I was a zookeeper at National Zoo. AMA.

[Anonymous]

Do you think elephants should be kept in zoos?

Thanks for the AMA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have guests' behaviors gotten worse in recent years? In which ways?

Probably the worst thing we deal with are people feeding their food to the animals and banging on the glass/doing obnoxious things to get the animals’ attention. I’d see people throw snowballs at animals in the winter, and if you left a hose out where the public could access it, they’d spray the animals.

There’s the occasional person who has mental illness or is drunk/on something and jumps in with the animals. Also people who will cut holes in exhibits so animals escape.

Easter Monday was a bit scary. We were told to absolutely not confront anyone under any circumstances, even if an animal was in danger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was there a lot of intra-zoo dating? (among humans)

SO much dating. I dated/slept with at least 6 coworkers. One was insanely gorgeous, all the single female keepers pursued him. I’m sure I’m not the only one he slept with.

I had multiple male, much older bosses get inappropriate with me (not at National, at other zoos I worked at).

My best friend worked at a different zoo, where a male keeper slept with most of the female staff and passed an STD around to them.

Lots of relationships between keepers and volunteers/interns.

I never had sex *in* a zoo, but knew some people who did.

It’s a weird dynamic. In most zoos, the keepers are primarily young, attractive women. Only 1-2 men for every 10 women. And since those men love animals, they’re irresistible. If they’re also physically attractive, they get a LOT of attention.

Finally this AMA gets interesting. Maybe Bravo should do a series!

I suggest it’s called “People, Animals and Plants: the interdependence”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you think elephants should be kept in zoos?

Thanks for the AMA.

No, but many zookeepers do.

Elephants walk 50 miles a day. They live in large family groups. We can’t replicate that in a zoo.

They are also extremely intelligent. The emotional part of their brain is equally as developed as humans. They feel empathy as strongly as we do and bury and grieve their dead, visiting gravesites yearly. I mean, Neanderthals did that, and we recognize them as human.

Elephants, whales/dolphins, apes - should not be kept in captivity IMO. Orcas have been known to commit suicide in captivity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Easter Monday was a bit scary. We were told to absolutely not confront anyone under any circumstances, even if an animal was in danger.

Why Easter Monday in particular?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the gender balance of zookeepers? How about racial diversity?

Keepers are mostly female, upper management is mostly male. Almost everyone is white. Yea, it’s a problem.

It’s basically impossible to do with kids, so women leave after having children. And to get in, you need to spend years volunteering and doing internships. So you need to come from a family that can support you financially.

Why is this a problem? Do the animals care?

Did it ever occur to you that little black girls and brown girls also love animals and also wish to work with them when older?

[Anonymous]

what do you think of those videos of primates interacting with toddlers through the glass, or those videos of female primates wanting to see human babies? Are they as heart warming as they appear or is there something. More sinister going on from an animal behavior standpoint?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Easter Monday was a bit scary. We were told to absolutely not confront anyone under any circumstances, even if an animal was in danger.

Why Easter Monday in particular?

There is gang activity. People have been shot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what do you think of those videos of primates interacting with toddlers through the glass, or those videos of female primates wanting to see human babies? Are they as heart warming as they appear or is there something. More sinister going on from an animal behavior standpoint?

I think it’s cute.

Would things go very differently if there wasn’t glass separating them? Maybe. None of us have any idea what’s going through the ape’s head.

When I take my kids to the zoo, if I have their coloring book and markers, I’ll pull them out when we get to the apes. Sometimes a curious ape will come over and watch me color, and I once had a chimp who would pick out what color he wanted me to use next. So pro tip, next time you’re around apes, pull out whatever kid stuff you have and see if they like it!

[Anonymous]

What were your working hours like? Did you have to work nights? Did you always work weekends?

How many keepers were assigned to each animal? I imagine it would be hard to get a day off or take a sick day because someone has to be with the animals every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What were your working hours like? Did you have to work nights? Did you always work weekends?

How many keepers were assigned to each animal? I imagine it would be hard to get a day off or take a sick day because someone has to be with the animals every day.

