The Importance Of Working At The Zoo

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I’ve always known my path in life, ever since I was a little girl. My mind constantly revolved around one idea; working with animals. Nobody knew better than I that this was my fate, my purpose. I dreamt of being able to work alongside a variety of creatures, no matter the species; I’m not afraid of much. My biggest opportunity came to me in the summer of 2017. It was like I was given a gift by the gods themselves; I was chosen to volunteer at the zoo. I never really liked the idea of zoos. Younger me thought that zoos were the epitome of animal cruelty; caging up these wild animals was a nefarious decision. This being said, I felt more than a tad bit hypocritical at the twinge of excitement I experienced after learning about the volunteer …show more content…

Before the program started, I had the brilliant idea of turning this experience into my graduation project, a decision that turned out to be extremely useful seeing as I now have one less thing to stress about as I complete my senior year of high school. The first day at the zoo was an early start, something I was not accustomed to since it was in fact summertime. My routine went as follows; get up at 7am, drive the 30 minutes to the zoo itself, check in before 9am, and check out at 4pm. The very first day I was a bit late, seeing as I didn’t exactly know how to manage my time properly yet. Thankfully, I now know how to better preform that duty. I was eager to get started on my arrival, and after meeting the other volunteers I was assigned to the deer yard. I worked to clean up the enclosure, often stopping to allow Daisy the white tail to lick my hand and show me some love. Needless to say, I was absolutely in my …show more content…

I was educating others whilst learning myself; I felt a kind of authority I hadn’t ever felt before. I was telling the curious zoo-comers all they needed to know about these beautiful creatures, while also contributing to the zoo in a way that is hard to put into words. I actually enjoyed tasks that others may groan at, such as cleaning the enclosures or learning about animal enrichment. My favorite part of my days at the zoo were when we would all be herded to a specific enclosure and taught about whichever animal we were observing that day. I went behind the scenes with sea lions, witnessed ant eaters get their dinner, touched the beautiful fur of a red panda, and even fed Louis the giraffe. I saw so many of these captivating animals up close and personal that I was always extremely reluctant to leave for the day, seeing as this was the closest I had ever been to these diverse array of creatures

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