Fairfield volleyball player Camille Coffey ’15 is an animal lover, as evidenced by her veterinary work. She worked in a shelter last spring, a small animal clinic and the Los Angeles Zoo last summer and is currently interning at a local zoo. When the time came for her to inquire about studying abroad, the perfect opportunity seemed to present itself: a volunteer opportunity in South Africa last summer where she would be working with various animals while gaining valuable life experience.

“I was originally researching study abroad programs and I wanted to go to Africa, but the program was extremely expensive,” Coffey said. “I also really wanted to work hands-on with the animals, but you don’t exactly get to do that in the classroom. I happened to stumble across a volunteer program right outside Johannesburg, South Africa, and I applied for it. I heard back the next day and they said, ‘You’re in,’ so I called home and said, ‘I’m going to South Africa!’”

In Coffey’s opinion, the best part about working in South Africa was the training of the animals. She described the way that she and some other volunteers trained lion cubs in a sort of obstacle course and the thrill that came from hand-feeding such potentially deadly predators.

“We did training, which was kind of a behavioral enrichment type thing for some of the predators that were in the enclosure,” Coffey said. “We would bring them to an obstacle course, which they would have to go through, and they would get a reward.”

While in South Africa, Coffey lived on a sort of reservation surrounded by high fences in order to keep the more dangerous animals out. The fences didn’t always do their job however, as a few animals were able to gain entrance in the middle of the night on a few instances. “We had a few donkeys and zebras get in and eat the horses’ food, but the giraffes and hippos didn’t get in, which is good because the hippos will actually kill you,” Coffey said.

Coffey remembers one instance where she and other volunteers aided in the rescue of a wounded rhinoceros. The rhino, which had just been shot by poachers on a neighboring reservation, was in trouble when they found her. In response, they built her an enclosure, got her food and dug her a mud pool. “We got to see her go in the mud pool and we were all really excited because we spent like, the entire day covered in mud,” Coffey said.

Coffey made a few friends while overseas, some of whom she still keeps in touch with. She met a few people from University of Connecticut and one person from the Air Force, but also met volunteers from Canada, Italy and Australia.

When asked if she would like to go back at all, Coffey said, “I would love to go back. I’m counting down the days to go back. I will go back at some point in my life.”

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-- Senior | Assistant Sports -- English: Journalism

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