Animal Care Professional: An Alternative Career in Biology

The definition of zoo keeping has changed dramatically in the past two decades, and for a much longer period, many zoo facilities were places of entertainment. There has been a dynamic change in the profession as the conservation era gains steam, and the work of every animal care professional now requires a broader understanding of their burdens in the wild and how that can affect work in the wild. question. And while there are many zoos that still focus on the entertaining aspects of viewing wild animals, there is a growing proportion that have made it part of their mission to educate their visitors and spread the idea that these living creatures they encounter are a finite resource. , one that needs to be protected.

Down and Dirty: What is the job?

Being a zookeeper is certainly not for everyone. In some specialty programs in the United States, prospective zookeepers face a 60% or higher failure / dropout rate, and these programs only accept a few dozen students with every other graduating class. From the heavy workload to the high level of responsibility and safety, it can be a very stressful job.

First, zookeepers spend most of their time taking care of their animal section on a daily basis, a task that is almost entirely devoted to cleaning the enclosures, which, depending on the animal, can be as brief as a glance. fast around a boa constrictor’s tank. or as complicated as fork a rhinoceros dump for half an hour in a dump truck. After cleaning, or sometimes during distraction, delivering portions of each animal’s planned diet can be part of the daily routine. Adequate dietary needs will often be determined by a nutritionist, but it is up to the daily keepers to ensure that each animal is being adequately supplied.

Animal care professionals must also have a great sense of conscience when working with each animal. They need to understand natural behaviors at work, how these behaviors can manifest themselves, and what abnormal behaviors are common in captivity. In addition to this, while veterinarians are regularly relied on to make an accurate diagnosis, wild animals do not always show obvious signs of illness, and it is up to the person who cares for them each day to detect when something may go wrong.

On the Up and Up: What’s so good about it?

All that hard work has to pay off in some way, doesn’t it? Just as each person has their own unique traits, similar characteristics can often be found in the exotic animals in each facility. Understanding how these traits work with your natural instincts can be very rewarding, especially when working with enrichment. Enrichment is an established program of novel or interesting items that are not harmful to the animal, but provide additional mental stimulation, keeping the animal engaged and, in the case of feed enrichment, well practiced in its natural foraging activities.

It is a very rare experience to see an animal released in the wild, something that many people do not even appreciate. Thanks to conservation efforts by zoological facilities, these events no longer occur once on a blue moon. In the case of species like the endangered Florida panther, injuries sustained in the wild, even at a young age, no longer permanently relegate them to a zoo display. Specialized programs have been established among zoological facilities that allow keepers to help these animals maintain their natural instincts, provide care from a distance, and then return them to their natural habitat when ready.

So does it take to be a zoo keeper?

As part of the mission of many zoological facilities, education has taken a backseat only to conservation efforts, and this has resulted in increased opportunities, even for the untrained. Volunteering, becoming a teacher, or applying for a more involved internship can be an easy method of getting to know the field of zoos. For a permanent position, many zoological facilities prefer that their employees have a degree in Life Sciences such as Biology or Zoology or Psychology. This preference can also be traded for any number of years working in zoological facilities, and supervisors will occasionally select new employees from among their volunteers, faculty, or interns.

Keeping the zoo is not an easy path and it is not one that can be easily recommended to a prospective student. It requires drive and passion for wild animals, and a willingness to improve yourself each day you enter. However, if you try hard enough, you come to a point where you smile to yourself as you watch the animals in your section enjoying your hard work and think, “Have I ever had the coolest job in the world? “.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *