Cheetah Personal Statement

When I was seven years old my life was unequivocally changed; the movie Cheetah by Jeff Blyth was introduced into my life. The story revolves around two California teens that travel to Kenya with their parents and befriend a Masai boy and raise a cheetah cub “Duma.” The three teens quickly learn, they need to set Duma free, so she may have a chance to survive in the wild. However, once they find out that poachers have taken the cheetah to race against greyhounds, the three teens embark on a journey to save her. From that moment forward, I made myself a promise to save animals.
By age fourteen, I found myself obsessed with the channel Animal Planet. When I came home from school, all I did was view the surgical procedures and watch the clinical interactions. I was mesmerized with the idea that you could save the life of an animal and relieve the pain of an owner. Although, not every patient and owner has the same happy ending, I understand as long as you did everything possible to provide the best outcome, you are already a hero for trying. At age eighteen …show more content…
I worked in the biology lab labeling pelts, bones, and animal specimens; by twenty-one, I obtained my bachelor’s degree and strived for my first job out of university. That summer, I joined Humane Society Naples and worked as a veterinary assistant, while also volunteering at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida in wildlife rehabilitation. This is my turning point and reminds me of Claudia at age seven, who wanted to save animals. The most vivid and unforgettable part of my time there was seeing the transformation of the animal’s health and behavior. From the time, they come into the shelter, scared and sometimes in pain, to then being apart of the team to medically assess and treat them, to witness their ability to play with other animals, and then to the joys of adopters coming in looking for their forever pet, is