So you want to work at the zoo

So you want to work at the zoo?

Working at a zoo is similar to that of veterinary care depending on the role you take on.

I started off in an educational/ambassador role where I was able to take animals to the public and educate them whilst also showing them the species. We like to get guests close enough to care. We also operated the giraffe feedings, kangaroo yard, goat yard, hosted chats, stationed a butterfly aviary, and helped out in seasonal penguin parades. This role also allowed me some very low-end keeping. I swept up after the kangaroos and goats, but nothing aside from that. I was still in college while working this role and graduated right before I left. This role gave me many connections, and I stayed in it for a year and a half before applying for internships in the zoo to further my opportunities. Within my first round of applications I was accepted as an Elephant intern.

As an elephant intern, I was immediately thrown into zoo keeping and husbandry. Diet prepping, making enrichment, learning safety protocols, and cleaning, lots of cleaning. Of course, I did just land in with the largest land mammals, they’re going to have a lot of cleaning. Shoveling poop was just a minor aspect of their cleaning, and 1 individual can poop about 200 pounds a day! (And we only have 3 elephants at the time!) I had to rake hay out of all the dirt, sanitize all the stalls, rake the yards. But I wanted it. I wanted this so bad. Once I proved that I wasn’t scared off so easily, I then got to do observations. I was observing foot care, baths, blood draws, enemas. I was absolutely fascinated. I knew this wouldn’t be the end of zookeeping for me. I wanted more and I knew my time at elephant was only 4 months.

I applied at a few full time jobs during my elephant internship out of state, and one seasonal in state, but in a different city. I got declined on the full times, but did get an offer on the seasonal, but I wouldn’t be able to swing the move for the pay and timeline they were giving me. This position was a seasonal primate position at another zoo.

I immediately looked back on the website and applied for the next semester of internships, but the thing is you can’t do the same one twice. Elephant was out of the question. I interviewed with quite a few, but only one offered me an internship, Primates. I accepted immediately. After my elephant internship would end, I’d have a month off and then I’d start my next adventure. But I still volunteer Elephant on my off day.

Starting at primate seemed overwhelming as I was unfamiliar with a lot of the species. We have a large collection of primates. But I dove right in and got to work. A week and a half into this internship (September 2023) I got offered a job as a seasonal in this department. I did it. I am a zookeeper part-time, but a zookeeper nonetheless.

SO that’s my backstory to date.

TL;DR

What it’s like to work in a zoo:

- Hard labor

- You will smell terrible, people will complain about how you smell. It ruins your hair and clothes.👃

- Goodbye weekends!

- Not great pay - “passion career”

- Thankless job

- Rain or shine (or 4ft of snow) ❄️

- The mental load 😶‍🌫️

- Tiring hours 😴

- Competitive field

- Inevitable death & sickness

- Burnout

But you can do it, the positives outweigh the negatives 10 fold.

To know there’s animals that solely rely on YOU. To be able to help conservation efforts in so many species. To see how an animal interacts with enrichment that you made!

Every effort we make is worth it in the end. 🫶🏼

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