Complete the text with the words from the box. Use each word ONLY ONCE.
animal welfare – cruelty-free – endangered – fur trade – nest – predators – putting down – reserve – shelter – testing
Animals are important to me and have always been a big part of my life. As a child, my dream was to become a vet and look after sick pets. However, when I realised that the job sometimes entailed animals that were ill or a danger to others, I decided to look for a career that was less emotionally exhausting but would still enable me to help animals.
When I was 16 years old, I volunteered at an animal , where I helped look after dogs and cats that had been mistreated or had been picked up off the street. After that, I worked in a nature , a 200 km² park where many rare or species were protected. The park was home to many different types of birds that used to there every spring. When they did, they always laid eggs, which we tried to protect from by monitoring them day and night.
While I was at university, I met a group of activists who were concerned about animal welfare. They held demonstrations in front of the science lab, where they knew there was animal going on. On another occasion, they stood outside a well-known coat factory to protest against the . They held signs saying 'Fur is murder' and handed out flyers to people passing by.
As these protests often became violent and sometimes resulted in police involvement, I tried to do my bit for in other ways, and after inheriting a bit of money from a relative, I decided to set up my own company, selling cosmetics. Instead of testing our products on animals, we use friends and family as our guinea pigs, all of whom seem to be more than happy to receive free soaps, creams, and shampoos.
The business has been successful, and we've recently opened our fifth store. It feels wonderful to be able to help animals and make a living at the same time.