Hello everyone, so I wanted to tell you, despite my summer plans and intentions, I am no longer at Critter Care.
Here is the story so I don't have to repeat it to everyone as I have been doing.
I was at Critter Care, and we worked 16 hour days - with only 1 half hour break. Breakfast and animal feedings were to be done before 9am.
They said they would house and feed us, and I shared a trailer with 5 other girls with the opposing bunk bed not even a foot away from me. All our food was literally reclaim dairy and old bread from the local groceries stores who donated produce for the animals. All of our milk was 2 weeks or more old, I had a Danactive that expired on April 6th. They never bought food for us and all our good produce went to the animals, I chopped up cherries and blackberries for raccoon's (who also had a side dish of dog food, like honestly!). I felt sick every day I was there and asked everyday to go to the doctor - just voyaging into town with whomever would do the laundry or get the day's produce. But they refused and that I would have to wait until my day off which was once a week. One night after I had horrible food poisoning, (I also told one of my supervisors how sick I was, and all she said was "So..?", not care or compassion to the fact I was vomiting up green due to the food they gave me) I went to the doctor that next day and he told me that due to the stressful conditions I was living in, with little sleep, long hours and food that I should not be eating, It would probably be in my best interest to not be at Critter Care. He then told me that he thought I have contracted a parasite (still waiting on the results for that) that I would have got from the food there.
From the second day at Critter Care I was assigned a baby skunk, now honestly if I could have taken him home I would have. The sweetest thing you would ever meet (I have plenty of pictures and videos to show you), baby skunks act like kittens, he was very playful and affectionate to me, following me around and crying when I would leave. I felt he was almost the thing that made it better on my days of feeling alone. It may sound silly but if you feel a bond to an animal you know what I mean.
There was one girl from Switzerland who came to Critter Care and decided that the facility was not what she was interested in and told them that she was going to leave. This girl was only 20 years old, never been to Canada before and not the most fluent in English. When she told them she was going to leave, they LITERALLY kicked her off the property and drove her to the Vancouver airport and told her to just find her way. I have been to Vancouver a few times and I still have issues trying to figure out the sky trains, non the less of a foreigner. If something happened to her they would be liable, and I couldn't believe just the fact she said she was leaving that they treated her in such a way.
When I told my mom this, after her advising me not even after a week I should leave, she contacted her friend in Richmond that if I needed a ride she would come and get me.
The people I worked with were very ignorant, and I would phone my mom crying everyday about all the snippy things they said to me. When I was really sick I took the day off and took the opportunity to sleep and ease my stomach. I still woke up for all my animals feedings ( I was responsible for 6 skunks.) Cleaning up after them, weighing them etc. Anyways, so after sleeping all day I laid in my bed and I was speaking to my mom on the phone who was asking how I was doing. One of my supervisors walked into my cabin accusing me of not being sick, and getting mad at me for talking to me own mom. She then brought in a blanket that was in one of my skunks kennels and accusing me of not cleaning it and I said I had never seen the blanket before and it was going to the laundromat tomorrow anyway. But she ripped a strip off of me saying I am the only one with skunks etc. My mom couldn't even believe how she was speaking to me. When I went into the nursery, there were in fact other skunks but whatever.
The next day, after being sick all night I woke up and fed all my skunks and then it was 5 mins after 9o'clock and I was eating my granola. My 2 supervisors came in and asked if I was working today and I said yes but then kept getting so mad at me for eating breakfast because it ended at 9. I said I hadn't ate anything the night before, and they kept accusing me of not being sick, comparing me to other staff, saying I don't work. I was crying saying please leave alone so I can just finish eating, to build up my health and I can get to work with everyone else. They kept at me and at me, and I said, "Do you want me to leave? Because you are making the offer so tempting by how abusive you are being" And they said do you want to leave? Then they said "You are leaving, and we are going to kill your baby skunk". No joke guys! This I love wildlife, rehabilitation center, threatened to kill my 6 week old perfectly healthy little baby that I loved dearly. Isn't that sick? I started balling my eyes out, phoning my mom going they are kicking me out, they are going to kill my baby skunk, what am I going to do.. She couldn't believe it, when I was walking out to my trailer they came out to talk to me again and told me to get off the phone, and I said they would have to deal with it, they told me I was leaving and they will put my skunk out with the others - pretty much if he was any younger they would put him down.
They also told me the first day I was there, they euthanize animals without a license and to not tell anyone if they ask. They also had animals stored in the freezer because they weren't able to take them to the incinerator frequently enough. Before my it was either 4 or 6 people left early, one person 6 weeks early, another person left early due to issues with the supervisors (big surprise...) and many people I spoke to with there were contemplating leaving early and how it wasn't what they expected. One person's mom told me to contact the Canada Health Board.
I tried to contact anyone I knew down there or might have connections, and I had to resort to cabbing it (25 dollar ride) into town, he gave me a free 15 dollar ride to the bus station and then heading all the way down to Tiwasin Ferry Terminal (about 2 ish hours of transit). To meet up with a friend whom I drove with to Cache Creek, and after 2 days stay there, went on the greyhound back to Prince George.
I am probably going to take them to government, the health board, working violations and the SPCA due to the euthanization. The thing that gets me is they just had their huge open house getting so much fundraising and donations, everyone thinking they are so saint like when it is in fact total bullshit from the amount of crap I had to go through in a matter of a week.
Feel free to comment!
I will be posting lots of pictures of my skunks and my one special little skunk! Along with some more positive posts of the few amazing strangers I met in Langely that were so caring, they brought tears to my eyes.
Back home safe, <3
