Rrrraaaarrrrr!

The subjects of animal welfare, and the prevention of animal neglect and abuse are ones that are very close to deidre’s heart.

It began when she was in high school. she’d just moved up to the Sierra foothills. In the news were stories of people who had been hiking, or on their horse ranches and were attacked or killed by mountain lions. Generally the creature was simply trying to protect a cub or to defend it’s territory. Afterward, these animals would be hunted and killed. Now, deidre understands that once an animal like that gets the taste for human blood there is no way to fix it. she’s not saying that she knows what the solution is, just that there should be one.

What she is saying is that the reason that these attacks are happening is because the land that the animals can live on without human contact is quickly being taken over and turned into subdivisions, shopping centers and office buildings. There’s nowhere left for them to go. They are forced to adapt to the changes around them, and to defend what little is left for them.

When she was a senior she had an assignment for her economics class while we were learning about sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations etc. The idea was to set up an imaginary corporation in the same way that a real one would need to be. Board members would need to be selected, office/business space leased, purchased or built, articles of incorporation written up etc.

Of course, deidre was the girl that always had to do things a little differently. Instead of a corporation, deidre decided to beg her teacher to be able to do a non-profit organization. Knowing the teacher, deidre made sure that she was wearing the lowest cut tight little top she could find and a very short little skirt. He had a thing for her legs. Eventually he said yes.

deidre got to work researching the requirements for a large animal rescue facility, buying up hundreds of acres, setting up imaginary equipment and writing up her own bylaws. By the time she was done she knew just about everything that a 16 year old could about caring for abandoned and abused large cats and if financed properly would have actually set it up after graduation.

Yesterday, thanks to everyone’s suggestions, deidre started putting together a short list of things that she would like to do for her birthday. They needed to be things that are close, not outrageously expensive and something that Master would enjoy as well. Some of these things include going to the aquarium as Daddy’s little girl, spending a day downtown going through the museums and antique stores, taking out the sailboat that Master built and having our own private picnic on a little island out in the Gulf and finally, the one that deidre really wants to do, go to Big Cat Rescue, a sanctuary over in Tampa. Theme restaurants, the theater and the symphony were also on the list but there are no local places like Medieval Times and deidre’s birthday falls on a weekend when there is nothing at the theater and the symphony is not playing.

So she was hunting around on the internet researching some of her options, writing down times of operation and admission prices etc, when she came to the website for the big cat sanctuary. Not only can a girl go there to see the animals but she can volunteer too! One of the things that deidre was looking forward to once a sister is here is having a little less time working, which makes more time for other things. she’s been considering spending her days off doing this anyway, she just didn’t know what she wanted to volunteer for. It would have to be book, music or animal related.

First you have to go on a regular tour, and then go through a volunteer orientation. At the end of the orientation is an interview with the volunteer committee. After that one gets their newbie shirt and starts within a week. There is a minimum of 16 hours per month to start with. deidre’s planning on talking with some people there when (if) she goes for her birthday to see if the required hours can be set by the volunteer or if deidre would have to make a whole new work schedule for herself in order to do this. Ideally she could go twice a month, every other Monday, working 8 hours each time. This could be the beginning (rebirth?) of deidre’s newest obsession and something that she can see herself being a part of for years to come.