Last week I was at the Virginia Federation of Humane Societies 2009 conference, which was really a lot of fun. For those who watched me whining on Facebook, you'll know it was an adventure for me to get there and back, what with canceled and delayed flights. Why I didn't drive...I just don't know.
Nonetheless it was a great conference. I made a point of going to the feral cat presentations of course,
as well as wildlife diseases, and then I spoke on wildlife handling. The conference committee was great, the exhibitors are getting to be old friends, and I'd just seen some of them at the Animal Welfare Federation of New Jersey conference four days before.
Most conferences have some sort of fundraiser, and silent auctions are deadly to me. I was a good girl this time. I was after this silly stuffed cat, but another attendee thought it was cute in its homeliness too, so when the price got around the cost of a neuter, I bowed out.
I'm afraid I did buy a sweatshirt I've been lusting over for years. (Ivan is lying outright on my forearm, purring his head off. Perhaps he's happy to see me blogging again? Or maybe he's hoping he'll get a Cheeze Doodle)
I really encourage anyone who is interested in animal welfare to pick one conference a year to go to. Before I got a job in animal welfare, I would go the the NYS Wildlife Rehabilitation Conference. I had no money, so I usually camped or slept in my truck, but I loved hanging out with people who cared about animals, and I got to meet all sorts of people who became life-long friends. My "vacation" each year was always a conference.
Every field has professional conferences. In animal welfare, we are lucky that there are more and more of them, so sooner or later, one is close by.
But now I'm home, safe and sound, at least for a bit. There are new feral cat adventures on the horizon for us--more on that to come!
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