By Ian Thompson | DAILY REPUBLIC | July 31, 2009
Suisun Wildlife Center intern Elina Rios transfers a kestrel from its outside cage to an inside cage before feeding it a mouse. Rios is living at the center during her internship. Photo by Chris Jordan
SUISUN CITY - It is hard to improve upon the unusual house mates with whom Suisun Wildlife Center intern Elina Rios has spent her summer.
Those include raucous scrub jays, indignant great horned owls, sleepy baby squirrels, rambunctious raccoons, a skittish coyote and a possum with an attitude.
Living with this host of birds and other animals hasn't been hard for the Mills College graduate who spent the summer learning about wild animal care.
Once the rest of the staff leaves for the day, all the chirping and hissing made by the owls and others dies down and the night is only interrupted by the occasional howling by the resident coyote.
'I love it,' Rios said of her commute that is measured in footsteps.
Rios, who grew up in Pomona caring for a host of pets, had just graduated from Mills College with a bachelor's degree in biology when she heard about the internship program.
'I wanted to be part of a rehabilitation center that treats and releases animals,' said Rios of why she signed up to spend a summer living and working at the Suisun Wildlife Center.
She particularly wanted to work with raptors, which the center attracts by large numbers every year in the form of owls, kestrels and hawks.
Rios moved into a small apartment at the back of the center on June 1 and immediately started learning the ropes of taking in, feeding and caring for animals that ranged from scrub jays to raccoons.
'I liked the fact that the center is small so I can learn more,' Rios said.
Her workdays start at 9 a.m. with collecting all the food trays and preparing food for the occupants in the baby bird room and cleaning out the cages.
'You have to feed the baby birds all the time,' Rios said.
Once she finishes offering a variety of dining options that include freshly killed mice doused with vitamins, she then prepares food for all the larger animals kept in outside cages.
See the complete story at the Daily Republic online.
