Here's my robot-voice recording of my thesis that I completed in September for my Master's of Global Wildlife Heath and Conservation Biology at Bristol university.

I looked at the breeding success of hand-reared vs. parent-reared big cats.

During my Master's degree overseas, I went home for the holidays and had the chance to see my tiger, Sweetie, one last time. I actually saw her the day before she was euthanized. The moment I saw her I knew she wasn't doing well. Keepers always know how their animals are feeling just by looking at them because we spend so much time watching over them during our shifts. Sweetie lived to be 18 years old which is way up there even for captive cats. She was also living with a life long hiatal hernia so it was amazing for her to survive for one year let alone 18.

Work it girl.

Sweetie was the kind of cat that didn't like a lot of fuss. She preferred to either be away from the public or terrorizing them. She was strikingly beautiful - and she knew it. Sweetie was only friendly to keepers when she was in heat or when it suited her. Even though she put up front I think she enjoyed being acknowledged and told she was beautiful. I would always say good morning to her and she would stare back at me like she preferred it if I would roll over and die. But I said it anyway because it would have annoyed her even more to be ignored.


I should know better than to look at the comments on online articles by now but once again there were people claiming that she was better off dead than in a zoo. These people have mostly likely never even met Sweetie and yet the feel like they can speak about her life. She wasn't unhappy. She rarely ever displayed any stereotypical behaviour and her keepers never forced her to do anything she didn't want to – except vet check ups. She was a great cat and I can say that because I knew her personally.

RIP Sweetie. You were the definition of fierce.

 Honor Sweetie by educating yourself on the plight of Siberian Tigers and take action towards conserving this beautiful cat.

I often get costumer complaints along the lines of “I didn't come all this way to see the animals lay around and sleep.” I find this very entertaining. There's a huge possibility that people have been watching nature shows – where it's all action all the time – and then they come to a zoo only to be disappointed not to see the same thing. Actually, animals spend a lot of their time resting.


Cats sleep 13-14 hours a day. They do most of their moving about and hunting during the night.

I'm pretty sure she snores

 Canines sleep for 16 hours a day.

Zzzzz

Bear hibernate in the winter. If you come to the zoo in December, you will not see them. Grizzly bears even give birth during their winter nap. No big deal, right?

Shadow prepares for her winter nap

Ironically enough, it was hard for me to find pictures of my animals sleeping. That's because I'm their keeper and when I'm around, it's food time and that's worth being awake for. If you want to make the most out of your zoo experience, attend shows and talks to see the animals in action!

Say good night to the hippo bums!

Tiger cub born at London Zoo!

If you ever find yourself in Denmark I highly recommend vising Odense zoo. Their zoo is amazing! There are so many unique enclosure designs. The animals have lots of space and they've used crates, burlap bags and other objects for make their enclosures both look cool for the public and dynamic for the animals that live in them.

Wake up because I adore you!

 Their animals seem to be well taken care of. They tiger they have may be very old - or at least he or she was acting old when I was there. I didn't get a chance to ask the keepers about its age, but he or she was so cute!

Their giraffes have lots of space and a great yard to stroll around in.

They also have their share of funny signs. Seriously, don't stick you fingers in there.

Chomp chomp goes your fingers.

Their educational talks were great. The keeper did the seal presentation in Danish and English, with opportunities to ask the keeper questions afterward. I was super impressed with the entire zoo. My only compliant is that I didn't get to see the red panda. Those bugger are always so elusive!

Dinner time!

When you're walking around the zoo you may hear an array of sounds. It's hard to know what they all mean but today I'll share with you what I've learned while working with animals.

When tigers are in heat they make a calling noise that sounds like a deep groan. A lot of people ask me if tigers roar and the answer is no. Tigers chuff - sounds sort of like an puffy exhale. Sometimes tigers will chuff back if you chuff at them. Lions also making a calling noise that sounds slightly similar to a tiger's call, but a lion's call isn't meant to call for mates. It's for communication in general. Male and female lions call to one another. It sounds very cool to hear a pride all talking to one another. We have three lions and the sound of all of them calling to one another is amazing. It gets you right in the chest. Lions also roar. Their roar is very loud, it can be heard up to 8 km away and is used to warn any outsiders against attempting to enter or take over the pride and round up any lost family members.

A lot of people are surprised to hear our cheetah purr. Cougars purr as well. They are the largest cat that can purr. They also growl and chirp. When I come to feed my cougars in the morning they run along the fence, chirping away. It sounds kind of like a “meow” which is very weird coming from such a big cat.

