Welcome to Texas Y'all!

Name: Keitha Lear
Class Year: Senior
Hometown: London, Ohio
Internship: Keeper Development Intern
Location: Dallas, Texas

It is hard to believe that I am already 3 weeks into my internship here at the Dallas Zoo! My mind was full of excitement and fear as I was driving past the “Welcome to Texas” sign. This is my first internship at an AZA accredited zoo (and my first time traveling west of the Mississippi River). I had a vague idea of what I was going to be doing in the Children’s Zoo for the next 12 weeks. My mind was racing with questions like, “what animals do you have?”, “what enrichment do you give the animals?”, and “how do you train the animals?”. Before I could start, I had to go through orientation and get a tour of the zoo. A few curators, keepers, and upper management came to speak to us about what it is like to be an intern and how many of them started off as an intern, then got a job soon after, and then worked their way up to where they are now. It was very inspiring and made me realize how small the zoo community really is! We also got to eat lunch with a person in our section, which was really nice, because I got to ask all of my questions that I came up with when driving for 2 days to get to Dallas!

My first day started on Saturday May 25^th. The section I am interning with is called Keeper Development Section, which consists of the Children’s Zoo animals and small primates for a total of 45 different species. This section of the zoo is a great way for people who want to care for a variety of animals and also for those who do not know what type of animal they want to care for (like myself). Because there are so many animals, the Keeper Development Section has about 7 different routes that the keepers can go on and I get the amazing chance to experience all of them! This is a way for me to get a general knowledge of how that route functions and to get comfortable doing things such as, cleaning, making diets, and giving out enrichment.

In my 3 weeks so far, I have worked alongside the keepers caring for a Mini Longhorn, Kune Kune Pigs, Sheep, a Flemish Giant Rabbit, a California Rabbit, an Armadillo, Chickens, Koi Fish, a Call Duck, African Pygmy Goats, Aldabra Giant Tortoises, Ring-Tailed Lemurs, Black and White Ruffed Lemurs, and Collared Lemurs. I have gotten to clean their habitat, prepare diets, and give out enrichment. It is really entertaining seeing the enrichment being used by an animal. It is also super important to make sure that all animals get some sort of enrichment, whether it is a walk around the Children’s Zoo, a puzzle feeder, or a kiddie pool, to encourage those natural behaviors they would have in the wild and to keep them guessing on how the day goes on! One of the things that I have thoroughly enjoyed doing is squeegeeing the floor after you have hosed. I cannot describe the feeling, but it is so relaxing to see all the dirt being washed away and looking to see how clean the habitat is! One of the things I get to experience is training! I don’t get to train but the keepers highly encourage me to see what they do. It is so heartwarming to see each keeper train their animals and witness their deep relationship with that animal. Seeing the animal enjoy training and the keepers having a good time makes me want to train animals too! It is so important to train all zoo animals so that way any vet examinations and daily tasks go by with a breeze!

I am so excited to see all of the other animals I get to help take care of during my time here at the Dallas Zoo! I have many more things to tell you throughout the summer about my research project, the other activities the interns are working on, and some fun trips I am planning to take while in Texas! Stay tuned! Bye Y’all!