The EFBC/FCC has a general manager and facilities supervisor in charge of the compound's and feline resident's upkeep. Their assistants are volunteers, who get to participate in every aspect of the cat's care. Our motto is "If you enjoy hard work for no pay, we've got a job for you!" But that's not entirely true - we (the volunteers) get paid in the form of whisker collections, occasional furry hugs, close-up photos, and tiger ruffles (their friendly noise). Where else can you find whiskers the thickness of weed-whip wire? Where else can you have your hairdo rearranged by a nuzzling bobcat? Where else can you earn the friendship of some the earth's most beautiful creatures, especially for someone with no background experience? Here at EFBC/FCC!
The day begins at 8 am, cleaning cages and checking on the cat's health. From 10 am - 4 pm, the volunteers assist visitors on the compound answering questions, and help in preparing the cat's dinner. In the afternoon, up to 150 pounds of raw meat is delivered to the cats, and dishes are washed. Don't come here expecting to play with cats - you need to be willling to work hard, and no whining about wanting to pet the pretty kitties. There's only a few cats we go in with, and you have to work your way up to that privilege. It's a busy day, but well worth the effort. If this sounds like your idea of fun, call (661) 256-3793 or come visit us at EFBC/FCC!
Other Volunteer Activities- we've had information booths at many places - Palmdale Festival, Poppy Festival, farmer's markets, the San Bernardino Wildlife Art Festival.
Our Volunteer of the Quarter is Pam Rose.
Volunteering at EFBC for close to ten years has taught me that the best way to get to know animals and to learn what is special about them is by taking care of them. Working with exotic cats, establishing relationships, and learning about each one has awakened a desire in me to get to know other species of animals.
Although exotic cats are my fist love, my recent exploration took me to the tropical rain forest of Mefou National Park, a poor and little known African country called Cameroon (near Nigeria) to work at a primate orphanage called CWAF (CWAF.org)
CWAF is a non profit organization dedicated to the preservation of endangered primates. The Cameroonian primates suffer because of the illegal logging business, ãbush meatä markets, and pet trades. When the army patrols the forests and they find illegal poachers they confiscate the kills and send any surviving young to CWAF.
Gorillas are as highly sensitive, caring, curious and considerate animals as they are large. When the poachers kill a troop of gorillas, the young often will themselves to die. The trauma they experience is too great, that they have no desire to live. This is where CWAF comes in. They receive on average one barely living baby gorilla per year. Skilled in raising these incredible creatures they have a pretty high success rate once the baby reaches their facility. The baby will require 24 hours care for over a year. Gorillas in the wild do not put their babies down so rarely do their human care givers.
The stories on the baby gorillas took me to CWAF. However, there were no baby gorillas being cared for at the time of my visit. I was fortunate to be able to hand raise baby monkeys. I had 24 hour, seven days a week responsibility for two of Africaâs smallest monkeys. Baby Talapoin monkeys fit in the palm of your hand and require feeding throughout the night. They are very loving and high energy creatures. The monkeys stay very close to their ãmothersä, but they love to run, jump, hop, and climb all over you and the areas that they are familiar with.
Baby monkeys being very portable, I also took care of the baby monkey nursery. These four monkeys were pretty independent, although they loved a good cuddle. Each morning I would walk ² of a mile to clean out their enclosure and give them their morning bottles of milk and fruit.
One of the monkeys in particular, Valla, a Collabus monkey, became very special to me. Collabus monkeys are a low energy leaf eating monkey. In her early life, she had suffered a broken arm and had a nearly fatal episode with fire ants (They can eat a monkey of her size.).
On my first day, she crawled in my lap and looked up at me with the saddest eyes I have ever seen. No one there had ever seen Valla play. I was definitely drawn to her as she cuddled tightly to my side. What could I do for her? I know cats not monkeys. Monkeys are almost as sensitive as gorillas.
I started by bringing her special treats when I brought the milk for the others. Being a leaf eating and not fruit eating monkey, I guessed that her diet needed to be changed. I was soon bringing her carrots, cucumbers, peanuts, bread, and her favorite Cheerios. The enclosure is small and although it has branches throughout so they can climb and swing, it was pretty barren, so each morning after cleaning, I would go out into the jungle and cut different leaves, branches and flowers for the young to play on (and eat). This really did the trick. Within a few days, Valla, the largest of the young monkeys was swinging throughout the enclosure, playing with the resident little hooligan, named Masai who is a young moustache monkey.
Hand raising young and caring for the baby monkey enclosure, left me with a lot of time to visit and sit with the three gorilla groups. The nursery group made up of about 7, 2 ö 4 year old baby gorillas and they were always a delight to watch. The young are very responsive and delightful to watch in their play. Carla, the leader of the young group took a special liking to me and she would always come right up to the fence to show off. She liked having her picture taken and wanted all of the attention herself.
The middle group is made up of four six year old gorillas. They like visitors too, but chiefly they loved their keepers and would often crawl up in their keepers lap for a quick hug.
The adult gorilla group is around 10 years old. Although the women can have babies at this age, the males do not get their ãsilverbacksä until they are 15. They truly demonstrated all of the qualities that I previously mentioned. When I would come and visit and sit quietly by the electric fence, they would know that someone was there and they would come out and sit for an hour or two with me. I looked at them and they looked at me. If I happened to bring the young Talapoin monkeys, they would love to look at them to. Soon after I started visiting, the mother gorilla would bring her 2 month old baby boy out to show me. I was fortunate to watch him nurse. One of the older male gorillas would like to teach me new tricks. He would beat on his chest and then wait for me to do it. Then he might make different playful sounds with his mouth and wait for me to do it as well.
Although the conditions were primitive at best (no running water, no heat, only 2 hours of electricity a night, and food that did not agree with me), and the days were long, it was bittersweet to leave all of the gorillas and monkeys that I had grown to love behind. Although I will continue to support the facility, it would probably be a long time if ever before I got back there, There are so many other types of animals to experience. One bright point about leaving was I would be getting back to take care of all of the cats.
See also volunteer photos at bottom of Peaches page.
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