Claudia Vega

For me, like dogs and cats was not like, you know, I have to study them, but it was not the option that I wanted.

I did some training in some zoos in Mexico.

And then I

When I finished veterinary, I was working in a wildlife conservation center that was treating animals from confiscating for trafficking.

And it was really frustrating because you're just receiving all these animals that are like in bad shape and like trying to cure them.

That's not changing anything.

The animals keep coming and coming.

And I was like, how can we make a change?

Like, how can I make people think like the environment where the animals lives matters?

And I talked with another vet, wildlife vet, and he told me epidemiology is what I should be studying, like studying the...

the causes of diseases or the causes of damage.

So I did my master in public health and environment.

And my supervisor was a marine biologist.

And he was telling me about these penguins because in Rio de Janeiro during the winter, you have a lot of penguins at some beaches.

And he told me, like, we should study what is going on with these penguins.

And we decided to study heavy metals, cadmium, lead, and mercury.

And yeah, that's how...

I started studying Mercury.

That's amazing.

Yeah.