Barber's sea otter internship was pawsome

was also able to choose what to do for her summer internship, so she chose sea otter population research. Barber interned with UC Santa Cruz and at the world famous California Monterey Bay Aquarium. She and the other interns tracked sea otters to study their populations, also looking at where they lived, what kinds of habitats were most suitable for their different behaviors, what was affecting their population, including how the interns could make changes for the better of the otters. 

“I did this research when 9/11 happened as well, and some of research was put on hold due to the chaos and sadness taking over from the event that occurred that day,” Barber said. 

Not only did Barber get to spend some time researching otters, she was able to conduct research on cheetahs as well. Barber originally looked at doing an internship with the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) in Otjiwarongo, Namibia, Africa. Unfortunately, Barber wasn't accepted into the program the first time. However, about 10 years ago she took a class and part of the expectation was to travel to a part of the world and continue studies. Barber had conveniently chosen Africa and got to go with CCF this time. 

"What's amazing about this program was that I got to do what I wanted in a different capacity 10 years prior to that,” she said. 

Turns out that CCF founder Laurie Marker was from Roseburg, Oregon, and she had started her journey with cheetahs when she worked at Wildlife Safari near Roseburg. Marker had started studying the genetics of cheetahs and was looking at a specific kink in their tails. She also learned that the population of cheetahs were on the decline, that cheetahs were becoming an endangered species. 

“So, this was amazing to me that I finally got the opportunity to meet [Marker] and be part of the learning about cheetahs, their numbers and how they are continuing to decline,” said Barber. 

For a few years a member of the CCF community offered Barber tickets and she was able to attend a conference with Marker, who would give a lecture on the status of cheetahs and actually bring them in.  Barber took students to her conferences for about five years. However, due to changes in structure with the program and Covid-19, she has not been able to attend the conference for a few years. 

“It's about that time of year when [Marker] visits Oregon for her conference,” said Barber. “It has been at the World Forestry Center and Oregon Zoo before.”