#i love neotropical opossums

[a-book-of-creatures]

Gray four-eyed opossum (Philander opossum), also known as cuíca or quica. (Photo by Joel Sartore).

Not to be confused with the...

... bare-tailed woolly opossum (Caluromys philander), also known as philander opossum in older books. (Photo of a juvenile by vireusegate).

[sataraborzoi]

Hi, can you tell me a little bit about your career? As well as how you got there? Sorry if it seems personal I'm deciding on my career path and I've always had a strong interest in wildlife rehabilitation. Thanks so much!!

Yes, of course - sorry for the delay I had to sit at a computer for this one. I am a veterinarian and a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. I primarily practice small animal medicine (dogs and cats) but I do see exotics. Most of the wildlife I get in are orphaned and injured babies dropped off at animal shelters. I started working at a vet clinic when I was 16 years old and one of the technicians there was a wildlife rehabber. She put me on as a sub-permittee and allowed me to rehabilitate some of the easier species (squirrels, opossums, and baby birds). My first job at the clinic was a kennel worker - it was not glamorous, but I have ALWAYS known I wanted to be a vet and one of the requirements for getting into vet school is a certain number of hours working at a clinic. I applied for a program that allows early entry into veterinary school - so I actually got accepted into vet school while I was in high school. I had to maintain a very high GPA and continuing getting vet experience to maintain my place in the program. I decided to do my undergraduate degree in wildlife and fisheries science (I got a minor in botany because...plants are cool too :)). One thing I noticed when I got to my college (the same one I attended vet school at - Mississippi State University) was that there were no local wildlife rehabilitators and they did away with the wildlife medicine program at the vet school itself. I really didn’t want to stop rehabbing so I went to all of the local private vet clinics and asked if any vets there would be willing to help me until I found a vet who said yes. Then I found the closest rehabber (3 1/2 hours away), drove to her, begged her to teach me everything she knew, and asked her if she would subpermit me. Fortunately, she is one of the most amazing people on this planet and she agreed. Eventually, I worked my way from little fuzzies to being licensed to raise raptors and rabies vector species (skunks, raccoons, coyotes, foxes, bobcats). I continued this until I graduated and I got every wild animal that was dropped off at the vet school. I stayed BUSY but I learned SO SO much. It was worth every sleepless night and not having a normal college experience. While I was in vet school, I took a trip to South Africa and met my husband. He is boarded (a specialist) in African wildlife medicine and neotropical diseases. If you see photos of cool African wildlife on my page, that is all him! We moved back to the United States because we couldn’t pay off my exorbitant student loans there. Now I do not get to take in as many wildlife babies as I used to, primarily because we have moved around a bit, but I am in the process of building release cages so I can do more. What I can say about wildlife rehab - it is very rewarding, but it is a lot of unglamorous work. You should definitely like mothering things, but also realize these are wild animals and they depend on YOU treating them as such so that they can survive when you release them. You can’t cuddle and love them like you would an orphaned puppy. You have to be able to keep your distance and you also have to be able to let go of animals that won’t survive in the wild. While a missing foot is okay on a cat, a squirrel cannot be released like that. It is hard because you cannot save everything. Financially, it is even more difficult as rehabbers are non-profit. You have to be really good at gathering donations or be in a position to be able to put forward your own money into their care. While there are some rehabbers that are able to somewhat support themselves, most independent ones have a partner who can pay the bills. Getting a paying position at a really big facility is very competitive so you have to work hard and put yourself out there to get those jobs.