I’d been volunteering at the zoo for several years when I arrived one day to find that Holly was one of the zookeepers in charge of the care and feeding of two Siberian tiger cubs. She told me about them during our morning routine at mammal house. “Where did they come from?” I recalled how zoos sometimes sell their baby animals and wondered if that’s how our zoo had gotten them. “The black market,” Holly almost whispered. “Apparently, a private owner had them, and they were trying to sell them. They were confiscated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, who asked us if we could take care of ..read more

There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud. ― Carl Sandburg I had just returned from my solo duties at the serval cat house, something I’d been doing since that first day Holly had requested it of me, and I was heading down to clean Zylah’s area. This was the most stressful part of my day. Holly had already educated me about the dangers of hippos. A species I used to find so cute and endearing, I now respectfully feared with all my being. Holly could reach her hand right into Zylah’s wide gaping mouth and pat her tongue, but th ..read more

Like the bison yard, the inside of the elephants’ enclosure was larger than it first appeared. When you see two large elephants in it, it seems small, but when it’s just two humans? Enormous. As he closed the elephant-sized doors to the outside, I was reminded of the movie King Kong. Once the work to clean inside began, and I saw the size of their piles of manure, I understood why we had brought ten trash cans with us. “Some of their manure has hay sticking out of it,” I observed. And the height and emptiness of the room carried my voice with an echo. Matt laughed in response. “Yeah, they don ..read more

In the afternoon, Sherry and I drove in a light truck to the area that housed animals from Australia, Africa, and the American West. They were all located in the same section of the zoo. Like String 5, much of String 1 seemed to be based on location—mainly two locations. The bison were on the same side of the zoo as the barnyard animals, while the “A-continent” animals (as I came to think of them) were in adjoining yards that were separated only by tall chain-link fences. Our first stop was the American white-tailed deer. Here, as with the domestic farm animals, we were able to work in their y ..read more

Bison manure was the heaviest I’d dealt with, and there was a lot of it. We pulled in a trash can and began the process of shoveling up the contents of the open stall floors of the barn. It was summer, and the heat of the barn mixed with the smell of manure, made the stench even more pronounced. My arm muscles were sore from lifting shovelfuls into trash cans, and sweat was dripping into my eyes. It was a grueling task. Once the barn was clean, we grabbed half of the hay bales from the truck and carted them inside. Sherry used a knife to cut the bands that held the bales together, and we each ..read more

After lunch, Lisa took me to the docent building located behind the kitchen. Lisa explained that the docent animals were used for educational purposes. Specially trained volunteers, called docents, would take animals from the building out to the public areas of the zoo as well as off the zoo property to schools and events. They would then hold live animal presentations and talk about the animals and their purpose at the zoo. Lisa took me around to each cage to introduce me to the animals inside. This small building that was tucked out of sight of the public eye held chinchillas, snakes, rabbit ..read more

Sherry’s voice brought me back to the present, “We need to clean all the indoor stalls before moving to the outdoor yards. Clear everything from the floors—waste, hay, everything. We’ll scrub them down and rinse them with the hose before we let the animals back in,” she explained. This was pretty much the same routine as monkey house, just a different environment. The floors were made of cement so it was fairly easy to clear them—a lot easier than my horse barn cleaning days. I enjoyed going to each stall, clearing and cleaning, and moving to the next one. It gave me a nice feeling of accompli ..read more

There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud. ― Carl Sandburg I had just returned from my solo duties at the serval cat house, something I’d been doing since that first day Holly had requested it of me, and I was heading down to clean Zylah’s area. This was the most stressful part of my day. Holly had already educated me about the dangers of hippos. A species I used to find so cute and endearing, I now respectfully feared with all my being. Holly could reach her hand right into Zylah’s wide gaping mouth and pat her tongue, but th ..read more

I’d been volunteering at the zoo for several years when I arrived one day to find that Holly was one of the zookeepers in charge of the care and feeding of two Siberian tiger cubs. She told me about them during our morning routine at mammal house. “Where did they come from?” I recalled how zoos sometimes sell their baby animals and wondered if that’s how our zoo had gotten them. “The black market,” Holly almost whispered. “Apparently, a private owner had them, and they were trying to sell them. They were confiscated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, who asked us if we could take care of ..read more

After a snack of peanut butter crackers and a Pepsi from the cafe, I met up with Lisa behind the kitchen. “We need to get some fish together for No Name,” she informed me. “No name?” I asked. “Yes, the sea lion. That’s his name,” she grinned. “Is this a comedy routine?” I joked. “Like ‘Who’s on first?’” She laughed, “I know it’s strange, but somehow he never got a name, and so No Name stuck. You’ll get used to it. Let’s head over to the freezer.” Lisa carried an empty bucket and proceeded to a second walk-in located to the left of the refrigerator walk-in. Here we had more shelves full of food ..read more