The Days are Longer and the Coffee is Stronger

So a few weeks have pasted and so much has happened. I am getting pretty adjusted to my new schedule. I have also been getting used to morning Areas. So far I have been placed in the Show/ Aviary/ Wildlife Theather , and Hoofstock areas. I have to say I really enjoy both so far and I don't really understand why getting up so early to pick up poo, sweep, rake, and bleach still excites me but it does. So my first week in Area was in Show/ Aviary / Wildlife Theater which was a lot of different areas & responsibilities crammed into one. We got to do such things as, clean a beaver pool, rake the aviary & scrub the ponds, big up galapagos tortoise poo, feed & clean weezer (the opossum), Dusty (rabbit), & Aladdin (chinichilla) and give him a dust bath, which if you haven't seen before...well let's just say it's one of the cutest things in the world to watch! haha!

It was pretty fun in that area however, Hoofstock I think was my favorite of the two, especially because we got to walk the mini horse, Nick twice a day :) . That alone probably made scooping up toddler sized buffalo poo up!!! We also got to learn how to switch the camel and buffalo (switching him from one enclosure to the next). Seems like it might be easy but sometime both of them get a little curious and can stick their giant heads out to grab you farther than you think!

So far I've learned that eventhough days like today which start with me getting up at 4/4:30 am..staying at the zoo until 5pm or so, and then getting off work at 10pm can be really rewarding even if the reward seems as small as getting to walk the mini horse for a few minutes a day.
Also today we got to learn about the oppurtunity to be Schmoo the Sea Lion's caretaker and/or trainer. She is a lot of work so anyone who if even thinking about asking to either caretake or train her has to go through a series of workshop like activities to recognize and learn how much time and committment she takes. I'm really excited because I'd really love to train her however, there is definately some steep competition for her as students have to compete with grades, attendence, volunteer hours and such in order to be able to get to train her, but the caretaking positions for her are picked at random. I really hope I get to caretake on her because I would really love to learn more since I definately want to go into the marine mammal field. Although I will be thrilled enough just to go through the workshops and learn a lot there as well.

Last week we had 4 bobcats and a coyote from the Wildlife waystation come stay at our zoo for a little while because of the fire problems they had down there. I thought it was pretty cool that we were able to help them out, and I wa slucky enough to take a sneak peak on all the new critters as I was doing a round for daywatch. Luckily they all got to go home and are hopefull happy to be back home.

On a sad note, today our caracal Samburu was put down. Apparently he wasn't doing very well and was having some nuerological problems. For us first years, this was the first death at the zoo we experienced. It just made me feel for the trainers because it could happen to anybody's animal, and it just sucks when you loose an animal you have been loving and taking care of. But it's something we all know going in and I think all of us just want what is best for the animals and to make sure their quality of life is sustained as long as possible and when it can't be any longer to do the right thing.