Things I'll Miss About Working at the Zoo

I started working at Sunset Zoo last June on the weekends and for the first couple of weeks, I was unsure about whether or not I was allowed to leave the main building I was assigned to in order to explore the rest of the 26-acre zoo. After I got to know the main keeper, Kirk, and became more comfortable in my new job, I began to visit all the animals every day, multiple times a day.

I got to know the sleep patterns and what time of day I could expect to see certain animals active or hiding under a rock in the back of their enclosure. I learned the exact path the tiger took when he paced the edge of his cage and though it took a couple passes I finally discovered the Snow Leopard cage was not empty, he was just very good at hiding, and also, a little shy. My favorite animal undoubtedly became the baby chimp. She was 4 years old when I met her and the first thing she did when I saw her was put her hand on the glass against mine. Before long we would chase each other from one end of her cage to the other in a lively game of tag. It was also fun to watch her behave in typical child fashion by antagonizing the older chimps seemingly just for the fun of it.

I saw some newborns while I was there such as a baby bobcat, baby colobus monkey and another baby chimp who was only 6 weeks old when I left. I saw a tiger disappear after dying of cancer and a staff favorite ferret died of old age. We received 2 new wolves in my time there and some new Wallabies too.

Many exciting things happened to me during my time at the zoo. One memory is playing with the snow leopard. I would creep around the corner of his cage and see him crouch down but not move. If I hid my head back around the corner and suddenly looked back he would be in a slightly closer spot, but would stop moving when he saw my head again. If I did this long enough he would eventually get frustrated and jump at the chain link fence right at me. I guess he wasn't enjoying it as much as I was. :)

My personal favorite memory was assisting the keepers in giving a snake some medical care. The volunteer who was supposed to help out with the snake didn't show up so they enlisted me to help pin down the 400 lb python in order to give it it's shots. So myself and two keepers held the middle, the front, and the end of the huge reptile. When the needle went in, the entire snake seized up and writhed in my hands in an incredible display of it strength. I could tell it was made of pure muscle.

I did not expect to be so involved in the lives of the animals when the city hired me at the zoo and I could not have asked for a more exciting 10 months of experience. Hopefully I can use what I learned about animals in captivity towards wildlife viewing in the wilds of Yellowstone.