Made it to Jersey!!! :)

Hello Everyone! Hope everything is going well!I just got in the door from setting some small mammal live traps out in the back field. We are doing it as one of the hands on activities here, hopefully we will get to see lots of little mammals tomorrow :)  I have been in Jersey for about a week now and settling in very nicely! Everyone is very nice and there are only ten people in my class right now so we are becoming a nice tight nit group!! Oh, I guess I should start at the beginning for those of you who are just signing on or trying to figure out what I am talking about.

I have been given an amazing opportunity by Wildlife Preservation Canada to participate in their New Noah Program this year. This program consists of a three week Endangered Species Management Course at the International Training Center (ITC) at the Durrell Wildlife Park here in Jersey, Channel Islands. I will then work in the Durrell Wildlife Park for an additional ten days to gain some hands on experience with the keepers. Finally, I will travel down to  Mauritius for six months where I will be working on some of the conservation initiatives there!

I have learnt so much in the first week that I couldn't possibly mention it all in this blog. We have dealt with case studies on everything from endangered birds in Hawaii to reptile relocation in Mauritius. They even make time to take us behind the scenes in the zoo area so we get to learn some important husbandry skills from the keepers in charge of caring for these special animals!! They have also implemented a new rule that if you are late for class you now need to sing and dance..which has been quite entertaining as well! .....I have not been late as of yet, although I do have a rendition of "I'm a little tea pot" in reserve if the situation arises!

I wish I could write more, but we are all meeting in the garden in ten minutes for a birthday party! There is a very nice lady names Jackie here from France to do some training and it is her husband's birthday today, so we are all going to wish him a happy birthday by singing in our native language :) Should be a great night. I hope you enjoy the pictures, I will post more really soon :)

Stay tuned for: Three Ladies and Some Lemurs....in my next post I'll tell you all about the project I will be working on while here on course....:)