Shalea grew up in the South Shore of Massachusetts, from a young age she always had a love for animals. When looking where to attend college, she applied to various New England schools. From the moment she step foot on UVM campus, she felt at home. “Everyone was just so nice, I got the chance to speak with someone from the Animal Science department, immediately this was just the place for me. I told my parents I NEED to go here.” (Shalea)

 

While at UVM Shalea majored in Animal science with a minor in Studio! She made a variety of connections and ended up becoming very close with her advisor and professor Dr. Patricia Erickson! They still keep in touch today, and she calls Patricia her role model!

 

After Shalea graduated in 2012, she worked as a Veterinary assistant at MSPCA, and currently she is working as a Development Assistant at FOUR PAWS in Boston, MA.

 

Four Paws is an international animal protection organization, that fights against animal injustice around the world through rescue and refuge education advocacy. They have offices in 11 countries, Shalea currently works on fundraising in the Boston office, and their headquarters is in Vienna, Austria. “We have a lot of sanctuaries, we have five sanctuaries across Europe, three large cat sanctuaries. We have an orphan academy for baby orangutans in Borneo, Indonesia. We also have stray animal care units, that have provided spade neutering, and medical services for the last 15 years all over world. We also have a disaster relief, and emergency response team, and they will go all over the world wherever there is a disaster. And our pride and joy our Lions Rock Sanctuary in Africa is one of our biggest cat sanctuaries in the world, we have about a 130 big cats down there.This is really why I got involved with Four Paws, I wanted to be more apart of wild animals lives.” (Shalea)

 

Shalea has been at Four Paws for 2 years now, and absolutely loves it. “Everybody that works here is amazing, and everyday you go home with a new story, I really enjoy it.” (Shalea) During a typical work day, Shalea will be in the office with around 8-10 other employees. She works with fundraising so she spends a lot of time at her desk, sharing stories with donors.  

 

Recently the team just had a big rescue from the Safari Park Zoo in Albania, deemed to be “the zoo from hell;” they rescued about 10 animals, including 3 male lions, and a bear with three legs. The team rescuing the animals had to physically cut down chains to rescue the animals.

After being medically treated, they will be moved to one of Four Paws big cat sanctuaries.

 

If Shalea could give any advice to prospective or current students at UVM, she would say, “take any basic level position you can get, with passion and hard work you will get where you want to go.”