You’ll never guess how we started off today. With a Code 99. What’s that you ask? Exactly what you’re thinking, an animal escape. Fortunately it was only a drill on a Cassowary (a large flightless Australian bird), but it was still exciting for an intern who had never experienced something like that before. It’s not like I got to help or anything, but we camped out in the Conference Room for a good ten minutes while we listened over the radio as they tracked the “bird” (the human in costume; I wish I were him). And after a few minutes of that they “shot” him and everything restored to it’s normal order.
We headed out to the van to go to Jesse H. Jones Park, a park near the Intercontinental Airport, and as soon as we got there we were directed to a pond where we would be weeding alligator weed. No, there were no alligators. I was disappointed to. But we didn’t even get the chance to get out of the van before we were handed tools and directed to start pulling. It was pretty quick that we got started, and I took the job of directing the canoe over to the other side of the pond and pulling weed there. And it wasn’t as glorious and beautiful as you’re thinking. It was dirty. And muddy. And there were spiders. Millions of spiders in all shapes. It was a little disconcerting, but as long as you didn’t look down you were fine.
I helped my partner as we fished out the alligator weed from the pond, and we quickly realized that there was a lot more of it than we realized, plus it was all connected, so it felt like we practically had the entire pond in our little canoe. But, alas, we still had more to pull, even on the third and fourth trip across the pond. We soon became speckaled with dirt and mud, and it was everywhere. All over our shirts, our pants, our shoes. We were nasty. And this was the one day we had a meeting after our workday, so I was feeling pretty gross, and not seeing any way to fix it anytime soon. And if I don’t say so myself, I was the dirtiest person there. But that’s beside the point. So once it had been about two hours, we had done so much work that the park director practically asked us to stop because he couldn’t transport all the bags that we had filled to where they had to go.
So we gratefully stopped working in the mud, and got back in the van, completely covered in it (or at least it felt that way), and went to the nature center. But we were so dirty, we weren’t let in until we washed off, at least our feet. So we gratefully took the chance to wash our shoes and explored the nature center. We saw a really cool python, who had been recovered from a really intense injury involving a knife to her throat that seemed like certain death, but to her it wasn’t, and she was appropriately named “Lucky” after that. We saw all the usual things, a bunch of information on our environment, etc, but there were some pretty cool headmounts of cougars, elk, bears, etc.
When we were done exploring, we were exhausted and starving, because we hadn’t brought our lunches. We quietly drove back to the Zoo and were grateful for the chance to change and eat. After lunch, we had a presentation by Houston Wilderness. And she was really cool! Her organization had decided that they all loved nature and they wanted the public and Houston to be educated about the nature around them and how they can experience it for themselves. So basically, her organization was a collaboration of all the parks and reserves compiled together and just a wealth of information for the public, that is easy to access and brings more people out to parks and helps them learn more about their environment and how they can help it. It was basically a network of all the organizations that are working in the field in Houston, and it helps them talk to each other, get their name out there, and know that they are not alone in their conservation efforts.
It’s actually kind-of brilliant, and I had been wondering if there was a company like this somewhere, but for a different topic. As many of you know, my favorite animal is the wolf, the grey wolf in particular, and any chance I have to see them or learn about them I will. I don’t know if I’ve even ever seen one in person, but that’s beside the point. So of course with this internship and with my new love of nature and environment, etc, I’ve been researching on conservation efforts for the wolf. And there’s a ton of websites and different places all over the country trying to save the wolf, but I don’t think they’re consolidated at all. And I was thinking that, if you have someone you know who’s backing you up, or even someone who’s trying to do the same thing as you in a different place, you feel so much more comforted and that you’re not alone. So what’s amazing is that for Houston’s fantastic biodiversity, there are so many things trying to save it! And an organization dedicated to saving those organizations! It’s really fantastic how much everyone really cares about conservation if you just ask, and if they have the chance they’d do anything to save an animal.
I was just really inspired by that, as usual, and by the joy that I’ve been seeing in everyone who we talk to. I love this internship, and I love where my life’s going. I just can’t wait for the plans God has for me that I don’t even know about yet.
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