I did a presentation at the library in July for 26 kids and some
of their parents. That night, I got a call from one of the mothers,
telling me her son had heard me speak, & that he wanted to come visit
our sanctuary. (I always welcome the kids to come with a parent &
learn more.) He was very enthused & wanted to come right away.

The next day, Matthew, his mom, and his older brother came for a tour.

For the rest of the summer, Matthew came almost daily to volunteer---
and later, his brother joined us too. Matthew is only 10 years old, but
he is one of the best volunteers we have ever had. He's like a sponge.
He is full of questions--and listens carefully to the answers. You never
have to tell him twice about something. He's responsible. He is not
opposed to doing dirty work. He has a genuine love of the animal, a
hunger to learn, and a desire to help.

Last week, the kids were washing food & water dishes & I was visiting
with their mom. Matthew calmly but seriously came out to the kitchen &
said "Zoo-- I think Loki is crashing. You might want to come look at
him"

As I headed for the medicine cabinet, Matthew explained to his older
brother & his mom "Zoo is going to give something to Loki to raise his
blood sugar, and she is going to give him a shot to help him. If we
didn't catch this, Loki might have gone into a coma & died. Loki has
something that's like the opposite of diabetes. He has it real bad.
Sometimes you can do surgery for it, but Loki is very old & he has
other things wrong with him too, so the vet says we have to give him
pred. There are two kinds of pred. One is better for the liver. It
has the letters "nis" in it . That's the one we give. Right, Zoo?"

I was astounded. He has picked up on all of this, during several
visits, just by listening to me talk about them!!! His mom & brother
were fascinated by what he was telling them--and I was hit with the
reality that maybe these presentations really ARE doing some good.

As I held Loki in my arms, Matthew smiled and said "Now if all goes as
planned, Loki will get more active, & we will have to give him soup for
the protein. Right, Zoo?" Matthew was on a high. He had seen a limp,
drooling little ferret come back to life, before his very eyes--and he
had been instrumental in saving that ferret's life. He proudly grinned.
"WOW--This was my very first experience with a low blood sugar
episode!!! COOL!!!!! "

It was an incredible moment.

I have always believed with all my heart that the future of ferties
will be determined by our youth . We try so hard, to reach out to kids
for that reason. Maybe it's WORKING!!!! Maybe we even have a future
exotic specialist here!!!

Not all kids are bad. Never underestimate someone just because they're
young.

I am so proud of him...

Love,
Zoo

[Posted in FML 5724]