Becoming a Zookeeper and Links
So you want to be a zookeeper? Here are some tips, along with links to websites that can give you more information!
Zookeeping is often not all it's cracked up to be to a lot of people. People think that their love of animals is enough to get them a job working with exotic animals at a reputable facility. They think that zookeepers just play with animals all day and cuddle every single one. Well, I'm here to tell you that is all LIES.
Zookeeping is hard. Like, truly hard. Not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, and socially. If you want to get into the field - stay in school. You will most likely need a degree for most places to even consider looking at your application. And in this field - you have to have experience to get experience. How does that even make sense?! Well, it often unfortunately means a lot of free work and work that doesn't pay much to get you that experience.
Even before you get your degree, start applying for internships. Volunteer at your local zoo while you're in high school and throughout college if you can. Once you have done an internship (or three...) and completed your degree, THEN you can start applying for jobs. But you probably think you can just get your very first zookeeping job working with dangerous animals such as Gorillas, Elephants, and Tigers, don't you? Well, I hate to break it to you but your chances are probably not great. Your first job should be entry level - get a job working with ambassador animals, reptiles, small animals, hoofstock, birds, etc. Those jobs are just as difficult (and sometimes even harder - I mean, birds and reptiles hide everything from you!), but they will give you some great safety skills, presentation skills, and husbandry skills to give you more experience to get you the job you want.
I also tell people to not pigeon-hole yourself. Don't go into the field thinking "I will only work with big cats." That's just not a reality that often happens for many keepers. Jobs are hard to find and harder to get. Take the jobs you can get when you first start out. Don't pick a specialty until you've had multiple years under your belt. You'll be more appealing to a lot of zoos if you prove you are flexible and can work with a variety of taxa.
And yet you say that the kiwi isn’t being mistreated in Miami zoo 🤦🏼♀️ you call yourself a zookeeper and yet you don’t even see That the kiwi is being mistreated and then you delete you videos on it. funny. New Zealander will always have our nature kiwi bird back when it comes to these stuff so do your research and help the poor kiwi out at miami zoo and give it a better home or give it back to New Zealand