Another common sound around zoo is alarm calls. You'll hear these mostly from primates or prey animals. I often hear the lemur alarm calling it there's a heron or mink in the area. My baboons alarm call when they they sense a disturbance as well, it's especially common when the vet is driving by.

Interpreting sounds is very important. I've been told that a costumer once informed her daughter that our tiger's mating call was actually the sounds of her crying because she was so sad to be in captivity. This is incorrect, the tiger is calling because she is looking for a mate. If you're unsure what a sounds means and you're worried about the animal, then ask a keeper. We'd be more than happy to explain any strange noises you might hear!

I think the sounds you'll hear most often at zoos is the sound of keepers talking to our animals. Zoo Story explains it best. There are keepers that are “bunny huggers” and those that are not. Bunny huggers name their animals and talk to them constantly. You'll likely hear keepers chatting away as if they're talking to a friend. Animals respond to our voices and I think talking to your animals helps you establish a good working relationship with them. Once our guests learn the names of our animals, they'll often try calling them over. You'll probably notice that calling an animal by name doesn't guarantee a response, since the animals don't associate you voice with food – like they do with their keepers - but it never hurts to try and say hi!

Something I hear quiet often when I'm going about my day is the notion that animals look sad or depressed in captivity. I read an interesting article about it recently and I thought I would share my thoughts.

As a keeper, I have the privilege of feeding my animals every day and seeing their reaction when I drive up. They aren't happy to see me, they're happy to see food. When keepers are around, animals behave very differently than when we're not. While walking around a zoo you might notice a lot of animals laying down, sleeping, or looking “bored.” This behavior is in fact normal. Most animals, especially cats, sleep several hours a day. In the wild, they try to save energy for hunting and those instincts are still in them even when they're in captivity. This misconception that animals run around doing fun and exciting things all the time is fueled by documentaries about wildlife. I love documentaries, they're great educational resources, but they do tend to show lions hunting or fighting constantly by string together lots of footage that they're gathered other several days or months into an hour of action packed cat behavior. They rarely make a documentary about an 8 hour cat nap.

Brutus is resting after running around like a goof ball. It's hard being such a handsome wolf.

People have a tendency to anthropomorphizing as well. We see our own emotions in the eyes of animals. To us, cages symbolize being trapped and suppressed where as animals don't view them the same way. Animals only know the life they live. They don't long for the open field their ancestors enjoyed because they have no concept of previous existence or “what could have been.” That being said, it's important as a keeper to make sure the lives your animals are living are the best ones possible. Animals in captivity need lots of enrichment and stimulation and if you don't give it to them they can develop stereotypical behaviors. Stereotypical behaviors are behaviors that are repetitive, such as pacing. These behaviors need to be addressed and changed.

Feeling sad Hani? Nah, her face always looks like that.

As a guest at a zoo, the best thing you can do if you're concerned about an animal is ask a keeper. We know our animals very well because we spend so much time with them. My female lions pace the fence after the cat show because they were waiting to be fed inside. I have lots of guests ask me about it and I tell them why the behavior is happening. If the girls paced at other times of the day I would be concerned, but this type of pacing is acceptable. I also know, when I arrive in the morning, how my animals are doing. Their excitement for food is a great way to determine if they're feeling tired or disconnected on any particular day. I take care of a very old jaguar and I know instantly if he's feeling his age that day. On those days I would expect him to stay inside and sleep most of the day and while that's not what guests want to see, it's what he wants to do and I'm not going bother him just so you can take a picture.

Remember to always look at animals objectively. Ask a keeper about behaviors you don't understand or might be misinterpreting. If you see any negative behaviors let us know so we can work together to make the lives of animals in captivity better!

Today is Internation Tiger day. Check out this website to read more about the issues tigers face and what you can do to help them!

Hani, Hana and even Sweetie will be happy you did!

My arctic wolf Cleo would be like Catherine Zeta-Jones if she were a person. Just like with the Sweetie-Megan Fox comparison, I don't actually know if Catherine Zeta-Jones is a mean person but I think her striking face has the ability to send people running for their lives if she made the proper “bitch” face. Cleo is the same way. She is beautiful and her eyes are piercing. And even though she's usually kind and keeps to herself, I worry about her ability turn on me.

