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
4th, 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.
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.
