Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be an Animal Keeper? Many times, I have told people my profession and they light up and say something like,”Oh, what fun! You get to play with animals all day!” Part of that statement I can say is true: I love my job and I think it is very fun. But playing with the animals is somewhat of a misconception.

Our job is actually predominantly made up of cleaning. In fact, the majority of every morning is nothing but cleaning exhibits, stalls, yards and enclosures. And when we are not cleaning, the next most time-consuming job is preparing food. We certainly stay active throughout the day; we’re almost always on our feet and our office is the place we spend the least amount of time!

We rarely ever have time to play with the animals, but it is still great to be able to work with so many different species. We get to spend time with them while we clean or when we let them run around and get exercise. But even if we don’t get to play a lot, the job is still very rewarding and being with the animals is what makes all the hard work worth while.