My arctic wolf Brutus is like Shia LaBeouf because he's good looking but a bit clumsy and gives off a nerdy vibe. And like Shia, Brutus often ends up with girls much hotter than he would normal be able to get based on his looks alone. I'm not sure if Brutus would be with a wolf like Cleo if they weren't living in a zoo. Zoos don't have the space to try and pair animals based off of some hotness rating their species may or may not have, so if you're an arctic wolf female and we find you an arctic wolf male, then together you shall go. You're a lucky boy Brutus.

You can't just hop on ebay to find a rhino urine catcher, but there's nothing that a yogurt container and duct tape can't solve. Charlie is our super old White Rhinoceros. We monitor his health carefully and when our vet needs a urine sample, well, you can only hope you stay out of the splash zone.

It was interesting visiting another zoo after I had been working as a zoo keeper for a while. I saw zoos with totally different eyes. Captivity has become something totally different to me, but that aside there are other details that I noticed. A lot of people ask me the “whys” of our zoo design. Some of them even say “well at such and such a zoo it was like this,” and they wonder why we don't do the same thing. Here's some big differences I've noticed between my zoo and the zoo's I've visited.

1. Enclosure sizes versus display tactics. One thing that I noticed while visiting Seattle zoo was that their enclosures were rather small compared to mine. My animals had a lot more space than theirs. However, they had very cool ways to view their animals. A lot of their enclosures had both glass installments that allowed you, for example, to see into their bear's den. They also had decks over the enclosures so that you could look down to view the animals. This combination made it so you could almost guarantee that you would see an animal in each enclosure. It was definitely interesting to see how Seattle zoo used “smoke and mirrors” to cover for their lack of space. A complaint I often hear at my zoo that visitors can't see our animals because the enclosures are too big. I consider this a fair trade off and since my main concern is animal health and welfare, I like it this way.
   
   

   

   At least the Eurasian Boar in the South American Section like the mud.

   
   
   
   
2. Cement versus natural ground. Our zoo has cement floors in our barns but the outdoor parts of the enclosures are natural. When I visited Calgary Zoo I was surprised at how much cement their was. There were hardly any trees as you walked through the zoo and all of their enclosures were either cement or hard ground. As a keeper I can see positives and negatives to both methods. Our zoo looks more natural; provides our animals with a more organic setting; and allows the grass eaters to feast on some fresh grass, but it also means the ground is soft and that makes it hard to maintain animal feet. The wolves don't wear down their claws as much and any hoofed animal will need regular trims. The other down side is that in the winter, it's very muddy. At Calgary zoo, I can see that they are better able to clean every inch of their enclosures because they can hose them thoroughly and the hard surfaces will be better for animal feet. The down side is that it's unnatural and the hard surface may be detrimental to the animals' joints.

   

   Kaos straddling the divide between nature and cement.

   
   
3. Different stories and personalities. I love getting a chance to speak with keepers about their animals at other zoos. I've said before that many of the guests I talk to have a hard time believing that animals have different personalities, but I know they do so I like to ask the keepers about their little buddies. I met a gibbon at the Calgary zoo who looked so sad. He was adorable but very pouty. I later learned that he had lost his mate recently and the zoo tried to give him another female companion to spend time with, but he doesn't like her, so he sits there and pouts. I also learned that one of Calgary zoo's tigers enjoys spraying costumers just as much as my lion and jaguar do. The main thing that comes with different personalities is a different visitor experience. We don't have the same outreach animals as other zoo because, for example, our Maribo stork doesn't like people as much as San Deago zoo`s so we can`t use him to interact with the public because it would stress him out too much. It also the main reason that my tigers either more or less playful than other zoo`s tigers and so on. It really just depends on the collection of animals at each location.

Next time you visit a zoo, try to think about why zoos look so different from one another. No system is perfect, but we try our very best to give visitors a good experience while also ensuring the animals are happy. Make sure you ask a keeper about their animals, trust me we love to talk about them. I grantee you'll learn something new.

For those of you who have been to a zoo before, you may have noticed that the animals behave a bit differently when their keepers are around versus when we're not. Animals recognize our vehicles, our voices and the way we look. Some times they take changes in our appearance very seriously. A co-worker told me that she wore contacts instead of glasses one day and the marmosets she took care of threw a fit. They chirped at her and ran away, frightened by this new, no-glasses person that had entered their habitat.

