A New Kind of Africa

I was a little nervous about returning to the zoo this morning. I hadn't been to work in two weeks since I was out of town the past two weekends, so it had been a while since I had been to the zoo. A lot has changed in those two weeks - Jackie, the keeper who I usually work with in Africa left for a new job and the zoo was closed for 10 days to do renovations and routine maintenance. This new maintenance impacted Africa in that there were shade structures and new wiring built in the giraffe paddock.

Ben has replaced Jackie as the weekend keeper in Africa. I've worked with Ben several times before, and I really enjoy not only working with him, but also talking to him about zoos, conservation, and a variety of other subjects. He's very well informed on a variety of topics, so we always seem to have great, intellectual conversations. He also always has answers to my questions, and if he doesn't know, he looks it up for me!

We finished all of our cleaning in the morning, so in the afternoon we had some free time. We hung out with the giraffes, did a Kiko feeding session with some other staff, went down and looked at the trees that fell over the lagoon during the storm this week, and talked about his career and my future career. I also got to help with Kiko training again, which is always a treat! It was a great day, I had lots of animal interaction, lots of interesting conversation, and the weather was finally nice! The zoo environment is a constantly changing one, and I am excited to see where these new changes take me on my journey as the animal department intern!

Running Around the Zoo

This week at the zoo was by far the busiest day I've experienced. I was exhausted by the end of the day, not only from running all around, but also from doing a lot of hard, manual labor! We were down two zookeepers this Sunday, which meant that everyone else had to step in and take care of certain areas that they usually do not have to. They were eager for my help this week as I helped to open Africa, Farmyard, and Asia!

Opening Africa and Asia was the same as usual, I took care of the tortoise enclosure, the giraffe yard, the lion's den, the orangutan enclosure, the red panda enclosure, and the hornbill den. However, a new experience I had this morning was that I got to experience the Farmyard area of the zoo. In the Farmyard, there are chickens, ducks, a pig, and goats. We went down in the morning and cleaned the yards, fed all the animals, and made sure they were ready for the day. This was a lot of fun, because it was a new area of zoo and because I got to pet and feed the animals! I also was able to experience a veterinary procedure in the morning with Owlice, the great horned owl at the zoo. She has a problem with her eye, so I watched the keepers catch her up and the vet tech give her drops in her eye to try to fix her problem. This was really interesting, and it was the first time I was able to witness something like this!

After lunch, I went to South America to work on the aviary. We are building a new exhibit for the South American birds, but this is taking a lot of time and hard work. First, we transplanted plants and replanted them inside the exhibit. Then, we mulched the floor and cut fencing to patch some fence areas. I was exhausted by the end of this, especially because this was definitely the most manual labor I've done since interning at the zoo! However, this was a great experience and it's really cool that I will be able to say that I helped get the aviary read for all of the animals!

Finally, it was the end of the day and it was time to close Africa and feed all of the animals before we went home. I fed all the giraffes, helped bring the lions in, and then packed up to go home. This was the last time I would work with or see Jackie before she moves to her new job, so I made sure to say goodbye to her. I was really sad to see her leave and say goodbye, but I'm very excited for the opportunities that she will have at the Phoenix Zoo. I gave her a card and gift card to show my thanks to her, because she has taught me so much about the zookeeping field and also let me have a lot of fun, and for that, I am so thankful!

So, there you have it. My crazy, exciting, sad day at the zoo. As I've said before, the world of zookeeping is an ever changing place and there's always something new, exciting, or crazy going on, which is why I think I am so intrigued by the field. I'll be taking a 2 week break from the zoo as my best friend is coming next weekend and I'm visiting my family the following weekend, but I'll be back with more stories to share with you in a few weeks! Until then, stay wild (: