So who am I?

Administrative Assistant at Piedmont Wildlife Center, or as I tend to refer to it, the paper grunt. Not glamorous, not even interesting, but someone has to do it, right? Most people simply know me as the voice on the phone.

Why Piedmont Wildlife Center?

Besides being a nature & wildlife photographer on the side, I've always had a fascination for the natural world and the species within it, and I find it unsettling that we as humans seem to have a very narrow focus on ourselves. Habitat vanishes every day, most times simply for our convenience. Animals on their way to food or water sources suddenly find themselves in the path of an SUV. We're not going to reverse or prevent development, but sharing isn't out of the question, and we can do something about helping out when we're often the cause of the problem in the first place.

But even more, there's this elaborate, interactive ecosystem right under our noses, and sometimes all it takes to see it is realizing it's there in the first place. We tend to tune out the bird calls, miss the rodent paths through the grass, and have no idea what kind of activity there is at night. And I think we're seriously missing something this way. So I'm glad to be a part of an organization that both helps correct some of the damage and injuries we may (or may not) be the cause of, and introduces young and old to the magic of nature.

But what does the fundraising do?

Right now, there really isn't much support for anything wildlife related through normal channels. Local, state, and federal taxes are allocated only for the most basic of services. Animal control agencies usually don't have the expertise to handle wildlife issues. The vast majority of veterinarians concentrate on domestic animals, mainly because there's no one to pay the bills when a hawk needs X-rays and its wing fractures set (and wildlife medicine is highly specialized). And I probably don't have to say anything about school funding. So any kind of care or education almost always comes down to non-profit agencies like our own. And the only way we keep going is through donations and grants.

It's hard to write something like this and not come off sounding like a guilt trip, but I'm really trying to avoid that. The gist is, we have to decide to give because there really isn't any structure in place. Voluntary taxes, if you will.

How much, of course, is up to you. But what you give goes towards the animals, their health, and even the knowledge of what they are and how important this is to all of us. Hey, when parents are telling us what they learned from their kid after summer camp with us, I figure this is a good thing.

Thanks for your time.