Wildlife biology has become an extremely important field in the past few decades. As the
world continues to develop, the conservation and wellbeing of wildlife is unprioritized and
overlooked. Animals have always been a big part of my life, and I feel very strongly about
climate change and how it’s affecting everything around us. This makes wildlife biology and
conservation seem like such an apparent career choice for me. I’ve spent my whole life knowing
that I wanted to make a difference with my career, but I never really knew what that would look
like. As I got older and learned more about global warming and how destructive we are as a
society, I realized that’s where I wanted to help. I want to help conserve wildlife and their
environments, along with helping wild animals in captivity. So much of the world today revolves
around money, which means that things are built and destroyed with no regard for whom it
affects. Industrialization and urbanization are severely limiting animals’ habitats and resources,
forcing them towards urban areas or causing them to die out. Animals don’t tend to thrive in
populated areas. There aren’t nearly enough natural resources, they have to navigate vehicles and
other dangers, and many people consider them nuisances, so they use traps and pesticides to keep
them away. Wild animals have also become popular attractions, which means they’re taken from
the wild, or bred in captivity, and put on display in places like zoos, aquariums, amusement
parks, circuses, etc. My reason for being a wildlife biologist is to improve the lives of animals
around the world, and the many generations to come.
I’ve spent my life surrounded by animals both big and small, wild and domesticated.
Between having pets of my own and volunteering at animal shelters, they’ve always been such
an important part of my life. I started out wanting to be a vet when I was younger, then decided
that career wasn’t a good fit. I went through a long period of not really knowing what I wanted to
do, but knowing I loved animals. Eventually, I found wildlife biology and realized that it
combined my love of animals and nature. This pushed me to work on getting my bachelor’s
degree in biology. Although I’m unable to specialize in wildlife biology at this point in my
education, I do take classes geared towards that field. I have some limited experience in rescuing
wild animals, but not nearly the amount of that I’d like before attending graduate school. I am
currently in the process of finding rescues/sanctuaries to volunteer with, or someone that works
with wild animals that I could shadow or intern with.
Once I get my bachelor’s in biology, I would like to pursue my master’s in wildlife
biology. While part of my master’s will be done in the classroom, I will also get hands on
experience. Ideally, I’d do my thesis on big cats in the savanna. I’d also like to use my career as
a chance to travel around the world. I want to study wild animals in their natural habitats and
help with conservations efforts, as well as study animals in captivity and work to better their
conditions. Studying animals in their natural habitat would mean collecting data, monitoring
populations, developing conservation plans, etc. While I don’t believe wild animals should be
kept in captivity outside of rescues/sanctuaries, I would like to better the conditions for those
stuck in captivity. This would require studying that species in both the wild and captivity to see
how its natural habitat and behaviors can best be replicated. My goal is to help animals, no
matter where my career takes me.