The organization we are volunteering with is the Carolina Tiger Rescue in Pittsboro, North Carolina. We started off by learning more about the Carolina Tiger Rescue's purpose and functions. It is home to over 70 endangered or threatened animals such as tigers, lions, servals, binturongs, and kinkajous. The reason these animals are at the rescue is because they are no longer able to be rehabilitated and returned to the wild. There are no laws in North Carolina prohibiting owning any exotic animal, though they cannot own a native species like a chipmunk or raccoon.
Carolina Tiger Rescue runs solely on donations and volunteers along with the 12 staff members. Some of the ways that the public can help are by "adopting" an animal- you send in money once a year to help with the needs of the animal, donating money or supplies, or by volunteering time- this can be as little as 3 hours on a weekend, or up to a week on your spring break.
Our job for today was to clear some brush away from the perimeter fences so that the staff can get through on their rounds. It was a good task to do on one of our first days because it got us to work as a team. We found that if one person pulled on the brush, another person could cut them loose easier. One challenge that we faced was that the old trucks had a hard time with the landscape and needed to be pushed to get them up the hills. Teamwork also played a part in this, we needed at least 5 people to push the vehicles out.
Overall today was a good day and went by very fast. We can't wait to see what else is in store for us tomorrow, as well as the rest of the week.
I am glad you are bonding! I know Christa loves bonding! :-) Hope you are all having fun and I want to say a great hello to the awesome Lizzie Tacke and Matt "babyface" Karst! I love you both and hope you are having a great time in NC! I wish I could be there! My prayers go out to all of you on the trip and way to do work!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Dusty
70 endangered species! I wonder what defines an animals as "endangered". I have no idea what binturongs and kinkajous are, so if you can post a photo of them that would be great! Thanks for the update, it sounds like a lot is happening at the Carolina Tiger Rescue and your help is greatly needed. Keep it up! Happy serving and learning!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your experience so far! I am looking forward to reading more throughout the week. I am with Amy - I have never heard of some of these animals, so pictures would be great!
ReplyDelete