For Halloween, I painted my face black, white and orange to look like a tiger and the baboons were scared of me all day. I have to lock them inside to be able to get into the outdoor part of their enclosure for cleaning and feeding in the afternoon. The first day I wore the make-up one of the girls, Babs, wouldn't come in so I couldn't clean up outside. Babs chirped and alarm called every time she saw me and the two oldest males charged the fence. I wore the make-up the next day as well. I managed to get Babs to come in but when she looked down at me and I looked up at her, she screamed bloody murder. Stevie was the last to come inside that day, and he's usually the first or second one in.

This was the face paint that sent the baboons running

When I visit my animals outside of work time, OJ, my black jaguar, instantly recognizes me. He ran along the fence as I walked to meet him. I tried to see my little monkey, Tuzzi, but I knew he would be acting shy. He didn't come out for a long time and when he finally sat facing me by the fence he refused to make eye contact. He eventually looked me in the eye and then started acting all tough and angry towards me. 

It entertains me when people walk up to the fence of Sweetie's (Siberian tiger) enclosure and go “here kitty kitty.” Trust me, I know this cat and she won't be coming to you any time soon. Some people call at the animals in a playful way and others are just plain obnoxious. I tell those people to cut it out. There's a difference between wanting a connection with an animal and just plain old harassment. Kids are the cutest when it comes to their desire to connect with animals. If the animal they called at starts coming towards them, their eyes get all big and they think they're the next Dr. Doolittle. I try my best to find time to interact with kids and if I can, I'll bring a cat with me. OJ (Jaguar) and Hana (Siberian tiger) will usually come up to the fence when I'm there, so I try to call them over. If the cats won't come I explain that these cats have personalities and need to be respected. When the cats do show up, it's wonderful to see childrens eyes light up. What I see there is a spark of connection, which I always hope will led to a respect for animals in their adult lives.

During the cat show in the summer, I feed the lions and tigers up by the fence where hundreds of people come to watch them eat. At our zoo we feed small pieces of red meat as a snack during the show. The lions are fed separately, either our male is out by himself or the two females are together. I get a lot of questions about why the lions are fed separately – it's a long story so I'll take some time to explain n detail.

Boomer, our male lion, was kept as a pet until he escaped from the house and was confiscated. You can read one of the new articles here. He's a hand raised cat and he's spent a lot of time around people. Mali and Kali, our two female lions, were born at our zoo. They were raised by their lion parents and have no interest in people unless you are giving them food... or becoming their food. Boomer came to out zoo in May 2011 after our 19 year old male lion (Mali and Kali's father) passed away in January 2011 from cancer. Every animals that comes to a zoo has to go through a one month period where they are quarantined. After Boomer finished his quarantine with a clean bill of health, we let him out into a holding yard which allowed Boomer to interact with the girls through a fence. There was a lot of aggression at first. The girls would roar at Boomer and try to scratch him through the mesh. As time went on the girls grew more accustomed to Boomer and the aggression seem to decrease. Once we had gone almost a month without witnessing any aggression between Boomer and Mali, we decided to introduce them face to face.

We started our lion introductions on October 7^th 2011. It was a very nerve racking day for me since it was the first time I had ever done something like this before. We choose to start with Mail, the more dominant of the two sisters, because she was the one that had shown least aggression through the shared fence for the longest amount of time. We gather a small team of myself, another keeper, two managers and our vet tech. We armed ourselves with a hose, a shovel to make noise, and a CO2 extinguisher. If big cats want to kill each other they'll do it in the first couple of minuets, so this really was a make or break moment.

We moved Boomer and Mali into their stalls. At first we pulled the guillotine door open slightly so that they could smell each other without too much contact and then we opened the door all the way. When the door was opened fully, Mali and Boomer instantly started fighting. Boomer released his scent glands and the whole cat house stunk - even more than usual. One of the keepers sprayed them with the hose and they separated shortly after. Boomer spent the rest of the time as far away from Mali as possible. We separated them after half an hour and called it a successful first day. The next few days were fairly uneventful. Boomer and Mali continued to stay in their respective stalls and nothing happened. We started to move away from them during their time together, hoping that our absence would force them to focus on each other. One day when I checked on them, Boomer and Mali had switch stalls silently and without any problems. We carried on this way for a week until we felt that there was no more progress to be made indoors.

