My name is Cody and I'm a 21 year old biology student from Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va. My entire life I've had a passion for animals of all types. The first thing most kids want to be is a firefighter or a policeman, but not me, the first thing i ever wanted to be was a paleontologist because I saw Jurassic Park and as 5 year old kid I thought I'd get to work with dinosaurs. Once my parents got me to realize that wasn't going to happen I immediately turned my attentions towards being a zookeeper. Now as a kid this ambition was purely selfish, I wanted to work with animals because sure, I loved them, but mostly just because the idea of hugging a lion is awesome!!! As I matured however the way I feel about animals changed. When at first as a kid I just thought animals were awesome I grew to love them, and feel for them. When I saw an animal in pain it started to tear at my heart. Finally one day when i was 14 I had one of those eureka moments that just sets your life on a certain course that there is no turning back from. It was a Saturday morning and I planned to go to the national zoo with some friends. I awoke, looked outside, and saw that...... the weather was absolutely terrible. It was icy cold and there was a constant misty drizzle. Obviously a day like that would normally put a stop to a day trip to the zoo but I just didn't care, I was going. I called my friends to try to get someone to come along but because of the weather they all declined. So I geared up for a day in the freezing rain and started walking to the metro. It was a short walk to the train but withing minutes I was drenched and cold to my bones. A normal person would've turned around but on this day something inside me just said keep going. When I got to the train things only got worse.... the cab was air conditioned. So there I was soaking wet and freezing cold stubbornly sitting on an air conditioned metro cab on the way to the zoo. I know...... crazy. It was only about ten stops on the red line but by the time I got to the Cleveland Park station I was probably borderline hypothermic. By then though I was only a short walk away from the zoo and there was no way I was going to turn back. When I got to the zoo the conditions were still atrocious so the only animal outside was a Przewalski's horse but all of the animal houses were open so I knew I was going to get some sort of reward for my stubbornness. I walked through the reptile, small mammal, crustacean and amazonia houses leaving just the great ape house left to see. So I went into the great ape house and walked through pretty quickly because I was freezing and ready to go home. However as I exited the building I looked immediately to my right. There was this tiny porthole window and just on the other side of it, staring at me, was an orangutan. Something about her eyes just caught me so I walked up to the window and just looked back into hers without even thinking. In that moment I lost track of time, I lost all sense of self, I was just completely entranced. There I was separated from this beautiful creature by a mere six inches of glass. I felt connected to her and at first that was exhilarating but the longer I stood there and the longer I studied her eyes I just felt pain. Her eyes were the saddest things I'd ever seen. I don't know if she was lonely or bored or what but those eyes showed only pain. I don't know how many minutes I stood there in the freezing rain but once I broke out of that trance I was completely overwhelmed. I immediately started the journey home but i don't remember it in the slightest. After I left that window the next thing I remember is sitting at home in my room, still freezing cold and in my soaking wet clothes just staring out the window. I knew from that moment what my goal and purpose in life was. I'm going to fight for the worlds wildlife with everything I have until the day I pass on. The animals we share this rock with don't have a voice but they do have emotions. They feel love, pain, sadness, and anger just like us and they need people to stand up for them. Humanity is destroying the worlds wildlife at an ever increasing pace and its time those of us who know whats going on to stand and make our voices heard. Please stand with me!!!!
My opinion is very much like yours. People don't think that much about animals, except as pets or food. Animals are so much more than that, and they will be gone so quickly if we don't take care of them. Hopefully you mention livestock every once in a while, too :)
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