Final Words from White Oak

Name: Madison MacElrevey
Class Year: Senior
Hometown: Lewes, Delaware
Internship: White Oak Conservation Center
Location: Yulee, Florida

I am writing this blog as I begin my long road trip back to Otterbein after finishing my internship at White Oak Conservation. As I look back on my internship, I am in disbelief of all of the amazing experiences and opportunities I had in just a short seven weeks. My time flew by while at White Oak, but it is time that I will never forget, and will definitely use in my remaining time at Otterbein and throughout my career.

Mookie

Since writing my last blog, I have continued to become better familiar with all of the animals and the daily routine of the East section at White Oak, and have had more unique experiences. One experience involved one of the bongo, Mookie. All of the keepers at White Oak love her, even if they have never worked with her before. When a call came over the radio that she had been injured, keepers from the other areas came to help bring her into the corral. This experience helped me realize how closely all of the areas work together. The keepers were willing to take time out of their lunch break to help with an animal in an area that was not their own. I was also able to interact with Mookie more one-on-one after the procedure for daily medication and check-ups.

On one of my days off, I got to spend the day volunteering with the carnivore department. It was the time of year that they were doing yearly checkups on the maned wolves, so I got to help with one of the procedures. This included a teeth cleaning, ultrasound, temperature reading, and checking muscles and joints. This wolf had a bad tooth, so they also took some x-rays to be able to better determine if the tooth needed to be removed or not. Fortunately, it did not need to be removed.  

Feeding Penny was one of my favorite daily activities

 

Another opportunity I got was helping raise a kudu calf, whose mother was unable to care for it. The baby was pulled soon after it was born, and the keepers noticed that its mother was very ill and was not caring for the baby. Myself, along with two other interns, and two staff, took turns feeding the baby six times a day, with the first feeding being at 6:30am and the last feeding being at 9:30pm. We kept close observations and recorded how much she was eating, how she was acting, and what her bowel movements looked like. After some time, we moved her to an outside area. This was the first experience I had with hand raising an animal, and it was so much fun getting to be a part of helping raise this young kudu, who was named Penny. This is another example of why White Oak is such a special place. They are very well known, and successful at breeding and raising animals, and it was special to get to learn from some of the best in the field. Mother and baby are both healthy and doing great. 

When not working, I got to hang out with the other interns and some of the staff. For fourth of July, one of the keepers hosted a bonfire at her house, and had another one for a going away party for all of the interns. We were also able to take several trips to the beach, and see some movies. One of the keepers hosted a book club. The book while I was there was In the Shadow of Man, by Jane Goodall. I have always been interested in her work, so getting to read and discuss about her life with others who share a similar passion as me was a lot of fun. The times I got to spend with my coworkers outside of work were perhaps some of my greatest memories from my internship, because I was able to build lifelong friendships.  

Group photo at the 4th of July Party

One my second to last day at White Oak, there was an intern tour where we all loaded into a trolley with our parents and took a tour around White Oak. This was really fun, because we were able to learn about the areas we were not directly interning with. It was also fun to get to share with our parents about what we had been doing all summer, and why we are all so passionate about pursuing a career in zoo keeping and conservation work.  

My dad petting a rhino on our tour

Saying goodbye to one of the Okapi I had the pleasure of working with

 

This was a hard goodbye. White Oak is a special place with a lot of special people, and I hope one day I might return and get to work alongside of them once again, but until then, I head back to my second home at Otterbein to have more amazing experiences and learn how to be the best form of myself that I can be. Hopefully my senior year does not go by as fast as the previous three.   

One of the many amazing sunsets I got to experience while at White Oak