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.