I've been following the talk on volunteering and thought I'd throw in my views. I volunteer at a large wildlife rehab facility. For the most part, I clean cages and feed animals, very necessary tasks, of course. I have asked over and over to learn how to handle certain animals, to learn to inject sub-q fluids, to learn a lot of other things. I haven't really been given the opportunity to do those things. I have taken a large number of babies home with me to raise and have been quite successful at it (all at my own expense). They, of course, are released into the wild. The director has not one single time said "thank you" to me. The employees occasionally do thank me when I leave. I have faithfully gone to this facility every single weekend (except 2 or 3) for nearly a year and a half, and I even call when I won't be there. I've been told that only one person was working on a given day because they knew I would be there. How have I handled this perceived lack of appreciation? Well, I now am primarily working with another wildlife rehabber who rehabs out of her home, as most of you do (shelters). I have learned more from her in the couple of months I have been helping her than I did during the year and a half I went to the "big" facility. I have handled kestrels, barred owls, hawks, adult possums, etc.; animals I was never allowed to even touch at the other facility. I'm learning a lot about medications, nutrition, etc. She always takes the time to answer my questions (and I ask tons of them) and lets me have a lot of supervised hands-on experience. I've been able to watch the development of bats, raccoons, foxes, etc. I even get to cuddle, Mr. Lipinski. (I believe that animals in captivity need some sense of security in the strange world they've been placed.) That's the fun part. I also get up to my elbows (and beyond) in poop while cleaning cages. I chop vegetables and fruits for feedings. I handle dead mice, rats, and chicks to be fed to raptors (Yuck!). I enter outside aviaries [Moderator's note: The post ended abruptly here. BIG] [Posted in FML issue 2742]