Miley Plaza

Costa Rica Support Staff

Miley has always been a huge animal lover, growing up around a house full of pets; dogs, cats, rabbits, ducks, hermit crabs, fish, frogs, lizards, and more. She grew up in Northern California, and more recently graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a Bachelor’s degree in Animal Sciences and a minor in Biology. Animals have always been at the forefront of her life, caring deeply about veterinary medicine and conservation. Miley had the opportunity to travel with Loop Abroad in 2022 to South Africa for a month, and her life was completely changed. The people she met and the places she stayed became her second home, so she cannot wait to work with students that get to experience the amazing opportunities that Loop Abroad provides. She has worked with a variety of species and within many animal fields; working with dairy calves and as a parlor milker, at the Cal Poly Equine and Swine Farrowing Unit, Cal Poly Meat processing center, has been a Veterinary Assistant at an animal hospital for over 2 years, interned and now works at an exotic rescue zoo, traveled to South Africa to study zoo medicine and big cat conservation, works on a poultry stem cell research team, and does volunteer rescue and rehab work with the Marine Mammal Care Center. She has covered a lot of bases, but her passion lies in wildlife medicine and conservation science. She loves spending time outside with her Australian Shepard, Pismo, either hiking, running around at the beach, or in the water. It is a life goal of hers to work with the Jane Goodall Institute doing research with Chimpanzees in Tanzania!