Let’s Meet Martina! Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I am from Perugia, Italy, about halfway between Tuscany and Rome. I’ve been around the globe, living in Europe, South America and Africa. I’ve finished my program in Wildlife Rehabilitation at ABI and am continuing my studies in Primate Conservation at Oxford Brookes University.

Once I’ve graduated I plan to work as a conservationist in Tanzania, but my ultimate goal is to open my own rehabilitation center in the Amazon. Primates are my passion.

How did you benefit from your experience at ABI?

In college I studied anthropology and had developed a great deal of animal knowledge on my own. However, I had little experience working in wildlife rehabilitation and hadn’t yet decided what to do professionally. The program at ABI showed me how I could take my existing knowledge and turn it into something I could do for a living and enjoy.

What was your favorite course?

It was Nutrition, Health and Disease. I loved the course because it taught us how to plan and prepare quality diets, but more importantly, we learned how animal nutrition works and why different components needed to be present. It showed me how strong the link is between nutrition and disease – it made me want to eat better myself!

How did you complete your field experience?

I had the opportunity to travel while I was completing my online studies at the Animal Behavior Institute and spent some time at the Limbe Wildlife Center in Cameroon. Limbe was an amazing experience, I had the opportunity to work with a number of primate species; my favorites were the gorillas and the chimpanzees. It gave me a great opportunity to apply what I had learned about animal behavior and wildlife husbandry.

Would you recommend ABI to others?