️Ender️
Community Member
1 posts
0 comments
14 upvotes
2 points
They/them, Bi, Demi, Yeet
️Ender️ • upvoted 14 items 2 years ago
Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
This isn't a zoo I worked at but did visit often. Operators couldn't figure out why the sharks in the mixed species tank kept turning up dead so they set up a couple cameras and it turned out there was a [freaking] psycho octopus just killing for fun. Hiding between rocks, waiting, and then just strangling them to death.Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
This isn't a zoo I worked at but did visit often. Operators couldn't figure out why the sharks in the mixed species tank kept turning up dead so they set up a couple cameras and it turned out there was a [freaking] psycho octopus just killing for fun. Hiding between rocks, waiting, and then just strangling them to death.Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
Animals sometimes kill other animals and there really isn't much that can be done about it. I remember when a groundhog made it into a chimpanzee exhibit and the baby of the group found it. She caught it and played with it for a long time. Eventually, to keep it from running away, the baby beat it to death right beside the viewing windows. She then held it like a stuffed teddy bear for another half an hour, dragging it around with her when she went to forage. Mind you, this happened right in front of a group of school children. I was in the viewing area and a teacher/chaperone insisted that I "do something". Like, what? Ma'am, that's a chimpanzee; nobody's doing anything. The kids actually learned something on that trip to the zoo, though.Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
Ok, as is tradition, not a full zookeeper buuut... When I was a teenager in the 90s, I did volunteer work at the Oakland zoo. There weren't many of us, so we got to choose where we helped out, so I chose to work with Bhakti, the 32ish year old Bengal Tiger. Nearly oldest living in captivity when he finally passed. I chose him because he was beautiful, and he always seemed lonely. He had pacing syndrome hardcore, so his entire paddock was green and lush except for the paths along the outer fence line and one or two diagonals he used to get into and out of his night cage. The keepers did their best with him, but had clearly written him off. He was grumpy, unsocial, hid from the public, swiped and hissed at keepers, and ignored all of the enrichment toys and food put out to keep him mobile. They had a few young Siberians in quarantine already waiting to be put on display, they just had to wait for him to pass and the stubborn old cat lived to spite them. He always started the morning by pacing his fence line, so I started pacing with him. No eye contact, no sounds, just walking back and forth for an hour or two. After a couple weeks, he started chuffing at me when I arrived, so I learned how to mimic it to say hi back. Another month, and he would actually break his pacing circuit to walk with me, jogging his ancient arthritic ass from wherever he was across the green sections to match me. Poor guy just needed a friend. I still get a bit misty eyed thinking about him. Just a lonely old cat who had to spend the last years of his life basically alone. Don't get me wrong though, the keepers really did do their best, but they couldn't spend all day with him like I could. They had many duties and creatures to care for and he had a really steep barrier to entry as a friend. As grumpy as he was, I still think he was good people.Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
My wife was a zookeeper and I used to volunteer there a lot. Most of zookeeping is just picking up poop and making/delivering food. The animal that was was least scary was a cheetah. They were pretty cool ignoring everything as long as they had food. The most scary to me were the giraffes. Back then you went into the enclosure with them and they'd sometimes swing their heads around and try to hit you just to be pricks. You had to be careful. The job would actually be fantastic if they didn't let people into the zooZookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
I spoke to a zoo keeper at the national zoon in DC. We where watching another keeper inside the cheetah enclosure and I asked him about the danger involved. He said a cheetah is harmless to an adult human because it only hunts smaller creatures. I asked which creature was the worst to go in with, expecting hippo, elephant or croc as an answer. Without hesitating he said "zebras" then leaned close and whispered "They are the biggest [jerks]. They will bite and kick for no reason." I still think it's hilarious that off all the teeth and claws out there, it's stripped donkey horses that are the worst.Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
