Today was our first day of service at Catty Shack! We separated to perform the tasks that the workers wanted us to do.
Some of the task that we did as group were fed the horses, brushed them, worked on their landscape, and cleaned up the animal’s enclosures. Since we didn’t get a lot of hands on action with Tigers on the first day, we learned very quickly to be gumpy.
However, we did get the chance to help a worker feed the coatimundi, bobcat and two foxes that also live at Catty Shack. We enjoyed hearing about these animals’ backstories, especially their rescue stories.
We worked on the landscape by grabbing shovels and rakes to dig holes and move two large palm bushes. It is more difficult than it sounds, and eventually, everyone ended up working on this task as a team. It taught us a lot about working hard as a team.
The best part about today was what happened after we moved the bushes: we went on a tour of Catty Shack and got to see all of the animals and their enclosures. There were tigers, lions, a coatimundi, two foxes and a bobcat. We learned a lot of interesting facts about Tigers, one of them being that no tiger has the same stripes. It was also neat to learn that all of the animals were donated or given to the sanctuary.
We reflected on the seven principles tonight and how they apply to our service. An important one is that this is it. We need to live fully in every moment, appreciate the world around us, and know that the world is different yet also the same as Mizzou.
We appreciated going to dinner at a Mizzou alumnus’ house and hearing about what Mizzou means to him.
We are looking forward to doing more work to help our fellow tigers and all of the animals. Although we are volunteering, we feel like being at the service site is very relaxing and we enjoy serving the animals. We are curious to see what other tasks they will have for us for the rest of the week.
Things we want to do differently: unplug more and communicate better as a group. We are very excited to see what the rest of the week has in store for us at the Catty Shack Wildlife Sanctuary.
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