FROM THE CITY TO SAFARI Astoria native works on wildlife reserves in Africa
Looking back at her childhood,
Sonia Perry knew that she wanted
to work with animals.
Growing up, the Astoria resident
discovered her deep passion
for them through watching
the late Steve Irwin work with
majestic creatures. His “courageous” nature
inspired her to try pursuing a similar
career when she got older.
On the weekends, Perry and her father
would frequent Queens County Farm,
where they spent hours “admiring and
interacting” with animals. She would also
watch educational programs on the History
Channel, the Discovery Channel and
Wildlife Planet.
“I realized there was something special
about animals. I couldn’t really own pets
at the time so being able to have that opportunity
every weekend was amazing,”
Perry said.
Thus began her journey to working
with wild animals at African reserves. As
she continued learning about animals,
Perry began to realize how many of them
actually lived in captivity as opposed to
being able to wander freely.
“It shattered my heart into pieces. I
knew I had a calling to raise awareness to
people all over the world on how crucial
wildlife are,” she recalled.
Perry’s father died in 2017, which she
described as a “tumultuous” time in her
life. But she decided to turn her pain into
a chance to follow her lifelong passion to
Africa. After some research, she reached
out to people about “hands-on opportunities”
she could take part in.
“That’s how I found Zimbabwe. They
had a private reserve which was about
10,000 hectares of land and I thought,
‘Wow, I’m going to be living without light
and warm water for a really long time. I’ll
be living like I’m on Gilligan’s Island.’ But
it was so worth it,” said Perry.
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PEOPLE
BY JENNA BAGCAL
So she hopped on a plane and set out
for Zimbabwe, where she would spend
the next eight months working on reserves,
cleaning enclosures and shadowing
caregivers who devoted their lives to
protecting endangered creatures including
lions, cheetahs, hyenas, zebras and
African wild dogs.
“Working with animals and going
into an enclosure, you really don’t
know what to expect. It really is an
adrenaline rush. Maybe one day that
lion or that elephant I’m working with
is grumpy; I don’t know how he will