Oh, Humane Society, Up Yours!
I went to a meeting with Michael on getting certified to help oiled wildlife...... and it was a complete runaround waste of time. Most of the talk was dominated by this Otho-like guy from the Humane Society of Louisiana, who was very condescending and negative. He acted like everyone was there to live out some kind of Snow White cuddle-the-pelicans fantasy. He told us getting certified to work with wildlife was nearly impossible. Then he contradicted himself by saying there weren't enough rehab people and at the same time they already had too many. There was a lady from the Clearwater bird sanctuary who tried to tell us about a 3 month streamlined program to get some sort of "sub-certification" that would allow people to get out there as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, Jackass kept interrupting her, so we never found out where to go for that. It seemed like he felt that if all these people got certified, then he wouldn't be Mr. Special Expert come down among us mortals to Save the Animals. Every time I try to volunteer for something there's someone whose ego bullshit I have to deal with. I have skills and experience working with pets and some wildlife. I just need to fill in the gaps in my knowledge, get certified, and have a legitimate way to help. I am absolutely disgusted at the way the audience was treated. People were asking good questions, practically begging for a way to help out. I'm sure I was not the only person there with animal experience. We were pretty much told we were too stupid know the difference between a cat and a raccoon and would probably just be in the way. Thanks, Fuckwad.