If you’re a guest feeding/touching animals outside of the petting zoo or an encounter, you might just kill them. I could rant about this forever. The number of zoo animals that die from incorrect food in their systems is staggering. The average person has no idea which animals can be killed from an apple core, a piece of bread, or a grape. Even just picking leaves and grass from outside of the enclosure. A guest has no idea what an animal’s digestive system cannot tolerate and can place a death sentence on an animal just because they wanted a special interaction. Let’s talk about diseases! Our good pal rabies is a great one! Rabies vaccines are NOT produced specifically for every exotic animal species, so a vet will do the best they can by giving high risk animals the closest version of an appropriate rabies shot. The closest version does NOT guarantee no rabies! You tried to touch a monkey that is undoubtedly covered in saliva from grooming? Better go get your rabies shots! Not to mention the abundance of parasites and human foreign diseases that exotics can carry or we can pass on to them. TLDR: If you feed or touch a zoo animal that you weren’t supposed to, you might kill it and should probably go to the doctor.Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
We closed the baboon exhibit because a baboon had a still birth and the troupe was "grieving". In reality they were throwing parts of the infant corpse around and there was nothing we could do about itZookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
When I worked on the grounds crew at a zoo, there was a camel who thought it was hysterical to nudge people into the electric fence. When we would trim the moat around his enclosure, he liked to reach his neck out and hook you just hard enough to stumble and get yourself shocked.Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
Our camels will spit if you piss them off, and it's not saliva like most people think. You really, really, really, really don't want to upset our camels if you have any plans the rest of the week, please and thank you!Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
There was one particularly traumatic event with the lions on a very warm and very packed spring day. The zoo was inside a large park, so various wild animals wandered through the zoo all day. One unfortunate day, a large deer fell into the lion enclosure. The adolescent male stalked it and ran it down within about 30 seconds and tore the deer to shreds. In front of dozens of horrified adults and screaming kids. I felt kind of bad that so many people saw, but like, circle of life.Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
Our lions will urinate on guests if they get too close, which is always funny to see. Not so funny to smell.Show All 14 Upvotes
This Panda hasn't posted anything yet
This Panda hasn't commented anything yet
️Ender️ • upvoted 14 items 2 years ago
Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
The zebras are ruthless and will tear apart any unfortunate kangaroo that dares break into an enclosure. They love the thrill of the chase...and the subsequent kill when they get bored.Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
I spoke to a zoo keeper at the national zoon in DC. We where watching another keeper inside the cheetah enclosure and I asked him about the danger involved. He said a cheetah is harmless to an adult human because it only hunts smaller creatures. I asked which creature was the worst to go in with, expecting hippo, elephant or croc as an answer. Without hesitating he said "zebras" then leaned close and whispered "They are the biggest [jerks]. They will bite and kick for no reason." I still think it's hilarious that off all the teeth and claws out there, it's stripped donkey horses that are the worst.Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
Our lions will urinate on guests if they get too close, which is always funny to see. Not so funny to smell.Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
This isn't a zoo I worked at but did visit often. Operators couldn't figure out why the sharks in the mixed species tank kept turning up dead so they set up a couple cameras and it turned out there was a [freaking] psycho octopus just killing for fun. Hiding between rocks, waiting, and then just strangling them to death.Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
Our camels will spit if you piss them off, and it's not saliva like most people think. You really, really, really, really don't want to upset our camels if you have any plans the rest of the week, please and thank you!Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
If you’re a guest feeding/touching animals outside of the petting zoo or an encounter, you might just kill them. I could rant about this forever. The number of zoo animals that die from incorrect food in their systems is staggering. The average person has no idea which animals can be killed from an apple core, a piece of bread, or a grape. Even just picking leaves and grass from outside of the enclosure. A guest has no idea what an animal’s digestive system cannot tolerate and can place a death sentence on an animal just because they wanted a special interaction. Let’s talk about diseases! Our good pal rabies is a great one! Rabies vaccines are NOT produced specifically for every exotic animal species, so a vet will do the best they can by giving high risk animals the closest version of an appropriate rabies shot. The closest version does NOT guarantee no rabies! You tried to touch a monkey that is undoubtedly covered in saliva from grooming? Better go get your rabies shots! Not to mention the abundance of parasites and human foreign diseases that exotics can carry or we can pass on to them. TLDR: If you feed or touch a zoo animal that you weren’t supposed to, you might kill it and should probably go to the doctor.Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
