Back to Nature Wildlife Refuge and Education Center<\/a> in Bithlo.\u00a0 Hynes, who is from Orlando, will be a junior Psychology major at UCF this fall.<\/p>\nThe students, who aspire to have careers working with animals, are caring for abandoned, injured and infant animals.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor most people, the idea of working alongside raccoons, baby possums, birds, reptiles and other creatures is surreal,\u201d said Hynes, who wants to be a zoologist. \u201cFor us, this is real-world practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of more than 2,000 injured and orphaned animals each year, Back to Nature is the largest nonprofit animal refuge in Central Florida.\u00a0 While most animals are rehabilitated and released back into the wild, some with permanent injuries cannot survive in the wild and stay at the facility. Through their stories, they help educate the public.<\/p>\n
Back to Nature houses more than 50 permanent residents, including deer, goats, arctic foxes and a cougar.<\/p>\n
Passionate about animals since the age of three, Alex Orfinger, a junior Biology major, began interning at Back to Nature after rescuing an injured baby bird on campus. The Ormond Beach native searched for a wildlife hospital and took the bird to Back to Nature to be healed.<\/p>\n
Since beginning his internship, Orfinger has learned how to handle emergency medical situations with animals and even helped perform surgery on birds.<\/p>\n
\u201cCaring for the animals is such a great hands-on experience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The experience has reinforced Orfinger\u2019s desire to work in conservation and help preserve species of reptiles and amphibians.<\/p>\n
After her internship ends, Hynes hopes to volunteer at Back to Nature and get involved in other opportunities, such as campus clubs and research, pertaining to helping injured and sick animals.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very rewarding simply to feel that you are making a difference in the community and helping animals that otherwise would not make it,\u201d Hynes said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As long as Samantha Hynes has a watermelon in hand, Koko, a rescued emu, will strut toward the fence intently. On other days, Hynes lets a baby possum, mostly blind and in poor health, loose from his cage to play in the grass. Hynes and six other University of Central Florida students are spending their summer as interns at Back…","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":25233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[488,3818],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-25231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-biology","tag-psychology"],"yoast_head":"\n
Animal Refuge Work Is Real-World Practice | University of Central Florida News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As long as Samantha Hynes has a watermelon in hand, Koko, a rescued emu, will strut toward the fence intently. On other days, Hynes lets a baby possum,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Animal Refuge Work Is Real-World Practice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As long as Samantha Hynes has a watermelon in hand, Koko, a rescued emu, will strut toward the fence intently. On other days, Hynes lets a baby possum,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-20T13:36:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-07-02T19:19:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2011\/07\/alexToday22.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"338\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Courtney Gilmartin \u201910 \u201916MA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Courtney Gilmartin \u201910 \u201916MA\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Courtney Gilmartin \u201910 \u201916MA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/71ca2d3ab8063db7d2e4af92e56715d4\"},\"headline\":\"Animal Refuge Work Is Real-World Practice\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-20T13:36:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-07-02T19:19:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":375,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2011\\\/07\\\/alexToday22.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"biology\",\"psychology\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2011\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\\\/\",\"name\":\"Animal Refuge Work Is Real-World Practice | University of Central Florida News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2011\\\/07\\\/alexToday22.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-20T13:36:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-07-02T19:19:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/71ca2d3ab8063db7d2e4af92e56715d4\"},\"description\":\"As long as Samantha Hynes has a watermelon in hand, Koko, a rescued emu, will strut toward the fence intently. On other days, Hynes lets a baby possum,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2011\\\/07\\\/alexToday22.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2011\\\/07\\\/alexToday22.jpg\",\"width\":450,\"height\":338,\"caption\":\"UCF junior Alex Orfinger has learned how to handle emergency medical situations with animals and even helped perform surgery on birds.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Animal Refuge Work Is Real-World Practice\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\",\"description\":\"Central Florida Research, Arts, Technology, Student Life and College News, Stories and More\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/71ca2d3ab8063db7d2e4af92e56715d4\",\"name\":\"Courtney Gilmartin \u201910 \u201916MA\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4cb7d719bb1d8f7c798ea48c1a72ff4ac6159480e37f50a818d31a24de70f89b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4cb7d719bb1d8f7c798ea48c1a72ff4ac6159480e37f50a818d31a24de70f89b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4cb7d719bb1d8f7c798ea48c1a72ff4ac6159480e37f50a818d31a24de70f89b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Courtney Gilmartin \u201910 \u201916MA\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/cgilmart\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\\\/#local-main-organization-logo\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\",\"caption\":\"University of Central Florida\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Animal Refuge Work Is Real-World Practice | University of Central Florida News","description":"As long as Samantha Hynes has a watermelon in hand, Koko, a rescued emu, will strut toward the fence intently. On other days, Hynes lets a baby possum,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Animal Refuge Work Is Real-World Practice","og_description":"As long as Samantha Hynes has a watermelon in hand, Koko, a rescued emu, will strut toward the fence intently. On other days, Hynes lets a baby possum,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\/","og_site_name":"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF","article_published_time":"2011-07-20T13:36:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-07-02T19:19:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":450,"height":338,"url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2011\/07\/alexToday22.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Courtney Gilmartin \u201910 \u201916MA","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@UCF","twitter_site":"@UCF","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Courtney Gilmartin \u201910 \u201916MA","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\/"},"author":{"name":"Courtney Gilmartin \u201910 \u201916MA","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/71ca2d3ab8063db7d2e4af92e56715d4"},"headline":"Animal Refuge Work Is Real-World Practice","datePublished":"2011-07-20T13:36:04+00:00","dateModified":"2018-07-02T19:19:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\/"},"wordCount":375,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2011\/07\/alexToday22.jpg","keywords":["biology","psychology"],"articleSection":["Community"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2011","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\/","name":"Animal Refuge Work Is Real-World Practice | University of Central Florida News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2011\/07\/alexToday22.jpg","datePublished":"2011-07-20T13:36:04+00:00","dateModified":"2018-07-02T19:19:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/71ca2d3ab8063db7d2e4af92e56715d4"},"description":"As long as Samantha Hynes has a watermelon in hand, Koko, a rescued emu, will strut toward the fence intently. On other days, Hynes lets a baby possum,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2011\/07\/alexToday22.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2011\/07\/alexToday22.jpg","width":450,"height":338,"caption":"UCF junior Alex Orfinger has learned how to handle emergency medical situations with animals and even helped perform surgery on birds."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Animal Refuge Work Is Real-World Practice"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/","name":"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today","description":"Central Florida Research, Arts, Technology, Student Life and College News, Stories and More","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/71ca2d3ab8063db7d2e4af92e56715d4","name":"Courtney Gilmartin \u201910 \u201916MA","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4cb7d719bb1d8f7c798ea48c1a72ff4ac6159480e37f50a818d31a24de70f89b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4cb7d719bb1d8f7c798ea48c1a72ff4ac6159480e37f50a818d31a24de70f89b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4cb7d719bb1d8f7c798ea48c1a72ff4ac6159480e37f50a818d31a24de70f89b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Courtney Gilmartin \u201910 \u201916MA"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/author\/cgilmart\/"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/animal-refuge-work-is-real-world-practice\/#local-main-organization-logo","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"University of Central Florida"}]}},"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2011\/07\/alexToday22-300x225.jpg","primary_category":6,"primary_tag":488,"author_byline":"Courtney Gilmartin \u201910 \u201916MA","acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25231"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87721,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25231\/revisions\/87721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25231"},{"taxonomy":"tu_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tu_author?post=25231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}