By Derek Schlennstedt
A lifelong love of animals and a desire to protect them will soon launch a career for Year 12 Mater Christi College VCAL student Monique Bast.
Following volunteer and work experience opportunities at a local wildlife shelter, Monique discovered a particular interest in reptiles.
That interest has grown to now running educational reptile presentations at local primary schools, which teach children the importance of protecting wildlife.
“I’ve always loved animals, ever since I was little,” she said.
“However, until I worked at the Wildlife Shelter, my hands-on experience with reptiles was limited.”
“While I was volunteering there, a pair of bearded dragons were surrendered to the shelter and I was very fascinated by them so I decided to take them on and care for them as my own … since then I have taken on a number of other neglected reptiles.”
Her work experience at the shelter made Monique realise just how many reptiles are surrendered every day.
“It’s a really big problem, as it is with all kinds of pets.”
“People buy them because they are cute, or because it seems like a good idea at the time, then once they realise how much work is involved or they lose interest, they surrender them to a shelter or ever worse – release them into the wild where they are unable to fend for themselves.”
Monique is now following her passion and is teaching others about reptiles.
She has since run a number of presentations at local primary schools schools as well as elderly residential services, educating people about how to care for them and why it’s important people think very carefully before buying a pet of any kind.
“My approach is to only bring a small number of reptiles and insects, allowing the students to have supervised petting, as too much can be stressful for the animals,” says Monique.
“My goal is to focus on providing information, rather than the animals being there purely for the children’s entertainment.”
She now plans to establish her own business running her educational presentations, and has also applied for a Business Licence.
“VCAL has completely changed the course of my life and without it, I wouldn’t be doing any of this,” she said.
“I would never have done work experience at the wildlife shelter, gained experience with reptiles or found this path … now I will potentially have my own business before I even finish Year 12.”
