CROW Feathers: Noelle Fitzgerald
Noelle Fitzgerald is a six-month wildlife rehabilitation intern at CROW. She’s been here for about two months, and we chatted with her while she finished up daily husbandry for some of the many young squirrel patients CROW sees.
Where are you from?
I’m from Milford, Michigan. I moved around quite a bit. [I] spent some time on Florida’s East coast a while ago. I was born in Portland, Oregon. I’ve kind of been all over the place.
Are you still in school or have you graduated?
I completed my Bachelor of Science from Michigan State University majoring in zoology. Oddly enough Michigan State University, being the Midwest state that it is, offered marine biology as a concentration, so I did that! [I took] courses like marine bio, oceanography, all that good stuff.
What is your favorite part of your internship?
My favorite thing about being a student is getting to work alongside other students of the same age from all over the world. You get to meet a lot of really amazing people with the same interests!
What is your favorite animal in general and here at CROW?
My favorite animal in general is probably a manta ray. I’m a big fan of elasmobranchs, like sharks and rays. Here, I really like barred owls and owls in general. I think they’re adorable. I also like the mourning doves. They’re often brushed to the side as common birds, but when you look at them really closely, they’re some of the most beautiful birds in my opinion.
What is your most memorable CROW moment so far?
It had to do with my favorite patient, a blind barred owl. We gave him some eye meds, he progressively got better, and he gained vision, miraculously. A couple days ago they sent him off for live prey testing, and I think he did fine. Seeing a blind animal come in, and then one day you open the cage and it’s tracking you, it just seems like a miracle and it’s so rewarding.
What’s been the most surprising thing during your time as an intern?
The patient load is surprising. I worked with pinnipeds and sea otters in Alaska. In Alaska—I mean, seal pup season is only so long—but we had maybe 14 patients for the season, so their care was very concentrated, and we monitored everything they did because we only had 14 of them, and not even at the same time. Here we have five thousand [patients each year], so that was kind of shocking.
What activities or hobbies do you enjoy outside of CROW?
I love to go to the beach here. I love shelling, it’s always been a hobby of mine. I enjoy reading too, that’s a basic answer but I do. I scuba dive. I really hope to get in the water here or in Venice.
Are you interested in veterinary school?
I’m thinking about it. I’m not sure. It’s such a big commitment. I’m between vet school—and if I did vet school I’d want to concentrate in aquatics—or just getting a master’s and doing research. So we’ll see! I actually don’t have any experience with domestics, so maybe I’ll try domestics clinics and see how I like that. Who knows!