The animals I get to pet and the ones that pet me.

      Yesterday was one of the best days at the zoo. Normally Joe doesnt let me close with him so yesterday was my lucky day. Joe went home early so Emily the relief keeper was closing his area. So I got to help her.

       Darrel wanted me and he was taking care of area one which is african birds and the penguins, but then Emily came in and wanted my help too. Now here is the thing. It is excellent to be wanted and to be praised for being a hard worker but that means that they want you for the crappiest jobs they dont want to do themselves, because they trust you to get it done right and to be left alone while doing it. If you are roped into these jobs it almost definitely means no contact with animals.

      Each keeper is different in what they will and wont ask you to do. Emily bless her heart wont normally ask me to scoop poop. I got to feed the Tiger -Silney, Play and wrestle with the Cerval kitten - Buhati, feed the scary Lions, again get a shower of spit from the bears, gathering giant Rhea eggs, and best of all pet the Snow leopard baby - Surani. I also got to pet her snarling mother but Surani was the sweetest.

So a list of all the animals I have had interaction with would be Red Pandas, Guanacos, Rheas, Red crown crane, Ibis, duiker, All the African birds, the hymilian Squirrels or something, Cavys, Tinamus, Otters, stinkin monkeys, Lemurs, Penguins, Tortoises, Asian Sloth Bears, Zebras, Emus, Wallabies, Goats, Camels, Yaks, Donkeys, Alpaca, Pelicans, Coatis, Lions, Tigers, Snow leopards, and cervals. Almost every animal at the zoo pretty much.

I hate monkeys. The other day I was in the Primate building cleaning their toys when aaron let one of the gibbons in. She was going back in forth in her cage and while I was putting the toys away she grabbed for me. Aaron yelled at her and I dodged her luckily, My first day in training one of the keepers was telling us that one of the gibbons grabbed her hair and yanked her into the bars. I am really glad I got to miss out on that experience.

I have so much to say and yet so little time to type it out. Keep reading I promise I will get all of my stories up eventually. Sorry if you think they are boring. but then again you dont have to read.

Zoonotic diseases

I think I have gotten a zoonotic disease. today the serval kitten flicked raw horse meat into my eye. It was a pleasant experience let me tell you. I also have been spit on by a bear and today a guanaco (wild llama). The best so far is when Shue (a bactrian camel) literally tried eating my head when I was de-furring her. Camel teeth are kinda sharp just fyi, although not as painful as getting your fingers bit to death by hungry penguins. I think that is the extent of my encounters with the mouths of the animals at the zoo. The other end however... I wish my encounters were less.

I want to share with you some facts about interning at a zoo. You should only do something like this if you want it to take you somewhere - like actually interested in a zoological career- because it isnt as fun as you might think. There are really only two things a keeper does day in and day out and that is feed an animal just to simply clean up the mess afterwords.

Lets talk crap. I normally dont talk about such things but I want you all to better understand what I do for hours each week. I must say the most gross smelling would be tortoise. something about fruit and hay together is really gross. Now being locked in a small shed, with no ventilation, a lot of crap and two giant tortoises slowly chasing you around the room and I think you would hate this smell as much as me. I love the tortoises, dont get me wrong, however it is a little disconcerting when they try to climb on top of you, especially seeing as they way 3 to 4 hundred lbs a piece but no big deal. I love them though they are cute little big buggers and they love to be scratched and petted like most any other animal. They freeze up when you pet them and that is really the only way to get them to stop trying to climb on top of you. After an hour of being chased I decided I would give him a taste of his own medicine. I climbed on top of him and rode him for awhile. He didnt seem to mind at all. People should really use tortoises for transportation. They are so cute and pretty comfy to ride too.

Anyways sorry for the long tangent -
Worst smelling = Tortoises or bears. Bears smell sick
Worst to clean up = Birds - they suck so do bears.
Weirdest smelling= any of the Cats - there is something really disturbing about smelling cat crap mixed with raw red meat.     It  smells wrong and familiar at the same time.
Least bad smelling = Zebras - at least this is familiar. I am used to horses so I dont mind it as much. Its the urine that smells so bad to me - but urine is a whole other list.

So Adrienne reminded me I need to blog, so here is the quick update before I go to bed. My roommates are awesome, I am so so so glad to be back with Lauren, we have found a kindred spirit in our new roommate Megan. She is hilarious. She is also a dancer, she is a professional/champion Scottish dancer, unfortunately despite our constant proding and begging she has yet to dance for us. She did just break her foot though so that is slightly more acceptable, but on the other hand she just had her sisters bring up her authentic Scottish sword and kilt/outfit. I REALLY want to see her dance!

Lauren, despite her best efforts, has yet to make me a socialite. Sometimes I feel bad and then I look at my good grades and the guilt just goes away. I do need to be better though, I need to exercise and actually try to communicate with people and then maybe those lonely feelings will go away. We have been getting closer to Braden Walker which I find a miracle since he lets us know our company is a heavy burden in his life. (I really hope he was kidding, but there is no knowing for a surety with him)

Anyways I will update you mare later
PEACE!
Kennedy