Winter 2025

64 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 2 5 Photo: Kelli Uldall I n life, we’re always wondering what makes us happy,” Vickey Overstreet muses. By all accounts, she has found at least a big piece of that puzzle. Since 1982 she has volunteered at Monterey Zoo (formerly Wild Things) in Salinas. “She’s been the first to arrive…every day…and last to leave for 43 years,” says founder Charlie Sammut. A construction company bookkeeper, she visited an architect’s office and spied a photo of Josef the lion on the wall. He was part of Sammut’s menagerie and was a famous star of film and television. “I learned that a woman in the office was a Wild Things volunteer. She asked if I was inter- ested. I immediately said yes.” She knew right away that this was her calling.“I spent many years doing a lot of the grunt work and picking up a lot of poop,” she laughs, “and I learned to love each animal. It engulfed me and became my life; it woke something in my soul that not a lot of people experience.” Over the years she has bonded with three lionesses, one of which she raised from a baby cub. “I’ve worked with small capuchins, including Forrest. I just adore him, and we have an amazing bond built on love, secu- rity and trust.” — Michael Chatfield VOLUNTE ER PROF I L E Vickey Overstreet “