At the end of my level 1 internship, I wrote a post about what I had learned in those three months. Here is the level 2 counterpart, a bit of a reflection and additional thoughts on what I learned this time.

Even if we do everything in our power to save a cat, it might not be enough. This is a very hard lesson and I am still struggling with it, especially when it comes to kittens. A bit of a comfort is what Willow said to me: “…during his short time here with us, he experienced nothing but love.”

Not everyone I meet likes me and I don’t like every person either. As long as we treat each other with respect and kindness, it’s all good.

We all make mistakes and mess up once in a while. But we have to take responsibility and “own” what we did wrong.

I surprised myself by enjoying summer camp this year. Since I have never worked with kids and don’t have children on my own, I thought I would be much more exhausted and tired spending every day with a group of 11 to 15 year olds. Instead, it was fun and rewarding. Seeing how the children understand what we are doing to help the cats gives me hope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Educating people won’t work when you are preachy or pushy. The best way is to lay out the facts and to help them seeing the needs of the animals instead of their own. People listen when I say things like “I understand that you might want to pet a baby tiger, they are amazing animals. But do you think the cub wants to be taken from their mom to be touched by humans?”

By studying and giving the feeding tour, I learned an incredible amount about hunting habits and diets of many species.

I would love to find a way to make Big Cat Rescue a permanent part of my life. Either by volunteering at the sanctuary, or by doing pro bono work – ideally a little bit of both 😉

If we can change the law around the private ownership of big cats in the US, I will be incredibly proud. And I actually believe that it will happen, it’s only a matter of time and persistence.