WILDLIFE RESCUE AND REHAB
The in-house communications department of an animal protection society asked me to document a facility for wildlife rehabilitation and rescue they helped fund. The facility also provided permanent living quarters for animals that could not be placed anywhere else.
The animals were as common as a local opossum hit by a car, and as exotic as an abandoned pygmy hippopotamus that had been an (illegal) pet. There was a colony of feral cats that had been removed from an uninhabited island so native populations could rebound (which they did). The cats could not be housebroken and lived in an environment that reflected their old home, although with a vet and a guaranteed food supply.
It was thrilling to be able to get up close to some of these animals without the crowds and theatrics of a zoo. Visitors were rare enough that the animals paid as close attention to me as I did them.