While most of the interns who come to work at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge hail from within the U.S., such is not always the case. Take for example Emma Campbell. Emma, a first time visitor to this country, comes to us 4,146 miles from Scotland, in the United Kingdom.
Emma’s great passion, as it turns out, is bears. “There are no bears in the wild in Scotland,” she says. “However, the Edinborough Zoo has two sun bears and the zoo at Dundee has two brown bears. There are also polar bears at Kingussie Zoo. I have always been drawn to them, and so when I was at the University of the West of Scotland, I studied Biological Science and Zoology.”
To give an idea of Scotland, Emma points out there are more people in New York City than in all of her country, which is slightly smaller than the state of Maine, or a little over half the size of Arkansas.
Her accent draws attention. “I enjoy giving my tours here to the visitors,” she says with a laugh. “But sometimes they hear my voice and want to ask more questions about Scotland than about the animals!”
Emma has previously carried out research with European Brown Bears and want to work with bears in the future. “I would love to be involved in the rescue and rehabilitation of bears and big cats as well as get the opportunity to study them in the wild,” she says.
“I am so grateful for the chance to work with these animals and be involved in the important work Turpentine Creek does to save them,” she says. Amen to that.