Over the last few weeks there have definitely been some high moments and low moments at the zoo. As anyone working with animals would know, anything can happen. I think especially at a small zoo like this, where all the staff work with all the animals, every week is different. People keep asking me what my favourite bit is, and I honestly don’t know the answer. There are so many great things! Although there have been quite a few high moments some of my favourites have to include:
1) Being nibbled by Pickles the fallow deer as I tried my hardest to do some fence checks of her paddock. Checking posts and making notes are extremely difficult when a deer is tugging at your zip and eating your clipboard.
2) Rescuing a little injured chaffinch after it flew into a window, and then watching it perch on Colin’s shoulder for the next half hour, whilst we put a new house is the raccoon enclosure. It was definitely well enough to fly off, but it just seemed to enjoy the ride!
3) Watching Sovereign the Jaguar be released for his dinner, when he seemed more interested in being angry at us than he was in his food. Then continuing to watch him get so angry his nose got zapped by the electric fence (I felt terrible, but it was also hilarious). And catching the whole moment on camera.
4) The meerkats have had babies. They are TINY. SO CUTE. Enough said.
From Left: The rescued chaffinch, the raccoon with their new house (if you look very closely you can see the chaffinch on Colin’s left shoulder), the meerkat’s babies
Unfortunately at the same time there have been some very testing moments, mostly including encountering unexpected maggots, and learning how to gut a rabbit. I will leave those stories to your imagination – feel free to imagine me as a wimp, as it would probably be quite accurate.
However, the lowest moment of the last few weeks has to be finding out that Roger my favourite tapir had to be sent to sleep. After weeks of suffering with bad back legs, in the end it had gotten so bad he couldn’t even stand up without falling and injuring himself. He was covered in scrapes, bruises, and had broken parts of his face. Keeping him alive wouldn’t have been fair, and even the specialist vets just could not figure out how to make him better. The post mortem discovered that he also had various infections, bronchitis and a clot in his back that effectively meant it was broken. Had he been kept alive, he wouldn’t have made it for many more weeks regardless. For me, this news came as a bit of a shock as I didn’t find out for a week after it had happened. RIP Roger, your cheeky face, endearing squeals and loving nature will be sorely missed.
Me and Roger – he will be sorely missed
Animal of the week – Common Raccoon (Procyon lotor)
Trying to encourage the Raccoon’s to use their new house.
Raccoon’s are commonly found mammals that occur in a range of habitats from southern Canada down to Central America. They make their dens in trees and will sleep heavily over the winter but do not hibernate fully. They are omnivorous animals and will eat a range of foods including berries, fish, birds, small mammals and fruit. Although they are usually solitary, they will gather in areas that have plentiful food supplies. Active in both day and night, raccoon’s have large home ranges that span from between 1 to 4 km. The female matures at just one year old and can give birth of litters up to 7 young.
Zookeeper Tash 