Hey guys! Sorry I’ve been MIA but today’s my day off and so like I promised, I’ll talk about caregiving!
So since this is my second month at the sanctuary, they’ve put me and my roommate on shadowing shifts. The shadowing shifts are to see what the farm caregivers do. Here’s a job description of the title:
- animal feeding/watering and maintaining animal feeds schedeule
- daily animal health care and treatments
- weekly animal health checks/individual checks of each species
- animal health care projects as assigned, including feed ordering, medications and medical supply ordering, database, and animal charting
- shelter cleaning projects; maintaining hospital/treatment areas
- training and supervising animal caregiver assistants, shelter interns, and volunteers
- reporting animal health and/or other shelter problems directly to shelter manager
- research new treatment options for various conditions
- work with veterinarians to develop treatment protocols, etc.
Despite my shadowing shift starting at 5:45 in the morning and in 34 degree cold weather, I learned ALOT. The caregiver shared so much information about the animals that I wouldn’t have known otherwise. I definitely a lot more connected to the animals that Farm Sanctuary thankfully rescued. It baffles my mind how animals have all sorts of health issues all thanks to the meat, dairy and egg industries. Most animals don’t live to see past their first year and the ones that do are have their health compromised because of situations they were rescued from and have to live that way for the rest of their lives. If you think about it, the animals are not suppose to get that big in that timeline; it’s from all the chemicals and hormones that the animals receive as food or injections. It gets me really angry just thinking about it.
In all honesty, this internship has opened my mind to so many aspects of animal agriculture. I don’t think I can ever go back to eating meat or dairy. Everyday, I see these animals with a soul. They each have their own personalities, things they like and what makes them happy. I really hope my blog is making a good impression on veganism and how anyone can do it. I promise I’ll write more on this week 🙂
-Modern Day Vegan
ModernDayVegan 