Thank you for this question.  There's no doubt that the environment I grew up in had a huge influence on my career - it allowed me to follow my dreams.  And I feel very lucky to have had this opportunity.  I grew up in rural Connecticut at the time when there were still lots of dirt roads and unexplored bits of woods.  From a young age, I loved to explore the outdoors.  To this day, I am more relaxed when I am outside than anywhere else.

As far as animals go, we started with one family dog and as I got older, I clamored for more.  My parents were very supportive of my love of animals as long as I was willing to do the work to take care of them.  At one point our menagerie included three dogs, three cats, two goats, a guinea pig, a parakeet, two rabbits, and two horses. 

In 4th grade, I also had a wonderful middle school science teacher, Anne Marshall, who used nature as her classroom.  Every week was "old clothes Wednesday" when our class spent several hours across the street in a nature preserve.  Mrs. Marshall was a wonderful naturalist as well as a brillant woman.  We learned the trees by their bark and leaves; picked flowers to press for art projects; and learned the elements of the scientific chart. 

Perhaps most importantly, both my parents and my teachers were supportive of my hopes to work with wild animals.  I'm sure they wondered why in the world I wanted to do this work, but they never said don't try.  On the contrary, they encouraged me to go for it!