Volunteer Trip to Australia
Donation protected
Hi! My name is Allison DeVincent and I'm raising money to go on a study abroad volunteer trip to Australia to go towards my wildlife and animal behavior degree.
Click here to see the exact trip I'm going on!
You might notice in my picture there's something unusual on my shoulder... Thats Carmen. He's my 3 year old Australian Bearded Dragon and one of the first therapy pet lizards ever. I hand raised him since he was the size of my thumb. He visits special needs people and kids with allergies and is affiliated with Pets On Wheels Organization. He sleeps in my bed at night, vists Vacation Bible Schools and does educational programs. He's also a couch potato! He made me want to spend my life making lives easier for the exotic pets that tend to be overlooked, much more than the kittens and puppies you see in shelters. Most shelters don't even take reptiles.
I'm majoring in Psychology in my soon to be sophmore year of college and trying to transfer to a University where I can minor in animal behavior to be an animal behaviorist. Its my dream to rescue and rehabilitate exotic pets as well as socialize some of them to become therapy pets, like Carmen is. I would love to start a non-profit to do that, I would call it REACH (rescued exotic animals creating hope)
But for now I need to get the hands on experience and see what real exotic animal rescues and animal behaviorists really do. What better way to do this than to go to my dream place and vist Carmens Home land?
Carmen and I have been really busy! Not only has he done a birthday party guest appearance, but he's also done volunteering at the Baltimore agriculture fall festival, and this weekend he goes to another fall festival to raise money for pets for vets! It's another great organization that takes shelter dogs and trains them to be given as service/therapy animals for disabled veterans. We also have a new hobby together, I kayak and he sits on the end of the boat while I paddle. He loves the water!
Stay tuned for a big deal regarding Carmen and myself that should be happening starting in early spring!
(Would like to also give credit for the two amazing high resolution pictures above to Jen palowski of pets on wheels)
Click here to see the exact trip I'm going on!
You might notice in my picture there's something unusual on my shoulder... Thats Carmen. He's my 3 year old Australian Bearded Dragon and one of the first therapy pet lizards ever. I hand raised him since he was the size of my thumb. He visits special needs people and kids with allergies and is affiliated with Pets On Wheels Organization. He sleeps in my bed at night, vists Vacation Bible Schools and does educational programs. He's also a couch potato! He made me want to spend my life making lives easier for the exotic pets that tend to be overlooked, much more than the kittens and puppies you see in shelters. Most shelters don't even take reptiles.
I'm majoring in Psychology in my soon to be sophmore year of college and trying to transfer to a University where I can minor in animal behavior to be an animal behaviorist. Its my dream to rescue and rehabilitate exotic pets as well as socialize some of them to become therapy pets, like Carmen is. I would love to start a non-profit to do that, I would call it REACH (rescued exotic animals creating hope)
But for now I need to get the hands on experience and see what real exotic animal rescues and animal behaviorists really do. What better way to do this than to go to my dream place and vist Carmens Home land?
Carmen and I have been really busy! Not only has he done a birthday party guest appearance, but he's also done volunteering at the Baltimore agriculture fall festival, and this weekend he goes to another fall festival to raise money for pets for vets! It's another great organization that takes shelter dogs and trains them to be given as service/therapy animals for disabled veterans. We also have a new hobby together, I kayak and he sits on the end of the boat while I paddle. He loves the water!
Stay tuned for a big deal regarding Carmen and myself that should be happening starting in early spring!
(Would like to also give credit for the two amazing high resolution pictures above to Jen palowski of pets on wheels)
Organizer
Allison Nicole DeVincent
Organizer
Eldersburg, MD