A Zookeepers Life #10 A Snow Day

It's white and fluffy and makes all the ugly in the world so beautiful, yes that is snow. This morning at 6am when I left for work it was absolutely freezing cold and battering it down with rain, your typical British weather. I decided to stop at the gates to pick up my water proofs that stay safely in the staff room – just as well I did!

Upon arrival to the car-park I met 3 other keepers and went around to collect radios and keys, we needed to get Santa’s reindeer over to their Corral as soon as possible as we had visitors arriving very early to come and meet them. We ran their bowls of food over, chopped up a load of Glucose and filled up their water bowls then ran back to collect the boys just in time for the kids to come along and say hello.

Once in their stables, I went straight to my section and I was SATURATED you won’t believe it. I had three layers of clothes on all soaked through so I had to quickly get changed and into my second set of waterproofs whilst the rest dry in the Boiler room. As it’s a Christmas event day it means we need to get all the section completely cleaned before people walk down and see the animals, that means opening all the public zones and checking the animals are alive and well. Counting the animals is a very important aspect of the job because if we have any one new on the section if we just call everyone by their names they wouldn’t know who they are looking for so a number is easier- when you can’t find one like this morning… it’s a mad session tearing an enclosure apart to find the rat that has decided to sit in a Christmas hat that I had already moved!

After all the animals are counted it’s time to do the feed round and make sure everyone eats and enjoys their breakfast, now as we are collecting the morning feeds it starts to sleet and settle in some places but with the amount of rain surely, it’s not going to stick?

Well…

Within 15 minutes we were covered in a blanket of thick snow and it was coming down so heavily that all the animals scarpered inside, we decided that we needed to get all the houses cleaned and new bedding added with some hay so that the animals could stay dry. As we were short staffed today we needed to quickly get through all the exhibits before tea-break with the 4 of us, so after we got the sheep and goats cleaned and a small snow ball fight because well... it’s snowing, we quickly moved onto wallabies that has a large hill inside it. Again, we got the house cleaned and moved onto the next exhibit which was an indoor one so it required a lot more cleaning.

Now the zoo does not shut in the snow, the money generated from ticket sales goes directly to all different aspects of the zoo from staff wages to the vet bills. However, a lot of exhibits do require to be closed due to soaking wet floors causing too much of a slip hazard, so certain pathways are closed for safety. Also, some staff who come in later that now can’t get to work because the roads have at least 3 inches of snow on them, so a lot of the outlets are not open today. Yet us keepers are stuck! Yet every department in the zoo will come together and help one another out as we are all in it together. Luckily for us, it doesn't snow very often here yet we are very prepared for weather like this.

The grounds teams get to shovelling snow and gritting the paths, catering teams gets the brews ready for the visitors, the retail team get all the shops throughout the zoo open, the event team gets ready to perform for those that are in the zoo that day, the keepers get all the exhibits opened, cleaned, and fed, the guest services team answers the endless calls and runs the admin side of the zoo and the directors assist with all the departments. It is very complex but as a whole we manage to run the zoo efficiently and effectively.

As I drive a 70-mile round trip and the snow was getting thicker and thicker, I began to worry about my trip home and having a quick look on the satnav and to add further concern the whole route was buggered, no doubt some idiots on the road not driving safely. The boss walked around the zoo and confirmed that we would be going home early today for our own safety which was a relief knowing I would be driving home in the light.

I spent a little time with our Reindeer just before lunchtime where they were all sleeping and chilling out. As there was only a few people in the zoo today that braved the weather for whatever reason, they all got the chance to stroke Ronnie who was being super sweet for a change and kept coming over for attention. Usually Reindeer don’t enjoy that sort of attention which I must explain to people daily when they are trying to reach through and stroke them. Whilst I was stood dressed as an elf I realised that my feet were completely soaked through, which started to hamper my mood, who likes having cold and wet feet when you shouldn’t?

The route back to section was a slippy one due to the compacted snow and ice underfoot. I was slipping and sliding but luckily no one was around to see me go flat on my backside!

After lunch, I went around and took loads of photos of the animals in the snow which was lovely to see, some like it, some don’t. Mostly my animals don’t really enjoy it as naturally in the wild they wouldn’t ever see snow! We had to quickly shut the section to get home before it was dark but we left the animals eating their dinner to the last minute so they didn’t eat too early.

I tried very hard to get Basil out for some photographs but he was having none of it, I had some treats which he would take then run back to his house and then come back for more- such a pansy! Last part of the day is counting the animals, locking public zones and animal walk throughs and checking all lights are off. Also, we then need to check junior’s staffs work to ensure the animals are okay before we go home, last job of the day is to check the boiler to ensure the animals will stay warm overnight and check all our filtration systems are in working order.

I was able to leave for home 30 minutes after the arranged time but at the end of the day the animals come first and we wanted to make sure that everyone was warm, clean, and healthy before we head home. I don’t think I could cope well knowing an animal wasn’t okay before going home and have on countless of occasions stayed behind for a sick animal.
All the sections check on each other during this weather to make sure everyone is out safely so the radio throughout the day was very busy. It is nice to see a community coming together during a very tough day.

The drive home was scary, more so with how everyone else was driving around me as I tried to ensure I drove safely whereas they are far too much in a hurry to get home. I counted 6 cars on the side of the road all smashed up and in ditches- surely safety is more important than getting home quicker? It took quite some time to warm up after today but it was a fantastic and tough day spent with some amazing animals and an amazing team.

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If you enjoyed this edition of A Zookeepers Life check out:

• Saying Goodbye
• Animal Training
• We love poop
• Hand raising animals
• Dependable Donkeys
• It's all about Basil

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