Laboratory Animal Technologists Care About Animals Used in Research

Who cares about the animals? I do! My name is Kim. This is a picture of my horse Cracker Jack and me.

I grew up in a home with a great variety of animals. There were dogs and cats, birds and ponies, and we even made pets out of chickens and groundhogs. We had an injured lamb live in our bathroom for a couple of months.

My parents both love animals and passed that down to each of their children. Both my sister and I chose careers involving animals. Even my hobbies were animal oriented. I rode horses on trails and also worked cattle from horseback. I broke horses to ride and gave riding lessons to anyone wanting to learn how to ride. Mostly I just loved being around horses.

I was an avid horseback rider until I had a car accident and developed Fibromyalgia Syndrome. I hope that biomedical research will find a cure for this so that I might be able to ride again.

Since I no longer have a horse, I share my home with two cats, Vadakin and Itzic, and a small parrot known as Sunny. Animals will always be a huge part of my life.

I am a Certified Laboratory Animal Technologist and I care for the animals used in research. [For an explanation of this, go to Animal Welfare Information Newsletters -- Vol. 2 No. 3/4, then search for "certi"]. The work I do is varied, interesting, rewarding; and the laboratory animals I tend get the best care I can give. To learn more about career options in veterinary medicine and technology, go to the Careers section of OSERA Kids.