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this episode of Animal Wonders.
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Hello and welcome back to Animal Wonders.
I'm Jessi and I am standing in front of one of our
newest animal builds, and I am very excited to show it off.
This is Gwendolyn the Turkey Vulture, and she recently
made the move out here to this new space.
Gwendolyn is going through a pretty intense molt right
now, so she's spending a lot of her time
grooming herself, and her feathers look a little bit raggety.
In the next month or so, I'm excited
to see her new glossy and shiny feathers.
The reason that we moved her out here, was because
I wanted to give her more access to direct sunlight.
When we took her in, it was a little unexpected.
She was displaced from her previous facility because the
pandemic really reduced funds going to that facility and
they could no longer support her care.
So it was a bit of an emergency for her
to find a new home, and we set her up
in the space that we had available at the time.
And it worked pretty good for the most part,
but over time, I just, I didn't like that she only had
access to the sun for a few hours a day.
I wanted her to be able to access it all
day long. And in this space, she really can.
We made sure that she had a really large south
facing open area. So the front is open with mesh
and the door is all glass so she can just
spread her wings and enjoy that sunshine.
Gwendolyn's Vulture Pavilion was made out of
a donated Pavilion, and we customized it
to suit her needs the best.
So in the back corner we put solid walls, so if
there was a wind or blizzard or something, it would be
a wind break and she could stay nice and warm.
And then on the sides, we put a
four foot barrier again as a wind break
to help prevent her from getting too cold.
She can also access shade in that area
when it gets really hot in the summer.
We left the front very open so that
she could really utilize getting to that sunshine.
One of my favorite things about Gwen's new
space is that she has a living tree
in it, as well as natural ground.
So instead of walking on something like
cement or layers of straw, she is
on natural soil and leaves and grass.
And come spring, there's going to be more plants that come
in, and I just really like how natural it is.
Another thing that I really like about this build
is that most of the materials used were reclaimed,
meaning that the wood that you see was previously
used in another building and we are repurposing them.
This space just has so much more potential.
I can't wait to see the plants grow in
and make the improvements as we can.
Gwen is 29 years old this year, so she
has had a lot of experiences in her life.
I just want to make sure that what we provide for her
is going to help her thrive and really enjoy her life.
Gwen is dealing with a little bit of
arthritis in her feet, so we want to
make sure that she's as comfortable as possible.
She has her favorite perch, which actually came from
her previous home, but we also give her a
heated perch that's cushioned for her feet.
And we give her a heat lamp so she can go and
sit under it and warm her head on the cold days.
And then on the really cold days,
she has this heated den box.
It has floor heat in it so she can tuck her
feet under her warm feathers and stay warm that way.
And if there's something like a blizzard or it's negative
10°F or negative 30°F, we can actually close this up
and keep her nice and toasty warm inside.
Gwen has a pretty sassy personality.
She's kind of like an old lady, and she's kind of
set in her ways. But it's been an absolute honor getting
to know her and being able to provide her with a
comfortable life where she can just enjoy her time.
I want to thank all of our donors
and supporters who help us make these improvements
possible, and also our sponsors like Skillshare.
Without all of that help, we
wouldn't be able to do this.
We also wouldn't be able to
share these videos with you.
Learning how to edit all of this wonderful animal
footage has been a journey, and one of the
things that helped me get better with my editing
skills was this class on Skillshare.
You can start at the very beginning, or
you can take more advanced classes.
But if you're just starting out, this class called
Video Editing with Adobe Premiere Pro for Beginners,
taught by Hussain Haneef, is a wonderful option.
In the class, he goes with the basics in a really
structured way, and it really sets you up for success.
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So thank you to Skillshare for sponsoring
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of all of these amazing animals.
And thank you to our donors and supporters
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Thank you for letting me share.
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And I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.