Austin Zoo and Animal Sanctuary blog 1 (Jana Stuhr)

Today was our first day working at the zoo. The day flew by in a whirlwind of activity and information. There were lions, tigers, bears….oh my! Sorry couldn’t resist, but there were also alpacas, a kangaroo, squirrel monkeys, and a very large pig named Babe among various other animals. The first to greet me when I arrived at the zoo was an orange one-eyed cat named Tangerine. Then Toni, one of the ladies in charge, gave us a tour of the zoo and all its inhabitants. Every animal had a name and a story of how they came to live at the zoo. One example is that of Leroy the lion, who the group thought was a female because he didn’t have the traditional lion’s mane around his head, but it turns out Leroy’s old owner had him neutered which caused the loss of his mane. Leroy also had been poorly taken care of by his previous owner and suffered from a virus that caused loss of hair to his back, neck, and face. The hair never came back and the skin scarred over the patches and served as a reminder of the neglected past he had come from. Throughout the day I did many different tasks. Chris, a zookeeper, walked the group through each new assignment with an easy smile and an outgoing manner. Chris’s passion for her job was evident in the animated way she spoke about all the animals. The chores I did included mucking the farm animal’s pen. Did I mention it was a cold, rainy, and very muddy day? Not a good combination for poop shoveling but it was still a fun time since I was able to interact with the animals. I also distributed bedding, hay, to all the farm animals. I also did feedout, which is where you take banana peels, ends of lettuce, tomato ends, orange ends, and various other ends of fruits and vegetables, then fed them to the goats, pigs, sheep, and miniature deer. Next me and Katie learned how to do the laundry. Chris informed us that about a month ago someone had donated an entire truck load of towels and blankets. All of these had to be washed and dried along with their normal haul of laundry. All this is to be done with two washers and only one dryer. The laundry is backed up to an epic proportion, mounds of dirty laundry and tons of bags of the donated towels and blankets waiting to be cleaned. While Katie and I only managed two loads before we left I have decided to make laundry my personal project tomorrow. Laundry prepare to be cleaned like you have never been cleaned before! Wam! POW! Super Laundry Girl to the rescue. I finished my time in the “Ed” education building which actually doesn’t hold classes Chris told us. Instead the Ed porch is home to the multitude of peacocks that roam the zoo. The inside of the building houses birds in the cold weather as well as a sick turkey named Tom, a pair of young foxes, an old prairie dog named Houdini and her companion a white ferret, In the Ed building I helped sweep up the hay and various other objects such as feathers off the ground. After we left we headed back to First United Methodist Church where we are staying for the week, for a much need shower making sure to take Loop one instead of interstate 35 as wisely advised by Chris.