【推荐1】Animal rescuer and cinematographer Douglas Thorn’s passion for animals began when he was a little kid. “I started rescuing orphaned baby animals,” Thorn says. “And I wanted to be a wildlife cinematographer.”

When Thron grew up, he did just that, working for shows like Discovery Channels Shark Week, filming the great white sharks off the coast of Santa Cruz, California. But Thron says it was the Paradise Fire in California in 2018 that “pushed” him to do animal rescue activism work, putting his aerial cinematography skills to good use.

At the time, Thron was filming a man who was rescuing cats after the fire using an infrared hand-held camera. The camera uses heat to detect the animals at night Thron and the man talked about how incredible it would be to put one on a drone to detect animals more easily. “The animal's body temperature will glow on the screen and you can pick them out among the bricks and stones,” explains Thron.

The first animal Thron ever rescued was a dog in the Bahamas after a category-5 hurricane hit, which wiped out hundreds of houses. Thron tested out putting an infrared scope on a drone and found the dog.

“The drone really shaves off critical time so that the really badly hurt animals are able to be rescued,” Thron says. Once the scope picks up the “heat signature of an animal”, Thron turns a spotlight on the animal and zooms in on it, so he and the rescue crews can go and save the animal.

Thron has basically been “going non-stop since then”. His TV show, Doug to the Rescue, shows some of his heart-warming animal rescues, including after Hurricane Laura in Louisiana in 2020 and after fires in Northern California and Oregon. Thron also helped rescue koalas after fires damaged parts of Australia in 2020.

【推荐3】As a student, if you’re considering getting a part-time job to earn pocket money during summer or winter vacations, here are some of the good choices.

Tutor

If you’re particularly good at a subject, you might be able to get paid for helping younger students get better grades. In many cases, it’s possible to make $15 to $20 an hour. Plus, with this job, you’re able to flexibly set your own schedule. It’s a good way for students to both earn money and take part in after-class activities.

Dog Walker

As more people are becoming pet owners, the need for people to provide care services for such animals increases. Better yet, the pay is on the higher side, with dog walkers making as much as $30 for a 30-minute walk. If you are an animal lover, a job as a dog walker is suitable for you.

Babysitter

Depending on how many kids you look after, you might be able to make $12 to $15 an hour for each kid. To get more work chances, get a first aid certificate(急救证书). Some community centers offer babysitting courses, and you can charge higher prices if you have such kind of certificate. With a driver’s license, you will be more competitive. But this is not necessary.

Lifeguard

If you’re a good swimmer, lifeguard can be one of the great part-time jobs available for you. At the beginner level, you might only make $9 to $10 an hour. Once you become more experienced, you could make up to $15 to $16 per hour. If you can be a lifeguard for more than a year or two, the increased money can be very satisfactory.