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 taughtme that the best way to get to know animals and tolearn what is special about them is by taking care ofthem. Working with exotic cats, establishingrelationships, and learning about each one hasawakened a desire in me to get to know other speciesof animals.
Although exotic cats are my fist love, my recentexploration took me to the tropical rain forest ofMefou National Park, a poor and little known Africancountry called Cameroon (near Nigeria) to work at aprimate orphanage called CWAF (CWAF.org)
CWAF is a non profit organization dedicated to thepreservation of endangered primates. The Cameroonianprimates suffer because of the illegal loggingbusiness, ãbush meatä markets, and pet trades. Whenthe army patrols the forests and they find illegalpoachers they confiscate the kills and send anysurviving young to CWAF.
Gorillas are as highly sensitive, caring, curious andconsiderate animals as they are large. When thepoachers kill a troop of gorillas, the young oftenwill themselves to die. The trauma they experience istoo great, that they have no desire to live. This iswhere CWAF comes in. They receive on average onebarely living baby gorilla per year. Skilled inraising these incredible creatures they have a prettyhigh success rate once the baby reaches theirfacility. The baby will require 24 hours care forover a year. Gorillas in the wild do not put theirbabies 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 forat the time of my visit. I was fortunate to be ableto hand raise baby monkeys. I had 24 hour, seven daysa week responsibility for two of Africaâs smallestmonkeys. Baby Talapoin monkeys fit in the palm ofyour hand and require feeding throughout the night. They are very loving and high energy creatures. Themonkeys stay very close to their ãmothersä, but theylove to run, jump, hop, and climb all over you and theareas that they are familiar with.
Baby monkeys being very portable, I also took care ofthe baby monkey nursery. These four monkeys werepretty independent, although they loved a good cuddle. Each morning I would walk ² of a mile to clean outtheir enclosure and give them their morning bottles ofmilk and fruit.
One of the monkeys in particular, Valla, a Collabusmonkey, became very special to me. Collabus monkeysare a low energy leaf eating monkey. In her earlylife, she had suffered a broken arm and had a nearlyfatal episode with fire ants (They can eat a monkey ofher size.).
On my first day, she crawled in my lap and looked upat me with the saddest eyes I have ever seen. No onethere had ever seen Valla play. I was definitelydrawn to her as she cuddled tightly to my side. Whatcould I do for her? I know cats not monkeys. Monkeysare almost as sensitive as gorillas.
I started by bringing her special treats when Ibrought the milk for the others. Being a leaf eatingand not fruit eating monkey, I guessed that her dietneeded to be changed. I was soon bringing hercarrots, cucumbers, peanuts, bread, and her favoriteCheerios. The enclosure is small and although it hasbranches throughout so they can climb and swing, itwas pretty barren, so each morning after cleaning, Iwould go out into the jungle and cut different leaves,branches and flowers for the young to play on (andeat). This really did the trick. Within a few days,Valla, the largest of the young monkeys was swingingthroughout the enclosure, playing with the residentlittle hooligan, named Masai who is a young moustachemonkey.
Hand raising young and caring for the baby monkeyenclosure, left me with a lot of time to visit andsit with the three gorilla groups. The nursery groupmade up of about 7, 2 ö 4 year old baby gorillas andthey were always a delight to watch. The young arevery responsive and delightful to watch in their play. Carla, the leader of the young group took a specialliking to me and she would always come right up to thefence to show off. She liked having her picture takenand wanted all of the attention herself.
The middle group is made up of four six year oldgorillas. They like visitors too, but chiefly theyloved their keepers and would often crawl up in theirkeepers lap for a quick hug.
The adult gorilla group is around 10 years old. Although the women can have babies at this age, themales do not get their ãsilverbacksä until they are15. They truly demonstrated all of the qualities thatI previously mentioned. When I would come and visitand sit quietly by the electric fence, they would knowthat someone was there and they would come out and sitfor an hour or two with me. I looked at them and theylooked at me. If I happened to bring the youngTalapoin monkeys, they would love to look at them to. Soon after I started visiting, the mother gorillawould bring her 2 month old baby boy out to show me. I was fortunate to watch him nurse. One of the oldermale gorillas would like to teach me new tricks. Hewould beat on his chest and then wait for me to do it. Then he might make different playful sounds with hismouth and wait for me to do it as well.
Although the conditions were primitive at best (norunning water, no heat, only 2 hours of electricity anight, and food that did not agree with me), and thedays were long, it was bittersweet to leave all of thegorillas and monkeys that I had grown to love behind. Although I will continue to support the facility, itwould probably be a long time if ever before I gotback there, There are so many other types of animals to experience. One bright point about leaving was Iwould be getting back to take care of all of the cats.
See also volunteer photos at bottom of Peaches page.
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