Learning the Ways of the Welcome Center

My latest shift at Crowley was my first shift spent in the welcome center instead of working in the museum or rearranging artifacts in the other historic buildings. I was being trained by a long-time volunteer who taught me the basics of volunteering in the welcome center. One of the visiting guests happened to be interested in volunteering at Crowley so I was also able to learn the proper procedure for such inquiries. While foot traffic at Crowley is currently rather slow, my day was no less eventful. In addition to learning to operate the point-of-sale system that the museum utilizes, I also learned about maintaining the facilities, the details about the museum to highlight when talking with guests, janitorial duties, basic animal enrichment practices ... and how to respond to an entire herd of cattle freely roaming the property in areas that could jeopardize visitor safety.

While driving from the welcome center to the discovery center at the other end of the property, we found the 26 cattle who reside at Crowley had migrated from the flood plain to the front of the property, as the ground in their preferred area was too damp. The cattle had congregated around the discovery center and the entrance to the museum driveway. While the cattle are deterred from exiting the gate by metal ruts in the road, the cattle could potentially charge at guests or cars if startled. While seeking out the assistance of the resident volunteer gardener, we were in direct contact with the cows - a couple of whom were adventurous ad friendly enough to approach us. As a former zookeeper, this was the highlight of my day!