A Walk In My Shoes - Zookeeping

Millions of kids everywhere dream of growing up to work with animals. It's a pretty natural thing to want to do if you have pets or if you simply love animals in general. You see keepers and people on television or in movies, and the things they get to do look amazing. working directly with big carnivores, or elephants, petting animals you can only dream of and being allowed to interact with them daily. Even just going to a zoo or aquarium and seeing the people who work there, imagining what they do all day and how amazing it must be. So few of us grow up to become keepers or aquarists. So for those of us that did follow that dream...what's it actually like?

Well, I'm glad I just asked that question for you. Thank you for letting me plant the thought in your mind. Isn't writing great? I think something, then I type something, and then you read it and start thinking about that something. It's like mind control! Only completely unreliable and pointless. Still though, here we are.

The answer to what it's like working with animals for a living is a very complicated one. Is it fulfilling? Absolutely...sometimes, and in some ways. Is it exciting? Again, absolutely...some days. Is it what you imagine, growing up? Absolutely not. It rarely is. But that's okay because being different doesn't make it a bad thing. Working with animals is stinky, dirty, slimy, and exhausting both physically and emotionally. You rarely come into contact with animals regularly unless you are very experienced and a veteran at your facility, and the work involves very long, often thankless days.

But Why Though?

You may be asking yourself now "Why the hell does anyone become a zookeeper?" given the glowing description I just gave. Well...it's complicated, and it's different for everyone who goes down that road. And if you want me to be honest, the turnover and burnout rates are extraordinarily high in the field.

The thing is, everyone gets into zookeeping for a different reason. Most of those reasons are pretty deeply rooted in one experience or another, one encounter from childhood maybe, or just deep devotion to animal welfare that led to animal care. These reasons are as varied as zookeepers are passionate - extremely. For some, it's a childhood memory of being at a zoo or aquarium and connecting with an animal in their habitat. For others. it might be an encounter at a school event or a field trip. Still others get into it coming from other animal jobs like a humane society or because they absolutely loved The Crocodile Hunter or similar shows growing up.

For me, it's a little of everything. I always wanted to work with animals growing up, and there were a lot of influences that solidified that for me. But I can still trace things back to a moment that crystallizes my own passion. It was my first hands-on meeting with a giant Pacific octopus and the learning experience of chromatophores that propelled me into the animal care field. I would lean on that memory throughout my degree, into the job market, and through some hugely stressful, very low-paying days. The experiences I had with individual animals grew over time and kept me going even when it seemed impossible. As zookeepers and aquarists, we rely on our passion and our love of the animals we care for to drive us. And often, it consumes other aspects of our lives.

An Average Day

Daily life for a zookeeper or an aquarist is usually monotony. Like most careers, it involves a lot of repetition and a routine. Everyone on the outside thinks that the job is all glamorous fun, feeding and playing with animals all day. How could that ever be taken for granted? Let's touch on some of the most basic tasks an animal care professional faces, shall we? It's list time!

• Grounds keeping. A keeper has to be proficient with mowing tools, gardening tools, digging tools, and fencing tools. A zookeeper has to be able to recognize a weakness in an animal habitat at first sight, or they risk a possible escape and injury to another animal or even a person. You should be prepared to spend long hours in the pouring rain and the hot sun, taking care of any area that houses or surrounds an animal habitat.
• Poop scooping. This is a big one - often literally. Did you ever wonder why there are no mountains of elephant poop piling up in zoo habitats? Well, probably not...but aspiring keepers do. The answer is the zookeeping staff. This is where shoveling skills come in handy - poop has to be removed, and humans have to remove it. It's heavy, and it's never-ending.
• Food Preparation. This is another big one. Animals eat. A. Lot. Zookeepers and aquarists spend hours every day preparing feeds for the animals in human care. Foods have to be carefully measured, cut, and portioned out for every species, following strict dietary guidelines. It's messy, it's stinky, and it is glorious.
• Training. Zookeepers and aquarists never stop learning. Best practices change constantly in the animal care world, and we have to stay on top of it all. There are regulatory bodies and standards to adhere to, and they change very quickly. It's a constant goal to keep up.
• Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. You do not leave work at the end of the day clean and smelling like roses. You leave work at the end of the day and people avoid being near you like you have the plague. You are filthy, and you smell. This is because you spend your days cleaning the worst fluids and animal bodily functions you can imagine. It is not a clean job.

There are of course a thousand more things that go into animal care work, and it varies widely even in a single facility. But that should give you some idea of what goes on in the daily grind in the most basic sense.

Emotionally Taxing

Being a zookeeper is exhausting. You face long days, hard work, and low pay. You also get emotionally attached to the animals in your care, and when something happens you hurt just like they do. To succeed in the industry, you need friends and family who can be there for you even when they cannot understand why you are hurting. And you need each other - by and large, animal care professionals are a tight group. We look out for one another, give advice, and stand up for the group when needed. Otherwise, you just don't survive. Not everyone can understand what the front lines of animal care are like - solidarity is important.

If you find yourself at a zoo or aquarium in the future - make sure to tell the keeper and aquarist staff how much you appreciated a habitat, a keeper talk, or an animal encounter. Animal care staff can thrive on a single compliment of their work - it goes a very long way some days. A guest telling you something positive about the work you did can be the difference between a good day and an awful one. We may be antisocial creatures, but we do love positive reinforcement.

Show some love for the people that run your local zoos, aquariums, and science centers - the keeper staff. They work extremely hard so you and your families can enjoy the animals on display, and they work extremely hard to keep those animals safe and healthy. They've earned a good compliment, whether you know it or not.