ABOUT
OUR VOLUNTEERS
ANITA
PECKHAM - Anita was born in Cape May, NJ and as a child raised all
sorts of animals from pigeons to snakes. As an adult she moved to
Thomaston, Georgia and raised Rottweilers and also volunteered for
the Upson County Animal Shelter. In 2000 she met Bruce and in 2001
they married. They moved to Florida and she started volunteering with
Brevard Zoo. She took all the classes and started volunteering in
the aviary as a Lead and Docent. After a year she changed to the Education
Dept.and became an animal handler. Along with handling animals, she
also chaperons the night hikes and overnights and gets to educate
the participants about various animals at the zoo. She is now a part-time
staff member at the zoo. In September of 2006, she joined Hands
on Wildlife, an organization that also promotes education of our wildlife.
She has been trained to handle reptiles, arachnids, opossums, skunks,
the Florida panther. Her
love of animals led her to start her own non-profit organization,
Animal Love Inc. She hopes to reach out to anyone that will listen
and to teach them about our wildlife and how to save them for generations
to come.
DEBBI
STARR - Debbi grew up in the countryside of Massachusetts, and
knew at a young age that animals would be her passion. Soon there
were stray dogs and kitties, and an occasional snake being brought
home. But it was when the abandoned baby skunk and injured sparrow
hawk made it to her home that her parents knew there was no going
back...they had a little "Dr. Doolittle" on their hands.
She volunteered at the local vets office to observe surgery and recovery
of many dogs and cats. Once Debbi moved to Florida, her passion
for animals expanded at a rapid rate. She volunteered at the Wildlife
Sanctuary in Melbourne where she helped wayward pelicans and other
wildlife get a second chance at life. In the 1980's she had the great
opportunity to meet and volunteer with the original founders of the
Brevard Zoo when it was still called the East Coast Zoological Society.
In the early 2000's she was named
Volunteer of the Year at the Brevard Zoo. In 2004 she had the great
honor to volunteer for Save the Chimps in Fort Pierce where she assisted
with diets, but she found that the real joy was being in the presence
of the great apes. She now has her own menagerie of dogs, cats, and
birds, including an African Grey and Yellow Naped Amazon who greet
her every morning with the sounds of the "jungle". Her goal
as a volunteer and board member of Animal Love, Inc. is to educate
and make people aware the important synergy between wildlife and mankind.
ANNETTE
AVILA - Annette was born in England but came to the USA as an infant.
She grew up in New York. After marrying Ricardo she moved to California,
then Mexico City, then back to New York where she raised their four
children and an assortment of normal and unusual animals. It wasn't
until she moved to Florida in 2004 that her infatuation with animals
expanded. She volunteered at the Brevard Zoo and took every class
available. She was lead docent in the aviary for over a year, and
then moved on to Animal Handling. She is still an animal handler at
the zoo, as well as doing the night walks and overnights. She is about
to embark on a new volunteer function...Animal Encounter Aide. She
is quick to tell anyone that "Were it not for the opportunity
to volunteer working with animals, I would be leading a rather boring
lifestyle!" Through her love of animals and the friends she's
made at the zoo, she now also volunteers at Hands-On-Wildlife Safari
and Animal Love, Inc. and loves every minute of it.
BRUCE
PECKHAM - Bruce was born in Rochester, New York and had a normal childhood.
He had dogs, cats and rabbits. As an adult he moved to Georgia and
met Anita who was an animal lover. At that time she had dogs, cats
and a parrot but that soon changed when they married and moved to
Florida. They decided to volunteer with Brevard Zoo and that’s
when the animals started arriving at the Peckham household. They
now have a miniature zoo at the house which includes snakes, monitor,
arachnids, opossums, skunk, bearded dragons and the list goes on.
Bruce isn’t too keen on the snakes but he has learned to live
with them. He loves the furry animals. With
all the animals, they decided to start an educational organization
called Animal Love Inc. in which he also volunteers with the furry
animals.
