Spain

Pompeu Fabra University

 

 

 

Aquarios

One Day with Sara

By

Alícia Duró, Cristina Peñarroja and Cristina Ramos

SARA IS A BIOLOGIST WHO DEDICATES PART OF HER LIFE TO SAVE TURTLES

CRAM (Marine Animals Rescue Centre) is a private non-profit organization devoted to rehabilitation of marine animals, research and public education. Its function is to assist and rescue marine animals that appear along the Catalan coast (Mediterranean Sea). An awareness campaign on marine turtles, called “Help-them”, is carried out every year, in collaboration with fishermen associations. There are several reasons for the decline of endangered marine species populations. Unfortunately, human activity is the main cause in most of the cases.

SARA PONT has been working for several years in this institution. She is an enthusiastic person, very persistent and entirely dedicated to her job. She began as a volunteer when she was 21 years old while she was studying Biology at the University. Then she got a grant to work in the summer for the campaign “Help-Them”. Finally she graduated and got a job as the Manager of the Rehabilitation Centre.


Sara shows us her evolution as a scientific in this centre.

SARA AS A VOLUNTEER

- What is it like for you to be a volunteer?

Doing something but not expecting anything in exchange. I never thought of working here. I used to paint walls, get the food ready for the animals, sweep the floor, clean the vans … But the simple fact of working with the CRAM staff and being able to observe what they were doing would have been worth me paying them for the experience.

- What knowledge do you get volunteering here?

What's most important about volunteering here is that you don't have to be a specialist in something, but you must know a little bit of everything, veterinarian, mechanic, painter, …

A volunteer's problem is that you get older, and no one can live without earning a living.

SARA HAS A GRANT FOR THE SUMMER

- Why did you decide to study biology?

Actually, in the beginning I wanted to be a veterinarian but I ended up studying biology. The CRAM also interests me because its closeness to veterinarian work. Once I finished my degree I realized that biology also is a field that is interesting to me.

- What are your responsibilities?

My responsibilities as an intern include giving input to the most technical issues of the Centre. As a biologist, I help the veterinarian make diagnoses by using my expertise to analyze the animals.

SARA AS A MANAGER

- What is it like as the manager at the centre?

Now, I have a Biology degree and a permanent contract with CRAM as a manager, which means I am in charge of all technical programs, as well as personnel, including volunteers. Another one of my duties is to prepare clinical instruments for the veterinarian and assist in surgeries.

I always say that the turtle is an unknown, you never know where it's coming from or where it's going, how old it is, if it a male or a female… You have an animal in front of you, and you have no prior knowledge, you only know the injury it has sustained.

 

 

CREDITS

Illustration: Daniel Massanas

Acknowledgements: We thank Sara Pont for her disposal and her patience with us. We also thank to CRAM Institution to lend us take images of the Centre.