At the age of 8, Jeff’s family moved to Norwell, an area that is more rural as compared to Quincy. Upon reaching there, Jeff found an abandoned log cabin during his exploration and it was located near the pond. From there he observed and learned a lot about the many animals that lived there. He also likes to bring animals he found while exploring home to study about them. Jeff’s parents would built cages for him to keep these animals but requires him to release them where he found them after a few weeks of observation. After all they belonged in the wild, not as pets. Soon Jeff’s house became like a zoo, filled with animals ranging from insects to fishes and birds, as his “zoo” grew, so did his love and interest in animals.

Source: http://southshoremamas.com

Jeff during his free time, volunteered at the New England Wildlife Center which cares for the injured, sick and orphaned animals before releasing them into the wild again. During his time there, he fixed some broken wings and even help to build fiberglass shells for turtles that had been ran over by cars.

Source: http://southshorenaturalsciencecenter.org

Jeff also volunteered at South Shore Natural Science Center, a museum, non profit organization that educates people about the habitats and wildlife in south shore of Massachusetts. Aside from teaching classes about nature to other children visiting the center, Jeff also kept records and took care of the live animals in the center.

At age 10, Jeff visited a snake show by Fred Dodd who usually brings many types of snakes to display. Jeff loved the snake show so much that every time there is a snake show, he would go. Eventually Jeff befriended Fred and was given permission to interact with some of the snakes and sometimes even got to bring the snake home.

Fred Dodd was doing his graduate studies in Belize Rainforest hence he made frequent trips there to study the wildlife there. Every time Jeff and Fred met, Fred would describe the wonders of Belize rainforest to Jeff. Until one day Jeff wanted to tag along with Fred to one of his expeditions to the rainforest of Belize to experience the wildlife there for himself.

Jeff kept asking permission from his parents until they finally gave in on the condition that he paid for his own trip there. Jeff took this deal very seriously and juggled any job he could find and save as much as he could. From waitering to cleaning and waxing pub floors, Jeff saved as much as he could. Finally after 3 years, Jeff was 16 and was holding a bag containing $1400. His parents gave Jeff the permission to go on the trip after seeing his determination as he worked hard and held up his end of the deal.

The Belize Rainforest trip that Jeff dreamt of going was one of the most life changing experience for him. He experienced so many different wildlife there, from amphibians to reptiles and he also studied the natives living in the area and how they have interacted so closely with nature their whole life. This experience was so impactful that for the next few years Jeff continued to earn money for plane tickets back to this place.

Source: http://wikipedia.org