Ella's internship with Felidae

When I applied to be an intern with Felidae Conservation Fund and the Bay Area Puma Project, I didn’t know what to expect. I was almost sixteen years old and had never worked anywhere before. The main reason I took this internship was to get experience in field biology because I knew that I wanted to be a field biologist when I grew up. When I started my internship, I was about to get my driver’s license, and was excited to put my newfound driving skills to the test. For my first day in the field, I met Lulu, who was about to complete her own internship with Felidae. Since Lulu had finished college and had significantly more experience than me, I felt unsure about if I was good enough for this internship. But she was very encouraging and told me how amazing it was that I was getting into the field biology industry so young, which helped regain my confidence for this internship.

And boy, was this internship a blast! I got to meet so many amazing people whose love for all things science rivaled my own. I’d get to see such sweet wildlife moments captured by Felidae’s camera traps. Whether it was a bobcat with a rodent in its mouth, a gray fox pup inspecting the camera, or a cow managing to dismantle a camera without chewing through it, every time I checked the photos after collecting the SD card in from the field, I knew that I would have a few laughs. I also got to experience being around all kinds of people I don’t normally meet in my daily life, including ranchers and landowners. I also really appreciated the amount of kindness all sorts of people gave to me when they saw me working with the cameras in the field and it really changed my perspective of humanity, giving me hope for the future. Even though I still like dogs more than cats, I had an amazing time with Felidae and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in science and wildlife, and likes being in nature and learning about collecting data for a real research project.