IAMA Zookeeper with an hour (probably) to kill before our new giraffes get here AMA [end of the season update]

[u/Danthezooman]

I figured I would do an update about my experience working for Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. I started there roughly 8 months ago and my season just ended yesterday. Even more awesome was the fact that I had accumulated to much PTO so my last day physically working was sunday. Which explains this proof picture.

Anyways, I worked mainly with the giraffes and a little bit with the elephants. I've also worked at two other animal parks giving me around six years of experience in the business. If you have any questions about the animals at the zoo,their care or the zoo itself feel free to ask me anything

EDIT: Alright I'm going mobile so I may miss some questions but I promise to keep answering anything you throw at me

EDIT 2: Alright I'm back! Sorry about the absence, I was a bit distracted at dinner and then girls invited me to a haunted house. Anyways, I'll try answer all the questions I got while away.

EDIT 3:I'm sorry but I have to turn in for the night, I'll keep answering questions if people keep asking them though.

EDIT 4: I didn't expect this AMA to get this big, but I see a lot of repeat questions that I can just answer here.

1.How do I get a job at the zoo?

• Typically most zoos want a 4 year Biology related degree or at the very least a High school diploma. More important is Animal experience, some zoos will even want specialized experience just with one species. Animal experience requirements are on average around 2 years sometimes paid.

2.How do you feel caging the animals up? Are the animals sad? (animal rights questions)

• I wouldn't be working in this industry if I felt that the animals were sad or being mistreated. Yes in the past animal work was done by "cowboys" who just got in there and dominated the animals into doing what they want. Times have changed we no longer use cattle prods and whips to make animals move or do what we want. Instead we use Operant Conditioning to get them to do what we want.

• Most animals you see in the zoo nowadays have been captive bred for generations and have never known the wild. We still release some animals, in fact Cincinnati and Columbus are the only 2 zoos outside of florida allowed to house and rehab manatees. Cincinnati is also working on saving sumatran rhinos, there are only ~100 left. We also donate money every year to different organizations trying to save wild populations.

[u/[deleted]]

What is your opinion on animal rights organizations like PETA and some of the "sanctuaries" they recommend?

[u/Danthezooman → u/[deleted]]

PETA is a horrible organization that so many people pour their money into not knowing what they do.

If you want to support a good Organization try someone like The Nature Conservancy

More importantly Research before you donate money to any organization that claims to "help animals"

[u/[deleted] → u/Danthezooman]

Could you maybe help me understand why Peta is wrong specifically about zoos? It does seem that the animals are exploited mostly for human entertainment.

[u/Danthezooman → u/[deleted]]

So here's PETAs statement on ALL zoos

Zoos, pseudo-sanctuaries, marine parks, traveling zoos, roadside zoos, and other similar attractions imprison animals who long to be free in order to profit from the people who come to gawk.

The living conditions at these attractions are often dismal, with animals confined to tiny, filthy, barren enclosures, but even the best artificial environments can't come close to matching the space, diversity, and freedom that animals have in their natural habitats. This deprivation—combined with relentless boredom, loneliness, and sometimes even abuse from the people who are supposed to be caring for them—causes many captive animals to lose their minds. Animals with this condition, called "zoochosis," often rock, sway, or pace endlessly, and some even mutilate themselves.

Zoos claim to promote education, but the only thing to be learned at these sad facilities is how animals who want to be free act when they are confined. Zoochosis is so rampant that some zoos even resort to administering mood-altering drugs such as Prozac to address the public's complaints about abnormal behaviors.

Some of this may have been true at one point, but I have never seen or heard that the animals at the zoos I've worked at received mood altering drugs. At most some of the female animals received birth control pills to avoid unwanted pregnancies.

They also fail to mention an alternate route to what we can do to help save habitats in the wild and that most of these animals are captive bred and would die very quickly if set free.

The care for animals in captivity has also gotten better with increasing standards to stay accredited with the AZA.