Last Weeks at the Reid Park Zoo

Name:  Allison Gould

Class Year:  2021 

Hometown:  Pittsburgh, PA

Internship:  Elephant and Conservation Learning Center Intern

Location:  Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, AZ

Since my last post I have completed my internship at the Reid Park Zoo and have had many more exciting experiences. In the last few weeks of my internship, we entered monsoon season. There were multiple days in a row when the zookeepers had to prepare the habitats, and the animals, for the torrential downpours of the monsoons.

As mentioned in my last post, I worked quite frequently with Nimbus the Great Horned Owl, getting him comfortable with being around new people and on a glove. In the last few weeks of my internship I was able to present him to the zoo camps. This included boxing and transporting Nimbus, having him on glove while talking to kids about owls and their conservation, and transporting him back to the Bird Run. Through these presentations I received tips from Katie about presentation techniques, especially while holding an animal, and about the best ways to communicate with different ages of children. Presenting Nimbus allowed me to work on my always-improving public speaking skills. For the zoo camps, I also went with Katie as she presented the juvenile American Alligators. I did not myself speak about the alligators, but I was able to handle them and walk around the room to let kids touch the animals. At the time, the alligators were only around seven months old, so a big part of my and Katie’s job was handling the alligators often to get them used to people for them to be ambassador animals. Over the short few weeks that we handled the alligators, I could see great improvement in their comfort with humans. In the beginning stages, they would wiggle around and chirp when picked up. By the end of my internship, they were readily picked up and were calm in hand.

With Nimbus after a presentation to zoo camp.

Handling a young alligator Cypress to improve her ambassador animal skills.

 One of the most memorable experiences of my internship was being able to help with the Reid Park Zoo’s Watermelon Wednesday events throughout the month of July. During these days, different animals around the zoo were given watermelon-based enrichment, from whole watermelons to frozen slices of watermelon to paper watermelon decorations, and were featured to zoo visitors during keeper talks. For the first Watermelon Wednesday on July 4^th, I helped in the kitchen to prepare ten watermelons as enrichment for species including elephants, grizzly bears, otters, and meerkats. For the rest of the Watermelon Wednesdays, I was with the elephant team. During these days I had the chance to set-up enrichment in the elephant yards, including whole watermelons, watermelon-bran paste, and giant watermelon popsicles. The fun part was being able to watch the elephants as they were moved out to the yards and found their special enrichments. Each elephant had their own way of eating the watermelons: some would eat them whole, some would break them apart with their feet before picking them up with their trunks, others would wait to steal the remains of another elephant’s watermelon.  

Right after this, Nandi the elephant tore apart the Watermelon Wednesday banner. A watermelon popsicle is seen in the background.

            Aside from the daily cleaning and husbandry tasks that I completed in the elephant barn, another great task came into our almost daily routine. Every few days we did ERD (elephant restraining device) desensitizing sessions with one of the female elephants Lungile. These sessions were to help get Lungile used to being in the ERD with lots of strange people around so that she would be comfortable in the space during her eventual eye exam. For these sessions, four or five keepers and interns would walk up to Lungile and look around her eye. They would then take a step back and repeat walking up to look at and touch around her eye on the trainer’s command. Being a part of these sessions allowed me to have a better understanding of and to get a closer look at the health-husbandry practices in which the elephants voluntarily participate.

Elephant team lead Savannah and I doing a “stranger danger” session with an elephant.

            Throughout the internship, I learned the importance of teamwork and communication as they are applied in real work experiences. These are lessons I never could have learned from a textbook; they come with practice and application. In a zoo environment especially, I learned that communication at every level is needed to keep both humans and animals safe. One of the most special parts of my internship at the Reid Park Zoo was getting to work beside two Otterbein Zoo and Conservation Science alumni, Mara Eisenbarth and Matt Vieth. Both Mara and Matt are members of the elephant team. It was truly inspiring to see two people that have been in my shoes at Otterbein being able to do what they love because of the education they received. Talking with and learning from them allowed me to expand my knowledge not only about a career in the zoo field, but also my understanding of myself.