Animals sometimes kill other animals and there really isn't much that can be done about it. I remember when a groundhog made it into a chimpanzee exhibit and the baby of the group found it. She caught it and played with it for a long time. Eventually, to keep it from running away, the baby beat it to death right beside the viewing windows. She then held it like a stuffed teddy bear for another half an hour, dragging it around with her when she went to forage. Mind you, this happened right in front of a group of school children. I was in the viewing area and a teacher/chaperone insisted that I "do something". Like, what? Ma'am, that's a chimpanzee; nobody's doing anything. The kids actually learned something on that trip to the zoo, though.Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
My wife was a zookeeper and I used to volunteer there a lot. Most of zookeeping is just picking up poop and making/delivering food. The animal that was was least scary was a cheetah. They were pretty cool ignoring everything as long as they had food. The most scary to me were the giraffes. Back then you went into the enclosure with them and they'd sometimes swing their heads around and try to hit you just to be pricks. You had to be careful. The job would actually be fantastic if they didn't let people into the zooZookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
There was one particularly traumatic event with the lions on a very warm and very packed spring day. The zoo was inside a large park, so various wild animals wandered through the zoo all day. One unfortunate day, a large deer fell into the lion enclosure. The adolescent male stalked it and ran it down within about 30 seconds and tore the deer to shreds. In front of dozens of horrified adults and screaming kids. I felt kind of bad that so many people saw, but like, circle of life.Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
The most dangerous and feared animal in case of an escape is not, as you may think, lions, tigers, or other large carnivores. It's the chimps. Those things will rip your arm off and beat you to death with the bloody end as soon as they look at you.Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
We closed the baboon exhibit because a baboon had a still birth and the troupe was "grieving". In reality they were throwing parts of the infant corpse around and there was nothing we could do about itZookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
When I worked on the grounds crew at a zoo, there was a camel who thought it was hysterical to nudge people into the electric fence. When we would trim the moat around his enclosure, he liked to reach his neck out and hook you just hard enough to stumble and get yourself shocked.Zookeepers-Share-Dark-Zoo-Secrets
Ok, as is tradition, not a full zookeeper buuut... When I was a teenager in the 90s, I did volunteer work at the Oakland zoo. There weren't many of us, so we got to choose where we helped out, so I chose to work with Bhakti, the 32ish year old Bengal Tiger. Nearly oldest living in captivity when he finally passed. I chose him because he was beautiful, and he always seemed lonely. He had pacing syndrome hardcore, so his entire paddock was green and lush except for the paths along the outer fence line and one or two diagonals he used to get into and out of his night cage. The keepers did their best with him, but had clearly written him off. He was grumpy, unsocial, hid from the public, swiped and hissed at keepers, and ignored all of the enrichment toys and food put out to keep him mobile. They had a few young Siberians in quarantine already waiting to be put on display, they just had to wait for him to pass and the stubborn old cat lived to spite them. He always started the morning by pacing his fence line, so I started pacing with him. No eye contact, no sounds, just walking back and forth for an hour or two. After a couple weeks, he started chuffing at me when I arrived, so I learned how to mimic it to say hi back. Another month, and he would actually break his pacing circuit to walk with me, jogging his ancient arthritic ass from wherever he was across the green sections to match me. Poor guy just needed a friend. I still get a bit misty eyed thinking about him. Just a lonely old cat who had to spend the last years of his life basically alone. Don't get me wrong though, the keepers really did do their best, but they couldn't spend all day with him like I could. They had many duties and creatures to care for and he had a really steep barrier to entry as a friend. As grumpy as he was, I still think he was good people.This Panda hasn't followed anyone yet
️Ender️ • 1 follower