Maja Hampson's Zoo Keeping Adventures

In November 2011 our zoo lost two giraffes. Their deaths would mark my introduction to the media frenzy that follows the death of a charismatic animal. Amryn's death hit us all very hard, but before we were given even a second to process his passing it was time to answer to the media. His mother, Eliah, died only five days later and once again the shock had hardly even begun settle before people wanted answers. When a keeper is faced with an animal death, we aren't given very long to process our feelings before it is time to get back to work. Everyone wants to know the who, what, where, when and why of the “incident” before the tears on our face have dried. I reacted very strongly to Amryn's death for a number of reasons. He was an amazing animal. He had such a strong presence at the zoo and I knew it would take a long time before it dissipated. Even months later I'd still catch myself look for him out in the field. Another reason I reacted so strongly to Amryn's death was because, as a keeper, it was the firs time in my career that I had experienced the flood of news clips and public comments that followed a big event like this. I felt I was being attacked by both corporate and public communities. I felt a lot of anger as a result and though it's impossible to change what's been published on the event, I can at least offer up my take on the situation.

Oh Amryn. You were such a muffin.

 It seems to me that there is an assumption floating around that animals that live in captivity are immortal and this is simply not true. All living things have the potential to die before their maximum life span for a number of reasons. They can be killed by conspecifics or predators, or contract a disease. Giraffes are especially tricky to treat in captivity because their anatomy doesn't allow us to treat them in the same way as other animals. For example, it is very dangerous and usually fatal to sedate a giraffe because their circulatory system doesn't do so well if they aren't standing. This means we can't operate on them to treat health problems like we're able to with other animals.
 

With Amryn, he was only five, so of course his death would be considered premature. What bothered me was the contradiction between the interviews about Amyrn and those regarding Eliah. The Humane Society said Giraffes can live to 20 years of age in captivity in an interview regarding Amryn, however, in the interview about Eliah the same guy said that Giraffes can live to 26 years of age so Eliah's death was also premature. Eliah was 23 years old when she passed away. I think it's a little unfair to, first of all, to be allowed to change your facts during an interview to suit your agenda of making the zoo look bad and second to suggest that the death of a 23 year old giraffe was premature. It's like saying that the death of a 117 year old man was premature because the world record for the oldest human is 122. I suppose the news is the news, I have issues with it even without all the coverage of the zoo, but I think it's ridiculous that people who aren't authorities on exotic animals (like the representative from the humane society) are allowed to make their claims without being held accountable when they change their facts.

There were also some questions as to why we didn't notice that our animals were sick. I believe comments like this come from a lack of knowledge. Most animals don't show their weaknesses. A lion with a tumor the size of a basketball will only develop a slight limp near the end of of its life because if they displayed their vulnerability in the wild they would be the target of predation. This goes for animals in captivity too – the instinct for self preservation never leaves them. We do our best to monitor the health of our animals, but we can't fix a problem that their instincts refuse to show us. As far as we knew, both Amyrn and Eliah were happy and healthy.

One of the most frustrating comments for me were the ones suggesting that our zoo should be shut down. I think comments like these also come from a place of ignorance. If you are a person that wants animals to be treated in a humane manner then why wouldn't you consider how much stress it causes an animal to be transported to and live at another facility? It's not just as easy as closing the doors of the zoo to the public and calling it a day. There would be a lot of animals that could die during transport. They would be stressed in their new home until they grew accustomed to it. Plus, there would animals that would be euthanize simply because other zoos don't have the space to house them.

There is a lot of public misconception about why zoos exist. Perhaps back in the 70s, zoos were responsible for taking animals out of the wild solely for display purposes but that's no longer the case. I feel that most zoos work really hard to fight this image and reestablish themselves as conversation centers. For example, all the animals in my care are either

1. wild disable. Meaning they were injured in the wild and wouldn't be able to survive on their own.
   
2. former pets. Meaning they were kept in someone's home until authorities confiscated the animal or the owner donated the animal too the zoo.
   
3. born in captivity. Meaning that whether they were raised by their parents or by Keepers, these animals have only ever known a life with human interaction.
   

None of my animals were plucked from the wild, and they live at the zoo because of the circumstances that brought them there. I work really hard to educate people on the issues that each species faces, but I find myself spending more time combating people's outdated misconceptions.
I could go on for days, but I think I'll wrap it up. I know that people are entitled to think what they want but all I am asking is that public considers two things when reading and interpreting news about a zoo animal's death. Firstly, the sadness that the keepers are feeling over the loss of an animal that they loved like their own child and secondly the potential that you are being hypocritical. Make sure you are buying free range chicken, donating to wildlife rehabilitation centers or supporting the conservation of exotic animals before you get on your high horse about the practices of zoos.