Sally Maughan, Bear Mom

摘要

I have a long day. I wake at Sam and go to bed at 4am. My life is the bears and my job funds the bears! What's breakfast?! I go straight into feeding my menagerie of dogs and cats. I start work for a global travel company at 9.30am. I'm fortunate because I work from home, which enables me to run the Idaho Black Bear Rehabilitation Centre. I'm a watchkeeper. From my desk, I check on the bears every 15 minutes. If it's cold, I'll break the ice on their watertubs. One of the bears, Chitwin (Native American for bear), recently had a deep cut on her face that I had to treat. I don't worry too much though - bears are excellent at healing themselves. I rarely finish my lunch. I'll be at my desk until 4pm, either working or speaking to other rehab places, or ordering dog food - the bears' staple diet. Apples are donated, along with fish from folks' fishing trips. Contributions of food are common - you name it: acorns, melons, peaches, pears, grapes. Oh, and avocados - bears LOVE avocados. But they won't touch bananas.