Hello dear readers!
My name is Amanda. I’m the newest caregiver here at CSNW and I’m very excited to be starting this new chapter with the chimps, cattle, amazing staff, and you all!
I’m from many places, having moved a lot as a kid and carrying on the habit as an adult. Now that I landed this job in this beautiful place, I think I’ll try out settling down long-term.
“What got you into chimps?”, many people ask, to which I respond, “My mom”. When I was a little kid she was going to school for anthropology and was drawn towards the primatology courses and soon began to intern for the Jane Goodall Institute. Childcare being very expensive, I went with her most places including her lectures, professor’s office hours, and the JGI offices. It was especially fun when she brought me along to Zoo Atlanta where I was free to run around, visiting the gorillas and orangutans each time.
Most recently I lived in Bend, drawn there to work at Chimps Inc., now called Freedom for Great Apes. This being my first experience with chimps (I’ve worked with a number of different monkey species), I quickly became smitten with them. After my time at Chimps Inc. I stayed in Bend for a few years doing this and that including caregiving for adults (humans) with physical and intellectual disabilities, running my own housekeeping business, volunteering for ThinkWild, a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation nonprofit, and earning a graduate certificate in nonprofit leadership and management through Arizona State University online. After a while I decided I needed to jump back into the primate world so I decided to attend Oxford Brookes University’s primate conservation Master’s program, which was such an enlightening experience where I met some really wonderful people in my cohort who will remain lifelong friends.
After finishing that program I moved back to Bend without a real plan. I volunteered again for ThinkWild and their BeaverWorks project, gaining some field experience setting and monitoring wildlife cameras at beaver dam and den sites. Later on I got a summer job as a field assistant for an Oregon State University research project involving songbird and raptor surveys in the Steens Mountain Range. I was unenthusiastically searching for the next opportunity when a friend of mine sent me the listing for caregiver/veterinary assistant at CSNW and long story short, here I am!
So excited to learn and grow here! Now, please enjoy some of the pictures I’ve taken at CSNW so far!
Terry showing off his adorable buck teeth
Terry and Rayne admiring some boots Jaime received. Model credit: Grace
Jaime in an impeccably crafted nest holding a suede boot in her pelvic pocket.
Burrito playing tug-of-war with me
Jaime and Missy enjoying the benefits of one of the first snow storms of the season
Classic Betsy getting up close and personal
