Something I’ve always been passionate about are animals, and for a long time, I was so sure that I would go into a career field involving them.
In Spring/Summer of 2021, I interned for the PAWS Wildlife Rehabilitation Center full time. This was when I was planning on going into Veterinary Medicine, specifically for wildlife rehabilitation; I was scheduled 40 hours a week, but definitely worked “overtime”- I was an unpaid intern.
I loved that job, but oh my god- it’s insane I wasn’t getting paid everything for the amount of work I was doing. I believe this was before Washington passed a law that requires interns to be paid, so it was legal, but it still blows my mind that my payment was a $60 Visa Gift Card and a water bottle. And occasional snacks and otter pops.
I’ve no clue what it’s like there now- I’m sure (I hope) interns now are getting paid. I also hope that the facility is still well equipped now that they have to put costs into paying interns…
Overall, the facility was extremely understaffed and over reliant on volunteers. The summer months were extremely busy, since the public came into contact more with wildlife. This was also during a heat wave, where birds were falling and dying left and right from lack of water and heat exhaustion. The place rode on the backs of unpaid and underpaid workers; I recall my mentor, a rehabilitator, telling me he gets paid $25/ hour. This man was saving lives of native wildlife EVERY DAY and he was only getting paid $25/ hour….?!?! I was appalled. I am still appalled.
So, if I were to have $25,000 of spare cash on hand, I would give it to the organization to pay their 3 rehabilitators on site just a little bit more. A bonus, if you will. This is probably the wrong way to be donating this money, but these rehabilitators deserve much better pay. They’re helping preserve, protect our native biodiversity, and are extremely underappreciated.