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Name of Professional: ​Corey Allison

Profession: ​Operations Manager and Lead Keeper

Company: ​Priderock Wildlife Refuge

30 October 2019

Interview Assessment #4

While sitting at dinner, my dad told me about a lion and tiger sanctuary he remembered

about down in Terrell. Obviously, me still looking for interviews, was like, cool I’ll look into it.

After a little bit of research trying to find the sanctuary I found Priderock Wildlife Refuge.

Priderock Wildlife Refuge is a private facility not open to the public and not only has lions and

tigers, but also bears, cougars, wolf-hybrids and a hyena. Although it is a private facility, I still

thought I would try to get an interview. Luckily enough, Priderock was kind enough to let me

come visit and learn about the refuge. I scored an interview with Mr. Corey Allison the lead

keeper and operations manager at Priderock. I was very excited for this interview because

Priderock is very different from the other places I have visited.

Priderock Wildlife Refuge is on a fairly narrow but long piece of land in the backcountry

of Terrell, Tx, however beautiful, and maintained very well, especially since it had rained the

night before. Mr. Allison was waiting at the back of the property, close to the tiger enclosures,

and after I introduced myself we briefly went inside first to talk a little bit. He told me about his

childhood experience and how he got into animals and found his passion and then a little about

his educational background. He took a couple college classes but has no degree, he does have

some veterinarian certifications and he actually specializes in chemical immobilization. This was
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interesting to me, since I had no idea what chemical immobilization was. It turns out that

chemical immobilization is used to sedate animals when they are needed to be transported or

medical procedures need to be done. What I thought was funny though was when he told us he

specializes in chemical immobilization but his super power is not having to use it. Seeing as

Priderock is a private facility, their funding is quite low, so they can’t afford a lot of staff.

Therefore, Mr. Allison does almost everything for the refuge. He creates the design for new

enclosures, helps build the enclosures, provides basic veterinarian care, feeds, cleans enclosures,

and will travel far and wide to rescue any animal. He’s been at Priderock for 10 years now and

has built half of the enclosures they have now, each one bigger and better than the old ones. He

is currently working on accumulating the funds needed to improve the older tiger enclosures. He

told us that he would rescue any animal, even if the animal is on its deathbed. If Mr. Allison can

improve the animals life, even for the shortest amount of time, he will rescue it. He will also

travel anywhere in the US, he’s been to Virginia, Washington, Florida, and many other places,

all to save an animal. Priderock stays afloat by the help of dedicated volunteers and faithful

donors. Mr. Allison has one other employee that helps with the daily tasks of the animals, one

who managers the landscape, and then they do have a marketing manager who advertises

Priderock so they can get donations. Next Mr. Allison took me on a tour of the property and as

we walked around, Mr. Allsion stopped at each enclosure telling me about the animal and its

name, and amazingly each animal came up to him. You could tell he has a special connection

with each and every animal at the refuge. I swear he’s an animal whisperer. It was amazing to

see that connection and it makes me want to be able to have that close connection. Often times in

zoos and places open to the public, there is a rule that you can not go within a 25 foot radius of
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the animal. In my future career I want to be able to have that personal connection and be able to

work closely with the animals so I’ll have to find a place that allows that.

Mr. Allison was super kind to let me come tour the facility and ask him questions. It was

super helpful and opened my eyes to another aspect of working with animals. I hope to someday

have that special touch he has with the animals and be able to have that personal connection with

them.