The next step was to let them out into the holding pen. We would still be able to spray them with the hose, but it definitely left us with less control than indoors. Holding our breaths, we opened to doors and Mali took off with Boomer running after her. They fought for about seven minuets that first day. The days following, they continued to fight but their battles become shorter. Most of the battles later in the week were due to Boomer's stupidity. He would playfully stalk Mali until he got too close and she would choose to defend herself. Once Boomer and Mali seemed more comfortable with one another, we started to let Kali out into the large pen as well so that the sisters could see each other. They seemed much happier to be able to smell one another through the fence. I had to roll my eyes, since the introductions were no longer that 45 minuets a day at this point but when Kali and Mali were put back together they behaved as if they had been separated for months.

A few weeks later we switched the females. We brought Kali and Boomer into their stalls and repeated the procedure for the indoor introductions. The results were very anticlimactic. When we pulled the door open, there were no fights and Boomer just stood there looking at Kali. Kali didn't take any silliness from Boomer. She roared at him the second he got too close to her and Boomer was practically trying to climb the walls of his stall to get away from her. It only took a couple of days before we decided that it was time to let the two of them out into the holding pen. Once again, the result wasn't as dramatic. There were a few small fights in the holding pen but nothing like the ones between Boomer and Mali.

Our decisions to move forward were always based on the lions' behavior. With Mali, it had taken much longer for the fights to subside and for them to reach a standstill, but with Kali everything was much faster. The fights between Boomer and Mali resulted in sore hips for Mali. We tried to switch the girls every other day but it became apparent that Mali needed more rest that Kali so we gave Mali a few days off. Animal health is our number one concern and if there were any major health issues then all introductions would stop until we'd resolved the problem. Mali's hips healed and she started to look much stronger. Once we were sure that Mali was well enough, we decided to put all three of them together in the holding pen. We gathered a team of keepers and managers in preparation for what we knew would be a big fight, but when we opened the gate and all three of them were together nothing happened. The girls stayed inside and Boomer sat by the edge of the door and looked in at them. A couple of days later, the girls were out in the holding pen when we let Boomer join them. He went straight for Mali, would was standing a little ways away from her sister. Kali ran to her sister's rescue and a big fight ensued. Once they broke apart, the girls ran to one end of the pen and Boomer gravitated towards myself and our vet tech. I picked a claw casing out of Boomer's mane and comforted him through the fence. Being a hand raised cat means Boomer often behaves like a spoiled child rather than a lion. We felt there was no harm in providing him with some support while the girls were teaming up on him, but we've started to withdraw from Boomer since then and he's starting to become “his own lion” as a result.

As the days passed, we came to a standstill once again. The lions would fight occasionally and Boomer usually got the worst of it. We made the decision to let all three of them out into the big pen. This gave us much less control over their fights but it was time. When we let them out into the big pen things went well. Once, Kali even set down right next to Boomer but she nipped him in the bum shortly after and it started a big fight. Every time the lions are together, someone was always watching them. Once the keepers and our vet tech decided that it would be safe to leave the lions unsupervised we started to increase the time Boomer spent with the girls. 

It's been a year since all of this begun and we've definitely made some progress but things are far from over. Boomer spend 24/7 with Mali and they get along fairly well. When the three of them are together, Kali will behave for a while, but then she'll attack Boomer. She's taken a few chunks out of his tail, but nothing more than a lion can handle. While Boomer heals, we put Kali on time out. We keep Kali separate from Boomer so that she doesn't make his injuries worse and he spends all him time with Mali instead. The lions still aren't ready to eat together at the cat show. Captive cats still maintain their instincts and if the girls feel like they need to compete with Boomer for food then I know they'll fight constantly. Introducing lions is no easy task and we're hoping that the three of them can live together soon, but that all depends on their behavior – especially Kali.

As a keeper, I do my best to let animals be animals. However, I can't stress enough the importance of the bonds keepers have with their animals. When animals trust you it makes vet procedures and daily chores so much easier and less stressful for you and the animal. Building a bond takes time!

My Eurasian lynx, Ocean, is a kind and fun loving soul. I think if she were a person she would be like Felicia Day, expect blind (because as I mentioned in a previous blog entry Ocean is blind). Both Ocean's and Felicia's looks are beautiful in a non-overpowering way. Their beauty is easy on the eyes and easy to appreciate. I think if Ocean were a person she would be quirky like Felicia too since Ocean is definitely a bit of dork :P

I love this! The black Jaguar, Jumanji, was such a typical jag about it. “Let’s scent mark it and destroy it! Now it’s perfect! Sit” Reminds me so much of my old boy, OJ.  Also the Caracal, Rusty, was hilarious. Caracal’s come off as a bit snobby and I thought it was perfect how Rusty just sat in the box, totally unfazed – “I’m too sexy for your box.”

