This zoo in Argentina allows its visitors to get up close and personal with all of their animals. There are images of people laying on lions, touching tongues with bears and leaving their toddler with lion cubs. All of these acts are incredibly dangerous and not worth the risk.

I fully believe in protected contact facilities for all of these animals. Mistakes can happen way too easily such as the recent death of the keeper at the big cat sanctuary in California.

What do you think? Should guests be allowed to pet large carnivores?

I find it slightly comical that there is an EHow.com article for "How to Start an Animal Sanctuary". I truly didn't expect to find that. For me, this is my life long dream and everything that my husband and I do is in preparation for this. 

Our first step is to live a debt free lifestyle influenced by Dave Ramsey. For us, this means paying off all of our student loans. We still have at least two years until they are paid off and then we will have to start saving to purchase land. It's going to be a long process but I can't imagine doing anything more fulfilling. 

What about you? Have you ever saved for a dream? 

So when I went to Texas A&M I had a Wildlife class that required us to volunteer at the Texas A&M sheep and goat center. This is a facility where they raise livestock for experimental purposes. Now before you start picturing three headed goats, let me explain that it's not that kind of facility. They conduct research here to help the animals and the livestock raising process. For example, they study how cattle-moving techniques can be improved to cause less stress to the animals. They also do genetic testing. 

One day I got to witness someone doing an experiment for their thesis. This particular experiment involved blowing a puff of air into a goat's eye. The goat was strapped in to a grooming stand with a tiny tube aimed at its eye. The maching would let out a beeping sound and then blow a tiny puff of air through the tube. The purpose of the experiment was to measure the reaction time of the goat and to see if it ever learned to associate the beeping sound with the puff of air and learn to close its eye from the beep alone. This was a variation of the Pavlov's Dogs experiment. 

I remember watching this goat and thinking that I would hate to have that done to me. My eyes are so sensitive anyway that I can't imagine having a puff of air blown into them over and over. I didn't realize that they do this to humans, until I went to my first eye doctor's appoitment. 

As a test against glaucoma they make you put your face in this machine that blows a puff of air into your eye and then measures the pressure to make sure you don't have glaucoma. I am absolutely horrible at sitting still and not blinking for this machine! As soon as I realized what was going to happen my brain just went into overdrive and I kept asking myself why I would willingly put my head in this machine and keep my eyes open. "Are you stupid?" I asked myself. "Why would you sit here like that goat and let them cause your eyes pain?". 

The attendant tried over and over and after about 8 tries we finally got readings from both eyes. When I went back for my appointment the next year, it was even worse. I was nervous just going into the room where this air puff machine was. I couldn't sit still and kept involuntarily backing away. She finally had to bring someone else into the room and let them try. We did better when she let me close my eyes until she was ready to press the button. 

I don't know where I'm going with this story but I just wanted to share that I felt like a goat at my eye exam. and that my wildlife education has ruined glaucoma testing for me. 

Today's post was inspired by an article written by David Segal for the New York Times. This article is long but it contains a lot of valuable information for those considering becoming a vet. Click here for the full article.

I think that it is is extremely sad that anyone that wants to work with animals gets paid so little. The cost of becoming a vet is extremely high while the starting salaries are relatively average for the general work force. DVMs are coming out of school with their debt to income ratio at 3:1. That is insane.

Photo courtesy of wikicommons

In the article, Segal states that the need for vets is declining in this country. While there are communities that are in desperate need of vets, most of the people in those communities are unable to afford vet care. A vet can see a need in a small, rural community and move there to open a practice, only to find out that the people coming to see them cannot afford to pay. I'm sure that the vet wants to help and offer their services for free, but with student loan debt approaching $300,000, they are not really in a position to do so. This reminds me of the book Water for Elephants, when the main character is left with nothing after his parents die because his dad was a vet and had been accepting vegetables from people's gardens for payment.

I think there needs to be a total overhaul of all animal related jobs. Choosing to work with animals should not be a financial death sentence. Sure, you can choose not to go to school and try to get a job working at a zoo (not as a vet) but most job postings nowadays specify that a bachelor's degree is preferred and desired. With the amount of competition for all zoo jobs, it might take a while to land a zoo job without a degree. The reality is that most zoo professionals are highly educated, highly skilled individuals. Long gone are the days when zookeepers were all burly men hired only to do physical labor. The zookeeping profession now involves daily animal training, enrichment and behavioural studies as well as knowing the warning signs of animal illnesses.

If you are able to come out of school with no debt then you can probably survive on these salaries. I know that people with debt still survive on these salaries but they often have credit collectors knocking on their door. Personally, I don't want to just survive, I want to get ahead and therefore had to leave the zoo profession, at least until I get my student loans paid off. People working with animals either need to be paid more or there needs to be more education about not taking out student loans for school. Something has got to change.

I’m on this road trying to figure out this thing called life. I’m doing research, I’m studying other people’s life experiences and stories and trying to carve out my story and figure out my life’s path. I feel a calling, but I can’t figure out what the calling is for. I know the big-picture answer. I know what my passion is. What I can’t figure out is how I am supposed to make that a viable business opportunity.

Do you ever feel this way?

I feel like I have most things in my life nailed down. I have a wonderful husband. Seriously. He’s the most perfect husband in the world for me and God was thinking big when he created us for each other. He is perfect for me in ways I didn’t know was possible. I have a good life. I love where we are living right now, I love that we are on the road to pay off all of our debt and to eventually buy several acres of land. I love our friends and family. Things are good. So I guess that I just need to trust that the Lord will bring me that same level of goodness in regards to my life’s passion. I just need to wait. But what should I be doing in the mean time? How do I develop my skills now and get ready for what is coming? How do I find my niche and find the people that will support me to seeing my goals through to completion?

The only answer I have for myself is to trust. Trust the Lord and trust his timing. Trust that me fumbling along with this blog is the right thing for this moment. Trust that He has all the answers.

What is the right answer for you? Do you feel the call to turn your life’s passions into a viable business? What are you doing to make it happen? If you have already done so, how did you make it happen?

Have you ever heard of an Attwater Prairie Chicken? Did you know that they are highly endangered? They used to live in the plains of Texas but are almost extinct.

Fossil Rim Wildlife Center and The Houston Zoo are both trying to save them. There also is a national conservation center outside of Houston, Texas that works to save them.

Here are some rare photos of baby Attwater Prairie Chickens. Aren't they cute?

The birds above are pictured in their very safe environment. They have to be kept this way because they are easily frightened and injure themselves when they go into a panic. There could be no loud noises in the prairie chicken rearing area and the keepers had to take special caution when a storm came through. The prairie chickens would start to panic and thrash around until they injured themselves. I remember the keepers being so upset when one prairie chicken somehow ingested a stick that killed him. 

If the prairie chickens make it to adulthood, the idea is to release them to the refuge outside of Houston. They are making great strides in this area.