The Wildlife Waystation - Orientation and Day One

I've worked with and owned my fair share of animals growing up and as an adult - dogs, cats, birds, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, fish, cows, pigs, goats, and horses. But I've always wanted to work with exotic animals. Yesterday was my orientation at the Wildlife Waystation located in the Angeles National Forest, about thirty minutes outside of Los Angeles. Today was my first day as an official volunteer, and all I can say is I feel at home.

In Los Angeles, living amongst a sea of endless traffic, insane work hours, laptops, blackberries, cell phones, noisy and nosy neighbors, 60-year-olds who look like 20-year-olds thanks to the plethora of Beverly Hills plastic surgeons, people who wear sunglasses at night because someone might "think they are someone", I'm beginning to feel like I relate more to animals than to humans. Don't get me wrong, I love LA....I just need my retreats now and again. So welcome to my retreat.

Saturday, June 11 - volunteer orientation

The first half of orientation was boring - paperwork. The second half we did a tour of the property...yippee! The fun part. My favorite animal so far is Moran, an African lion. Moran is what boys of the Maasai tribe in Southern Kenya are called after they are circumcised and enter manhood, becoming the strong and courageous protectors and providers of their tribe. Moran is a gentle lion with soulful eyes. I've never been so close to a lion before, twelve inches separated us....that and a chain link fence. I can't wait for the day to be on the other side of the fence with him.

I need to rake in forty hours of volunteer time to be eligible for Level One Training. Not too sure what Level One status means exactly (I ran out of water and started loosing focus under the mid-day heat when they explained that part), but it sounds good, and I think I get a cool patch, too. So my journey to Level One Status begins......

Sunday, June 12 - 1st day as volunteer

I arrived at 9am, and only had two hours there today. I cleaned pens....the llama pen, the goat pen, the sheep pen, the ostriches, and the one lone zebra. Roscoe the pygmy goat likes my hair. He keeps trying to eat it. It's long and blonde, and probably reminds him of straw. So the entire time I was in his pen I kept trying to keep him out of my hair. Reminded me of a date I was once on. I had clip-on hair extensions in, and he kept wanting to run his fingers through my hair. The entire date, I was trying to keep him out of my hair. Cleaning the pen was a better time than that date.

I feel sorry for Zulu the Zebra...his pen seems way too small. I'm not sure of his story, but I'll find out. Carlos, the keeper, told me he's not too nice. We were cleaning the outside of the pen, and Zulu started following me around. I put my hand up on the other side of the fence and he came up sniffed me, and let me scratch his nose and head. He snorted and kicked at the two other guys cleaning with us that tried to do the same thing. Yay! It seems I've made a friend.

I've also made an enemy. Bubba the Olive Baboon is not too fond of me. I was leaving and Carlos and I were putting the rakes and shovels back in the shed. Carlos said something to me and I did a few play punches at him, and Bubba began screeching and howling, running the length of his pen back and forth snarling his teeth. After settling down, he kept a stern stare my way. I guess baboons don't really know the difference between a real fight and a play fight.

My first wildlife lessons -

1 - keeping boys out of your hair refers to male species of all kinds

2 - no play fighting, kids.