            In the early spring and fall, my cat shows are far less busy than in the summer. This gives me an opportunity to talk to the public for longer. One of my favorite things about being a zoo keeper is educating, especially if I feel like people walk away with a new level understanding. One day after my cat show, I was standing around answering questions and a young man came up to me. He told me he really wants to help animals but he doesn't just want to donate money and call it a day. He asked me what else he can do to help. This question caught me a little off guard because it was so open ended, but I told him my opinion.

            I think if you want to help animals and the environment you have to start with yourself first. I think a lot of us are guilted into being environmentally friendly because we're told that the negative impact humans have had on this planet is the whole reason we're in this mess. As I pointed out in my last blog entry, humans do need to act less self-centered that they do now. However, seeing all the headlines about global warming, endangered species and the like can get pretty depressing. The thing I hate about this is that it makes people feel hopeless – or at least I feel hopeless. Feeling hopeless doesn't inspire me to make changes; instead, it makes me feel like nothing I do will have any significant impact. That is, however, not true and I think the little changes are what will make the greatest overall difference.

            I told this young man the best thing he can do is change his lifestyle. Humans will always have a negative impact on the world. So will every other animal that has to eat to survive, but we can still make changes so that keeping us alive and happy doesn't wreck it for every other living thing. I decided that I needed to stop thinking of myself as a species that destroys the planet and start accepting that I need resources to live. Now it's a matter of where I choose to get my resources from.

            Here's some of the things I do to try and help the planet:

1.)                I don't eat sea food. (as a marine biology student it's hard to ignore the horrible fishing practices that go on in our oceans).

2.)                I don't use liners in 3 out of the 4 garbage cans in our house.

3.)                I bring reusable bags to the grocery store, including reusable bags for produce.

4.)                I recycle any plastic bags I accumulate.

5.)                I compost

6.)                I buy biodegradable garbage liners for the kitchen garbage.

7.)                I don't idle the car at train crossing or at stop lights that I know are going to take a long time.

8.)                I buy local when I can afford it and I pick berries in the summer to freeze for winter from local farms.

9.)                I buy eggs that are chicken friendly.

10.)            I volunteer at a local horse rescue shelter once a week

11.)            I buy environmentally friendly detergent for the dishwasher and the washing machine.

12.)            I buy or make environmentally friendly cleaning products and scrub extra hard.

13.)            I tell anyone that is considering getting a wild animal as a pet not to do it and explain why.

14.)            I try very hard to remember to turn off the lights when I leave a room.

15.)            I don't leave the light outside my front door running all day just to provide light for me for 20 seconds when I come home in the evening went it's dark. I have a small flash light on my key chain instead.

16.)            I don't buy things that are individually wrapped.

17.)            I buy bamboo products whenever I can because it's a much more environment friendly material than other kinds of wood.

18.)      I don't litter.

            As you can see I’m not a super hero. There's still things I need to improve on. I’m really lazy about composting and I need to improve. I don't do nearly as much as I might have the potential to but I choose not be feel bad about it because I want to stay motivated to find more ways to make positive changes in my life rather than feel defeated and discouraged. I think I motivated the young man at the cat show to live his life this way and I hope I can convince you guys to make changes where you can and feel good about them!

Don't litter! Baby Muskox will thank you :D

           I’ve been struggling with something lately. When I’ve spoken to people about the plight that animals face in our world it seems to be generally accepted that humans should always come first. This mentality bothers me because I feel that we live so selfishly already that it doesn’t help to think we are somehow more entitled to decided what happens to this world than any of the creatures we share it with. As a zookepper, I’m taking care of the mess other people have made – eagles that have been hit by cars, bears that are pushed out of their habitat and into garbage dumps and so on. That’s not to say I’m a nature purist, since I – by being alive – consume resources as well, however I recognize that animals have a place in this world and that they welfare needs to be a bigger priority than it is.

Let me set one thing straight before I begin. I don’t think I’m a crazy animal person. Animals are my passion for sure, but I think I’ve a placed a realistic value on them in my life. I often see images of zoo keepers or conservation workers cuddling with lions or tigers and all I can see in those images is a death wish. I also see a lack of respect for the animal. I think zoos should be as natural as possible, not an excuse for a petting zoo. With that being said, I think there needs to a much higher value placed on animals and the environment than there is now.

