At WFFT, they have volunteers who come from all over the world, who stay anywhere from one week, to months, and even years. While we were there, the volunteers were coming and going pretty often, and I want to say there was only 40 volunteers at the time. The volunteer coordinator had mentioned that they normally have up to 80 at a time! However, because the volunteer number was so low, a few students and myself were able to spend a week working with the wildlife portion of the sanctuary before starting our time with the elephants. I am so happy I was able to do this. The critters on the wildlife side, included a variety of different animals including, sun bears, gibbons, macaques, a cassowary, pigs, otters, different bird of prey species, deer, the list could go on.

Every day we were assigned a different “area” and each area had 3 or 4 volunteers assigned to them. I liked this bit, because we were able to meet some really cool people from some really cool places. I’m not going to lie, this was hard work, and although it was very fulfilling, and we learned a lot about different animal species, it was a slight shock to the system. A day would cover such tasks as, filling waters, making the food for the animals, cleaning enclosures, special projects, creating enrichments, and more. Although it was very hard work, and super long days in the heat, I had so much fun. Being able to say that we got to help enrich the daily lives of 500 different wildlife animals, was an amazing feeling. Not to mention, the people who we worked with were amazing. It was a breath of fresh air, learning about these volunteers, about their lives,  their hopes and dreams, and realizing that we were all hear for the same reason. To try and make a difference.

Click here to read other stories from the SPC Thailand Study Abroad program.