This is Sarah Jackman saying hello from Los Angeles!
I arrived in L.A. Wednesday night. Being from a small town it was the strangest thing looking out of the plane and not see stars. The only lights in the sky were those from other planes. Looking down I saw eight baseball fields in less than ten minutes, which seemed strange to say the least.
The next day was my first day of work, at The Wildlife Learning Center in Sylmar, California. My first day consisted of paperwork and walking around their facility. Thay have a small facility, you could walk the entire thing in about ten-minutes. It’s small, but intimate, and people have such strong connections with the animals, to the point where they are kissing the foxes on the nose.
I worked the next four days. Let me tell you, I have never wanted to be an animal so much in my entire life. The reason I say this is because, this past week in Los Angeles there was a heat advisory with a high was 107 degrees Fahrenheit. It was most certainly 107 for most of the day and you most certainly felt it. Going outside for a Trainer Talk (an hourly talk about one of the reptiles we show to the public) was miserable. The heat made your brain melt a little. However, the animals were kept either in the cool air conditioning of the reptile room or were given ice blocks to sprawl their bellies on.
The rest of the week consisted of meal prep, feeding, cleaning, and spraying down the birds of prey. Our two Eagles, Dakota and Denali, loved being hosed down daily. Since I am from a cooler area as well I can relate. The Macaws, especiallly our blue and gold Macaw, Merlin, did not love getting sprayed down but was happy once he was wet.
In the first week of work, I realized that many of their animals are either very old or very young. They have a few animals here that were born on the compound. This may seem odd to me and you but it’s actually quite understanable. There are now three baby sulcata tortoises that were not supposed to be born. These tortoises will dig large holes in a very short period of time and lay their eggs then cover the holes back up. Usually staff members will dig these eggs up and take them before they are fertilized. They then get used for our sloths and other egg-loving mamals. But recently, a few eggs were not found in time and now we have three very cute very small tortoises.
Video of Sulcata tortoises, Sarah Jackman, week 1
The rest of my week conssited of falling in love with the porcupines and going out at night with my host brother. I would spend my day with the sweet large rodents then go out to places like Third Street or Venice Beach with my host brother and his friends. Leaving me exhausted, but ready to start all over the next day.
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