When we’re spending more money on animal welfare than education then I’ll agree that we’re taking this a little far, but I think our current situation is a far cry from this scenario. We live in a world of oceans on the brink of catastrophic collapse, global warming, vanishing glaciers and many other depressing environmental tragedies. In this situation I don’t think people should come first – clearly we’ve been putting ourselves first for long enough.

I’ve heard two arguments as to why humans should reign supreme.

            The first is a religious argument. The bible says “have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” To have dominion over something is to have control, it does not mean take advantage of and pillage – which is what we’re doing now. We are taking too many resources (greed), we consume more that we need to (gluttony), we lust after rare pieces of natures (fur, claws, horns etc…), we have the technology to be more environmentally friendly but we don’t implement these techniques because of sloth and greed – these methods take effort and money. We want to be more important than the world we depend on and this stems from pride. I’ve listed five of the seven deadly sins and if you are wanting to live a biblical life then it doesn’t seem like the human race is doing a very good job of it. I think the biblical argument could be valid if this was actually the way we were living. If we have true dominion of the earth, we should be taking much better care of it.

            The second argument is that we have evolved into a superior race. We have found ways to advance in agriculture, transportation and electronics, but we are at heart a species that - like any other - consumes for our own gain. We have found ways to harvest everything nature has to offer very quickly – too quickly. Our fish and forest industry can hardly replenish itself before we are taking more. It’s in our genetics to survive and thrive. The problem I have with the evolutionary perspective is twofold. Firstly, as a species we haven’t existed for very long. We are but a blip on the evolutionary time scale but in that time we have managed to do damage like none before us. We’ve taken habitats away from animals that existed long before we did. Our sense of entitlement knows no end. Secondly, I think it’s stupid, frankly, to brag about the superiority of human intelligence when we are – plain and simple - destroying the very environment we depend on. We won’t be lookin’ so smart once we’ve destroyed the very thing giving us life. If we’re going to use our intelligence then let’s use it to preserve our planet rather than use it to find faster ways to destroy the world we depend on.

            I think if mother nature were a person and humans were her children, she’d be rolling her eyes at the tantrum we’re throwing right now. There’s too much “I want” floating around and I’m sick of it at the moment.

I think I’ll end my semi-rant for now. Next post I will follow up on this, but in a more positive way :P

 Whooooooa a kitty!

 

            As winter slowly turns to spring, it's becoming more bearable to be outside! When you live in a rainy city like I do a little bit of sun can do wonders for your mood. At my zoo, your work load changes with the seasons. My workload is really heavy in the summer, while the winter leaves me with much more "project time." The opposite is true for my friend that handles the North American animals. He's most busy in the winter and summer lets him relax a little. Warmer weather usually means the animals start perking up as well. The lions love sun bathing. Even if it's still chilly outside the lions will lay  right in the middle of the only patch of sun in their enclosure.

            People often ask me how the animals deal with cold weather. Where our zoo is located the winter temperatures average about -1 Celsius but can drop down to -20 Celsius. Animals that are either native or live in cold climates do just fine. This includes our black bears, grizzly, arctic wolves, fox and Siberian tigers. These animals have thick winter coats that insulate them against the cold and all our animals have shelters to seek cover under when it rains.

            For the animals that are accustomed to a warmer climate, we provide them with heated barns. We always leave a door open for them to venture outdoors if they choose, but when they come inside their barns are heated and they are given a nice straw bed to curl up on. If temperatures drop below -15 Celsius we will lock the animals inside for the day. They won't want to venture outside anyways and closing all the gates to the outdoor part of the enclosure reduces cold air in the barn. During one of our “lock down” days I tried to pad all the cracks between the gate and the floor with straw so that the cold air would hardly get through, but my baboons and big cats just played with the straw, pulling it out from under the door and rendering it useless as insulation - at least they had fun with it.

            Visitors often ask me if the tropical or desert animals seem bothered by the cold. I personally don't think they are. A lot of the animals spend time outside even when it's cold. The lions seem a bit perturbed though.

Duma seems to love the snow

Sweetie's not going to let a little snow disrupt her lunch

The baboons are hilarious in the snow. They don't like it when their hands get wet.

This is a rare sight. The ever elusive snow lion!

Alaska blends right in.

OJ looks so beautiful. The snow really brings out his colour.

Ocean and Papa are right at home.