Hours were either 6:30-3, 8-4:30, 9-5:30, or 10-6:30 depending on where I worked. 6:30-3 was the best, I beat all the traffic, could get in a workout before the gym got crowded, run errands, and still had the whole evening free.

Occasional nights if there was something going on, but that was pretty rare. Sometimes animal shipments were late at night (picking up an animal from the airport and bringing it in).

Weekends varies from zoo to zoo. In most zoos, new hires have to work every weekend. It’s just part of the gig. After a few years, you either get every other weekend off, or either Fri/Sat or Sun/Mon off.

Number of keepers depends on the animal. For something like reptiles or small mammals, one keeper takes care of multiple animals. For large animals, you may have multiple keepers assigned to the same animal.

It was extremely difficult to get days off and sick days. That’s a big reason why I left after having kids. Zoos are always short staffed, and when you take a day off because your kid is sick, or need time off during summer break, or you must leave by 5pm to pick up your child on time - it doesn’t go over well. You can’t work from home. I absolutely had to leave work by 4:30 no matter what, and a bunch of the child-free women I worked with threw a fit over me leaving early and needing more sick days than them. That’s when I quit - it just wasn’t worth the stress.

[Anonymous]

OP, this is very interesting and I hope you're still answering.

I've noticed that most of the zookeepers are younger and I assume they switch careers at some point for all the reasons you stated. What types of jobs do zookeepers typically move on to? It seems like such a specific set of job skills that wouldn't transfer easily to other careers.

Do most zookeepers focus on working with one type of animal? Like do the bird keepers only get the job after interning as bird keepers or can someone who volunteered with elephants switch to working with seals? Are there certain animal keeper jobs that are the most in demand? Like does everyone want to work with the pandas?

What I really want to know is are there certain zookeeper personality types that tend to work with different animals? Like do the lion keeper jobs attract the Joe Exotic/Carol Baskin types vs. the panda keeper jobs?

[Anonymous]

Have you ever met Terry, Bindi, or Robert Irwin?

[Anonymous]

Do you or have you also owned pets? If so what kinds?
How do you feel about pet ownership and pet trade in general, esp for exotic animals like birds snakes lizards tigers etc?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, this is very interesting and I hope you're still answering.

I've noticed that most of the zookeepers are younger and I assume they switch careers at some point for all the reasons you stated. What types of jobs do zookeepers typically move on to? It seems like such a specific set of job skills that wouldn't transfer easily to other careers.

Do most zookeepers focus on working with one type of animal? Like do the bird keepers only get the job after interning as bird keepers or can someone who volunteered with elephants switch to working with seals? Are there certain animal keeper jobs that are the most in demand? Like does everyone want to work with the pandas?

What I really want to know is are there certain zookeeper personality types that tend to work with different animals? Like do the lion keeper jobs attract the Joe Exotic/Carol Baskin types vs. the panda keeper jobs?

Ooooo good questions!

Most of the women leave after they have kids. I did. It's just too hard to do with kids. A lot become SAHMs - we have a strong drive to caretake. But it can be totally random what we do later on. I do freelance work, which I never would have thought I'd do 15 years ago. My best friend from my zoo days is now a park ranger. My H wasn't a zookeeper, but he did wildlife rehabilitation and is now an environmental scientist. Vet techs and dog/cat rescue also happen. Some go on to get graduate degrees and do research.

Most focus on one type of animal. I have a little bit of experience with everything, but specialized in a couple types. It's WAY easier to get a job if you have a specialty. You can switch after getting job, especially if you become friends with the people in that department.

Big mammals are the most in demand. Elephants, sea lions, carnivores, primates, etc.

Funnily enough, most keepers think pandas are overrated. They're basically like dogs. They're also a lot smaller up close than you'd think.

Yes! There are definitely personality types. Reptile people are like reptiles - a bit weird, can go all day without seeing other people and be fine. Primate people are social. Bird people are quirky and kind of misfits. The people who want to work with the big animals tend to have big personalities. Absolutely, there are the guys like Joe Exotic who want to show off how bad@$$ they are with the big animals. I have a friend like that, he wrestles alligators because he thinks it makes him look cool or whatever.