Kate Knisely

Hilton Head Island has a lot of wildlife, and I was fortunate enough to be a part of a group that helped with feral cats and wildlife rescues.

My specific specialty is formula feeding and hand-raising any orphaned animals, anywhere from birth to eight weeks old, in South Carolina. I’ve hand raiser / formula fed bunnies, squirrels, opossums, raccoons, birds, foxes and marmoset monkeys. When raising an animal, I keep them on me almost at all times to give the most authentic mother interaction and so I can feed constantly based on their needs.

Through a program called go Eco. I volunteered at Seaview predator Park in South Africa for a few months there I helped bottlefeed tigers at six week old up to lions and tigers 300 pounds. I also had to carry meat up a hill to throw into the enclosure weighing 50 pounds. I hand fed an orphaned meerkat. I worked with servals, giraffes, caracals. I learned a lot about tigers and lions and how to approach them, when to approach them, and the signs to look for to deem yourself unsafe in their presence, my duties included, feeding and cleaning the enclosures as well as meal prep. At times we had to improvise. And build enclosures or extend enclosures to which volunteers did help with that as well clearing the area of brush and then also starting foundations and building.