Contemporary into her wildlife rehabilitation internship in June 2021, Helena Echenique discovered herself on the entrance strains of considered one of Worldwide Hen Rescue’s largest seabird responses. Arriving simply earlier than the Lengthy Seashore Harbor Nesting Seabird Disaster, Helena shortly grew to become a necessary member of the group, serving to look at and hand-feed a whole bunch of Elegant Tern chicks all through the emergency response.
Her ardour for wildlife conservation started in highschool as a pupil docent on the Los Angeles Zoo and continued by faculty, the place she labored with the Cornell Raptor Program caring for everlasting resident birds and taking part in education schemes. Drawn to each nook of the wildlife subject, Helena explored animal care, wildlife rehabilitation, training, subject analysis, and museum research earlier than discovering the place she felt most at dwelling.
I discover myself speaking about my IBR internship expertise fairly usually when messaging about human-wildlife conflicts. –Helena Echenique, 2021 Wildlife Rehabiliation Intern
Like many former interns, Helena’s time at Hen Rescue helped form an enduring profession in animal care. Hen Rescue internships have launched paths into fields starting from veterinary drugs to zoo and aquarium work, wildlife training, and subject analysis. At the moment, Helena serves because the Ambassador Animal Packages Coordinator on the Oakland Zoo, the place she combines her love of animal care and conservation training by working with everlasting resident ambassador animals that encourage folks to guard wildlife.
Query: What drew you to use for an internship with Worldwide Hen Rescue?
Reply: I actually beloved working with the birds on the raptor middle, and I used to be inquisitive about what it might be wish to work with birds in a distinct context. I used to be additionally doing ichthyology and marine biology analysis on the time, so working with aquatic birds tied in very well with my different work. At this time limit, my curiosity in conservation work was rising so I used to be excited to attempt wildlife rehab, which was one thing I’d by no means completed earlier than.
Q: Are you able to inform us about whenever you joined Hen Rescue and what was taking place on the wildlife middle on the time?
A: I began working in June of 2021 and I had a 40 hr/4 day work week that immediately shadowed Jeanette Bates’ position on the time. I bear in mind being struck by how small and tightly-knit the group was. It was clear that the middle depended closely on the fantastic group of devoted volunteers that might present up, usually a number of instances per week, to wash and feed and deal with the sufferers. I used to be impressed with how the small group of workers and volunteers labored collectively seamlessly to make sure every day operations went easily.
Q: What do you bear in mind most about your expertise through the Lengthy Seashore Harbor Seabird Nesting Disaster?
A: It’s best to recollect the top of the tern disaster, when there have been a whole bunch of terns in our care, and my shifts grew to become a monotony of choosing up tern chick after tern chick. I used to be skilled on consumption exams as a result of the sheer variety of intakes we needed to conduct relied on all of the assist we may get. To not point out the feedings! The entire infants on the middle needed to be hand fed each couple hours. We shortly divided ourselves into two teams to make sure every day operations may nonetheless run. I used to be totally on the tern group since I had been with them for the reason that starting.
My favourite reminiscence is when the primary two tern chicks arrived on the middle. The skilled rehab techs have been all speaking excitedly and taking a lot of photos. They felt like very particular sufferers. Additionally they had a mysterious story: somebody had discovered them wandering alongside the seashore with no different terns in sight. Little did we all know we might quickly be inundated with child terns…
Q: What position did you play in caring for the Elegant Tern chicks?
A: When the primary batch of terns confirmed up, I used to be the principle tern caretaker out of the workers on my schedule. My shift began with feedings each two hours, and I might do different duties in between. As time went on and an increasing number of terns began displaying up, the time I had between feedings obtained shorter and shorter. Quickly, I used to be spending my 10-hour shifts doing continuous feedings. As quickly as I used to be completed with the final group, it might be time to start out with the primary group once more.
It will definitely reached the purpose the place tern feedings have been not a one-person job, and we needed to make use of the assistance of a number of volunteers. That’s when the tern group was born and we had a strong group of people that may feed the chicks. From that time, typically I labored doing feedings and typically I went out into the sphere for direct response.
Finally, I graduated from the tern group and was taught to do consumption exams. One of many operations workers had constructed a particular floatation system for the chicks that have been drowning within the water across the barge, which resulted in approach much less chicks needing to be introduced again to the middle. As a substitute, we arrange a station on-site so we may instantly look at and band the birds.
Q: Was there a specific second from that response that has stayed with you?
A: Undoubtedly the sphere work facet and the way a lot of a group challenge it was. The boats we used to entry the barge have been from members of the group that volunteered their time and automobiles.
There have been so many very devoted volunteers that had been working at IBR for thus lengthy and have been unimaginable at offering take care of the sufferers. I’ve by no means been so overworked in my life, however everybody else was proper there with me. Everybody labored arduous as a result of everybody cared a lot about saving this tern inhabitants. Many individuals picked up further shifts each week or stayed longer than they wanted. It’s such a testomony to how arduous, but in addition how rewarding, wildlife rehabilitation might be.
Q: After your internship, what path led you to your present position as Ambassador Animal Packages Coordinator on the Oakland Zoo?
A: I actually loved my internship, however I nonetheless felt very passionately about animal coaching and training. It makes a
huge distinction when the animals you’re employed with are speculated to be petrified of you vs. if you end up coaching them to grow to be extra snug round you. Nonetheless, wildlife rehab could be very carefully tied in with wildlife training. The overwhelming majority of birds that find yourself at IBR are there due to human impacts, whether or not direct or oblique. In wildlife training, we attempt to inspire folks to repair among the challenges that come from residing in shut proximity to wildlife. I discover myself speaking about my IBR internship expertise fairly usually when messaging about human-wildlife conflicts.
I really used the Elegant Tern nesting disaster story as my Nationwide Affiliation for Interpretation certification speak. When attempting to inspire conservation motion, it may be arduous to think about actionable objects that make it really feel like one individual could make a distinction. I wish to reframe that idea. The Elegant Tern disaster was brought on by one one that flew a drone over considered one of their only a few nesting websites. If human impression might be this catastrophic with one individual, consider how a lot optimistic change we might carry if we banded collectively as a group. In 2021, IBR did simply that! We saved the Elegant Terns from shedding an enormous chunk of their inhabitants that yr.
Q: What recommendation would you give to somebody contemplating an internship in wildlife rehabilitation?
A: Do it! Wildlife rehab isn’t for everyone, however that’s the enjoyment of an internship. Attempt it out for a summer time, and you might be certain to be taught and be impressed greater than you ever thought you could possibly be.
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