workingfortheman.com

What is your job title and where do you work?

My current title is Senior keeper WildArctic. What that means is that I work on the zoological team at SeaWorld San Diego. At SeaWorld the animal areas are broken up into two sections, the zoological team and animal training. Basically animal training is responsible for doing all the shows, while the zoological team is responsible for all the animals in the park.

In my particular area, I am responsible for one exhibit, WildArctic, which includes: Polar bears, Beluga whales, Arctic foxes, Walruses, and Arctic seals. But I have over the last five years worked to some extent with most of the animals in the park.

What is a typical work day like? What does the senior keeper do on a day to day basis?

The first thing about my typical workday is that my alarm goes off at around 4:30 a.m., and we start at around 5:30 a.m., mainly so that we have a good amount of time in the morning before the park opens. The very first thing we do in the morning is to do a walk-through and check on all the animals. The next big step is food room. This is the process of breaking out (which really means thawing out) food for the day. To give you a ballpark figure, the whole park goes through about 5000 lbs. of food a day. So most of my morning is spent dividing different types of food out to make up the daily diets of my particular animals. The morning is also spent cleaning. Cleaning is a very important part of the day, as it plays such an important part in the animals health. The rest of the day is spent on feeds. We vary the amount of feeds each day to create a novel environment. Enrichment looks to stimulate the animals environment and is continuous all day. Training, which allows us to teach husbandry behaviors and challenge the animals' cognitive ability, also takes place throughout the day. I also try very hard to find time in my day to interact with our guests. As you might guess this can make for a very full day, and at the park we work four ten hour days, which takes a little while to get used to, but always having three day weekends is great!

Have you ever traveled to the actual Wild Arctic, or do you have plans to go? Is there something that appealed to you about the Wild Arctic animals in particular?

I have not been to the Arctic Circle, but given the chance I would go in a minute. What appealed to me about working at WildArctic was the bears. Polar bears present some challenges within the zoological world. They are lands largest predator. This being said all work with the bears is done through what's called protected contact. That means that whenever you're around the bears there is some form of barrier. The protected contact protocols challenge you, because you still have to find ways to stimulate the bears, which we do by varying enrichment devices (fancy zoo word for toys), varying which bears are together, varying when and what the bears eat. All of these aspects of taking care of the bears is what excited me about working with them.

Describe a recent event at work that "ruined" your day.

One of the biggest aspects of working in a zoological environment is that it is dynamic! What this means is that things pop up that can "ruin" your day all the time. Here are some examples: A 3000 lbs. walrus that decides to take a nap in the middle of an open gate that you need to close before you can go to lunch, so you spend your lunch hour watching 3000 lbs. of pinniped snore. Or you bring bears of exhibit to shift them (change around which bears are out on exhibit) and three bears decide they do not want to go back out onto exhibit at the same time 200 guests are waiting to see bears. And the loss of an animal can severely ruin your day. We build very strong relationships with our animals, and when you lose one to old age or illness it can be very trying.

What helps get passed days like that?

I think that one of the biggest factors that gets you through bad days is the high level of enjoyment that we all have doing our job. I cannot express to you enough the importance of this aspect! Some people choose their careers for financial or social gain, but lack a true love for the job that they do. A true love of your job can get you through the worst day. On a lighter note, the animals have a way of doing things that just make the day better. Like when a walrus squirts a keeper that is not looking at him, or the way an arctic fox kit (the technical term for a fox puppy) plays for hours in a bucket of snow, or upon arriving in the morning finding all three bears snuggled together sleeping. When these occur during your day, the bad things tend to disappear.

You work with captive animals. There are people who do not agree with the concept of the "zoo," that feel it's wrong to keep animals in an unnatural habitat. What are your feelings about this issue, and about the people who feel this way? If you were speaking to one of these people, what arguments do you use to explain your position?

I truly believe that there is an inherent value in getting people close to live animals. You can argue that video, models, or even virtual reality could accomplish this. However having a child look at an 8000 lbs. killer whale face to face, or watching a giant Pacific octopus search its pool for a hidden crab, or feel a starfish's tube feet suck on to their arm, these are the experiences that develop a sense of wonder and amazement in a child. These are experiences that children carry with them their whole lives, developing a compassion for the environment. Of course there is nothing wrong with differing opinions, but it's my belief that zoological facilities serve an important part of educating people about ecosystems and the animals that live in them. I would hope that nobody would want to argue about the importance of that in today's age.

How would you describe your relationship with the animals, and do you have a special relationship with one of the animals in particular?

Relationships are fundamental to working with some of the animals at SeaWorld. By building strong relationships with the animal you increase the levels of comfort, safety, and trust between the two of you. This is a good thing when you are getting into the water with a 2000 lbs. beluga whale. The same way that you might have stronger work relationships with certain peers, relationships with certain animals in my care are stronger than with others. A multitude of reasons explain this: some animals you just click with, some you just have a stronger history with. But I'll tell you, the relationships are one of the best parts of the job.

What do you think the animals think of you?

I would never presume to know what the animals think (mainly because I don't even know how to think like a beluga or ring seal). What I work hard for them to know is that I will provide them with a healthy, safe, comfortable, and stimulating environment.

What's a common misconception people have about animals in animal parks? And what about wild arctic animals specifically?

Oh where to start on this one...What a lot of people believe is that all the animals are nice and get along with each other, that no animals ever die in zoological facilities, that all I do all day is play with the animals. Not all the animals get along, and some are downright dangerous. These are not domesticated pets, so respect has to be shown to the animals. I think specifically at WildArctic, people think that the polar bears are big cuddly white teddy bears. What they don't know is that these guys are apex predators (top of the food chain) and would not even bat an eye over making them into a meal.

What keeps you showing up to work every day... what drives you?

Every day I head into work something is new: Charly the polar bear just broke 1000 lbs., Kit the walrus is pregnant, a emperor penguin just laid an egg. Most people head into their same cubicle or office everyday. Imagine if every time you got to that cubicle something was new and different. Every single relationship I have at work, from Nanuq, a 2000 lbs. beluga whale, to Natasha, an eight pound arctic fox, drives me to show up for work. Think about the last time your copy machine squirted water at you when you weren't looking or your fax machine curled up into your lap and fell asleep while you were at your desk.

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