Reply to I was a zookeeper at National Zoo. AMA.

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=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.[/quote]

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. [/quote]

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