where they would naturally be more, there are even less.

For the love of Pangolins

Images from African Geographic

If you didn't already know, I have a soft spot for pangolins. I don't know whether this is because they defend themselves by curling up into a ball or if they are just so under appreciated in the animal world. The pangolin undergoes a heavy amount of poaching and to learn more about them click here.

The reason I have told you about my love for them, is because on the 23rd April the largest case in pangolin smuggling since 2008 was stopped before it could leave Sumatra where it was due to head to China. Along with the haul being stopped, the smuggler was also caught.

Good News For Some Ecosystems- Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka have become the first nation to comprehensively protect all of the mangrove forests.

This great news has even more importance than most people think. Mangroves sequester far more carbon than other forests and the carbon is sequestered for a much longer period of time compared to your normal forests. Along with this, the mangrove tree root system provide nurseries for many fish species that go on to populate coral reefs, a beautiful natural wonder. These fish also provide jobs to the local fisherman who require the fish to provide an income.

My New Placement- Wildlife Heritage Foundation

As you may have guessed if you follow me on instagram (@erinkaywilliams), I have been working with some big and small cats at the Wildlife Heritage Foundation, my last placement on my placement year.

My Pictures From Chester Zoo

I thought that as I talked about my placement I should also share with you some of the pictures that I took whilst there. Sadly I can not show you any of me behind the scenes but here are some of the the ones I am allowed to share. 

I apologise for all the photos of the baby tigers, but they are really cute.

Love

Being an intern at Chester Zoo

I have just finished my 3 month internship at Chester Zoo and so, instead of telling you what I got up to (I'm not allowed to say much about it online anyway), I thought I would review how I felt the whole thing went so that if you want to complete an internship there you can read my pros and cons to help you decide whether it is right for you.

Firstly lets do the Pros:

1. Getting the opportunity to work up close with rare animals- Working in the Rhino team meant that I had the opportunity to work with, occasionally touch and see rare black and greater one horned Rhinos every day which was brilliant. Along with the Rhinos I also got up close with the amazing tapirs and capybara's which was pretty cool. I will never forget my first day, when in with the Bongos, two of them came up to me asking to have a scratch behind the ears. It is those type of experiences that really stay with you.

2. You get to learn about how zoos work- Getting to work in a big and complex organisation,  I got to see just how much politics and relationships effected every decision made and, although I expect this is the same in all big companies, it was a real education into the world of work.  Knowing the ins and outs of the zoo now, I feel like I can appreciate all of the complex jobs the staff have and how every team member has a responsibility and without them the zoo wouldn't function to such a high level.

3. Rare experiences- I was privileged that I was present for the birth of a Black Rhino calf, Fara. Sadly she only survived a month, it was found that she had suffered from a heart defect and no one could have done anything more, but, having the opportunity to work with such a special and rare animal made the days seem worth while and she definitely added a whole different element to my experience at the zoo. Obviously an experience like that doesn't happen for every internship, but, there is still likely to be something incredible take place during your time.

4. The team-  The work is tough and physical, particularly in winter and the fact that I  got on really well with most of the Rhino team made it easier to get through the long, hard days. Who you work with affects everything you do when you are part of a close team, so you have to work hard at those relationships.

So now the Cons:

1. Poo- I expected to be shovelling lots of poo, but boy was it ALOT! Some people may not think of this as such a bad thing and when you had contact with the animals it certainly made up for it, but there were days where no real animal contact happened. For keepers this isn't the same as they will have contact every day, but for interns, it can sometimes feel like a hard slog when all you see is the animals poo and not really the animal. The rhino team did have a lot of poo, only slightly less then the elephants but instead of a little tractor, we had to use a good old wheelbarrow, on the plus side, my muscles improved no end.

2. Work Pattern- Obviously at a Zoo everyone can't just have the weekend off and so at Chester Zoo you have to work every other weekend with a day off either side of the weekend you work. Some people may like this pattern but for me I found it quite tough. Having only one day at a time every other week meant that when you had something to do, your day off was used up and you never really got any down time. Some people don't feel like they need it but for me, I realised that a two day weekend is important to allow me to get things done and unwind as well!

3. Interning- I think this is just a general intern thing, but I really noticed it after returning from South Africa, because out there if I didn't go and and collect data, then no one else would. What I was doing mattered and I was needed in order for the project and data collection to happen. At the zoo though, you are just an extra body, especially in the week (the weekends there is half the number of staff), and so you spend a lot of time asking if they need help with something. Feeling like you're not essential is hard, because you wonder what you're adding. Everyone wants to feel like they make a difference but interning often means you are just an extra on the side, there to lend a hand if required but nothing more because they can't or won't trust you with important tasks.  You really have to try and learn and take away as much as you can for yourself, because your experience is what you make it.

Overall I felt like I got exactly what I wanted out of my experience, I learnt a lot from the team I worked with about species that I really knew nothing about. If you want to be a zoo keeper it really will show you what the job entails. Completing a year internship is the perfect entry into a keeping job with many year interns going off to find work as keepers elsewhere.

Working for free is obviously not ideal and once you leave the zoo you sadly aren't given any passes to be able to go back and visit, which is a shame, but then employment in the Zoology field is tough and so this is not necessarily unusual.

If you have any questions feel free to get in touch and happy placementing

Love