Cuestonian

Issue date: 3/15/10 Section: Entertainment

Anne Woods, Cuesta math professor and animal caretaker, shows off Bill the tucan at Zoo to You in Paso Robles.

Most students' first encounter with professor Anne Woods is when they seek out one of her mathematics classes to meet prerequisites and transferable requirements. But once enrolled, they soon find out she has a wild side.

Wood's other interest, which is well known by her students, is her love and passion for animals. Woods volunteered over a year and a half ago as a "poop picker upper," a title Woods gave herself at Zoo To You, also known as the Conservation Ambassadors in Paso Robles.

Woods teaches anything from arithmetic to calculus, including statistics. "Each course is a challenge in its own way and I would never want to just stick with one subject," Woods said. "I chose math because it was always easy for me, and I wanted to make it easy for other people too."

That's exactly what Woods has been doing semester after semester. "She knows her stuff and explains it well," said Jennifer Salter, a Cuesta student who had statistics with Woods. Woods has been teaching mathematics at Cuesta College for seven years and Cal Poly for three and truly enjoys it, she said.

Recently Woods was hired part-time as a caretaker and feeder at Zoo to You's Paso Robles facility. "I work about 12 hours a week at the zoo and 25 hours a week at school," Woods explained. She has taken on the care of several animals and owns more than 37 animals including alpacas, donkeys, peacocks, a sulcata tortoise and a lovebird.

She still manages to find time to take care of the 200 animals at the zoo while commuting from SLO to Paso.

Woods has a dream to be an owner of a reindeer, an animal the zoo does not have at the moment. "I only need a bit more experience, because reindeer are one of the many restricted species in California, and I still have some work to do. Hopefully by next summer I will have my reindeer," Woods said.

Zoo to You is not like an ordinary zoo. They have private tours on the weekends that combine education with wild animals that have been rescued or donated. They also travel to local schools to put on demonstrations and educate students about wildlife.

This traveling non-profit conservation education organization travels around teaching the children of California about their connectedness with the environment and how they help animals by providing homes for displaced, abused and abandoned animals.

For further information to learn how to get involved with Zoo to You/Conservation Ambassadors you can go to www.zootoyou.com or drop by one of Anne Woods classes or her office hours to learn more.

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