LisaAnnOKane
Tampa, FL
Female, 32
During my zookeeping and environmental education career, I have interacted and worked with a variety of animals, including brown bears, wolverines, red foxes, moose, camels, mountain goats, dolphins, sea lions, raccoons, porcupines, snakes, raptors and ravens. I am also a young adult author, and my debut novel ESSENCE was released in June 2014 by Strange Chemistry Books. Ask me anything!
I'm sickened. I'm honestly sickened by this entire situation.
I will preface this answer by saying this is MY opinion, not the opinion of any particular organization or groups of organizations. I will also say I know nothing about this situation except for what I have learned on Discovery News and other various news websites. It is entirely possible I have missed something important. For that reason, I plead ignorance and will try to keep my answer as concise and factual as possible.
In MY opinion, natural breeding in this zoo should never be allowed if the end result is always intended to be what happened to Marius. Other methods like sterilization or gender-grouped enclosures should be considered instead. Or, if natural breeding is allowed to occur, the offspring should be euthanized humanely shortly after birth. There is no reason (I know of) that this giraffe should have been allowed to live eighteen months if the zoo was always planning on putting it down like this.
Secondly, I don't know much about the laws that would have prevented this zoo from selling Marius, but it seems to me this giraffe had many options besides being put down. And to be shot in the head and chopped up in front of GUESTS... This is the part that breaks my heart the most. There is absolutely NO REASON an act this significant should be treated with this much callousness and disregard for the value of life. To me, this feels like a slap in the face to everyone who loved and supported this animal. I know I will never personally support this zoo.
Again, let me just say one more time this is 100% my opinion, and it is only based on the news I have been given. It is entirely possible I have gotten something wrong, but I still doubt I will ever be able to forgive this public act of violence and disrespect.
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Hi Madison, and thanks for the question! The great thing about zoology is that there are many other career paths you can pursue if you decide working in a zoo isn't for you. You could become a wildlife biologist, a forester, an ecologist, a geneticist, an animal lab technician, a fishery or marine biologist, a veterinarian, a public health specialist... The list goes on and on and on. Most universities have Career Services departments, and these help educate students about all the options available within their chosen majors. Many universities even publish this information online, so it may be helpful for you to do an internet search and see what pops up. I think you will be surprised to learn all the opportunities available to zoology majors. Best of luck to you!
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Oh, totally! This happens all the time, and it never gets less embarassing. I volunteered as a tour guide at my local zoo in high school, and I always stammered through an awkward explanation, like the tigers were "wrestling" or "playing" or whatever. Nowadays, I tend to be a little more honest, though I usually try to minimize and move on as quickly as possible. (Ironically, the parents usually laugh harder than the kids, but we DO share inside jokes on occasion!)
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Hi Jade! A zookeeper can monitor his/her animals' eating habits in many ways. One is to carefully portion and weigh the diet before it is given to the animal and then compare this to the weight of the leftover food the zookeeper collects the next day. Another is to station someone (usually a volunteer or intern) outside the enclosure and takes notes while observing the animal's feeding behavior. A third (expensive) option is to install a video monitoring system and review the footage. Hope that helps!
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I'm glad my answer was helpful, and sixteen is actually the perfect age to begin getting hands-on animal experience. I would highly recommend volunteering at your local zoo if you have one; teen volunteers often help with camps, man the petting zoo, take tickets, answer guest questions, etc. It may not be the most glamorous job ever, but you will gain invaluable experience, and you will begin to understand how the behind-the-scenes portions of the zoo operate.
(If there are no zoos in your area, you can also gain relevent experience at animal shelters, horse stables, vet offices, etc.)
If you like what you see and decide you would like to pursue zookeeping as a career, I would highly recommend enrolling in college and majoring in a life science of some sort: biology, psychology, environmental science, etc. Once you are enrolled in school, you can begin applying for summer zoo internships. Most are unpaid, and they are a huge time commitment, but they are the best way to pave your way into full-time employment once you graduate.
Best of luck to you, and please let me know if you have any more questions!
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Hi Julia, and thanks for the great question. Zoos are regulated by so many federal and state laws that I find it incredibly difficult to keep track of all of them. (Thank goodness I have never worked in a position where I was required to!) Several federal statutes are applicable to zoos: the Animal Welfare Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Lacey Act, and many other species-specific statutes--like the African Elephant Conservation Act, the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act, etc. In addition, every state has its own set of governing laws, and these sometimes vary quite a bit. The USDA is the primary enforcer of the Animal Welfare Act, and its representatives schedule planned and surprise code enforcement visits throughout the year to ensure each zoo lives up to its standards. It is certainly quite a process!
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Hi Matty. This guy is amazing, isn't he? He's an anomaly: an animal trainer with just the right combination of everything he needs to be able to succeed in this particular environment. His consistency, his skill, his technical precision, his presence, his history with these lions, and the characteristics and upbringings of all the lions in this specific pride have all combined to create this one-in-a-million situation. What you see in this clip is the result of countless hours of hard work, phenomenal luck and unwavering dedication. Is this guy crazy? Perhaps. He even says himself in this clip that there's a chance he may be killed by one of these lions someday. So he certainly understands the inherent risks and still chooses to dedicate his life to this. It could also be argued that this guy is brilliant, or reckless, or suicidal, or mind-bogglingly gifted. Or maybe he's just the luckiest bastard in the entire world. Regardless, it's certainly appropriate to be awed by him. It is also critically important to view his interactions for what they are: an amazing and incredible and probably unrepeatable feat. Even he probably couldn't replicate this with another lion pride, so the rest of us should certainly NEVER try this at home.
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