Submitted by Ms. Jacky Chaplow on
In the last couple of month the PBMS has had Beth Evans, a Lancaster University undergraduate student, working as a volunteer for the scheme. We asked Beth to give us her thoughts on volunteering for the scheme and a bit of background information about herself. Here is what she had to say:-
I have always had a keen interest in animals, which pushed me to study Animal Management at Mid Kent College. Although I had been aware that anthropogenic activities were having an adverse effect on ecosystems and animals from school and TV documentaries, it was here that I began to understand the full extent of those effects, and the complex relationship that people have with the natural world and animal species. This drove me to undertake my current degree in Environmental Biology. I am currently in my second year and hope to pursue a career in conservation, focusing on the relationship between social issues and attitudes within human society and how they impact on conservation efforts.
I have volunteered with several organisations, including the UK Wolf Conservation Trust, the Monkey Sanctuary, the Cat Protection League, and Challenges Abroad. During these placements I have been able to develop a deeper understanding of the impact of human activities on local and global environmental processes and systems, and how changes in these systems will ultimately re-shape the world in which we live through a variety of mechanisms
My time working on the Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme has been an amazing experience. By helping with post-mortems, the organisation and logging of samples, and data collection and logging, I have had the privilege of learning about predatory bird physiology and behaviour and the types of threats that are faced by these amazing species. I have also gained an insight into how an environmental organisation functions and how they can contribute to conservation and animal welfare protection efforts.
