Taking care of a single eight-ton elephant may seem like a big job, but keepers at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park must care for 14 elephants (six Asian and eight African). Jeff Andrews, animal care manager, who oversees many animals including elephants, let us jump right in and participate in one of the most time-consuming tasks of an elephant keeper, picking up poop. A single elephant can excrete nearly 100 pounds daily, giving their keepers plenty to do.

Apart from the exciting task of picking up elephant poop, keepers spend a large portion of their day feeding, training, and supplying their elephants with ample amounts of enrichment. While on our behind-the-scenes adventure at the African elephant barn, we got a first-hand look at how and why training elephants is important. Tasks that may seem simple, such as showing the sole of their foot or pushing the side of their body closer to the keeper, are practiced daily so that when a keeper needs to examine an elephant the process is quick and easy. One interesting aspect of elephant training was that the keepers’ first job for the elephant is to put its trunk against his hand. This is done in order to make sure the keeper is aware of the location of the trunk at all times so that the elephant does not accidentally do the keeper any harm. Similar to elephants at the Zoo, and most other animals in both parks, the Wild Animal Park elephants receive enrichment. This is done in a number of ways. Keepers can hide food in logs, place alfalfa pellets in hanging toy balls, or situate a sheet of hay high up in a suspended net. These different means of enrichment, along with their daily training and playtime, keep the elephants mentally and physically stimulated.

Playing the part of an elephant keeper, however, is only part of Mr. Andrews’ job. As animal care manager, he spends up to half of his day behind a desk answering e-mails, working on his latest projects, and making important phone calls. The rest of his day is devoted to meeting with the other managers, along with his own keepers, and discussing new research found at other zoos, in the wild, or from their own collected data and finding ways to incorporate it into their work. After meetings, discussions, and office time Mr. Andrews gets to spend time working at the Asian and African elephant barn, working side by side with the keepers and elephants, aiding in the daily tasks, conducting simple checkups, and reviewing data charts.

To get his job at the Wild Animal Park, Mr. Andrews followed the path which many other keepers, educators, and general employees take. After graduating from San Diego State University, majoring in biology, Mr. Andrews knew he wanted to pursue a career in animal behavior. He did not, however, know where he should begin his search. One day, while visiting Sea World, he saw an employee with a nametag that said “animal behavior,” and he at last knew where to start. With some helpful advice he found a job working as a tour guide, which would give him a better chance of being hired in the animal behavior department. Sure enough, six months later, the behavior department hired him. After 16 years of working at Sea World (during which time he went back to school and got a degree in social science and was promoted to the position of assistant curator) Mr. Andrews was offered a job at the Wild Animal Park working with his love, African wildlife.

As recently as one and a half years ago, these seven elephants were wild animals, living in a national park in Swaziland, Africa. They were part of a larger herd that was facing the fate of a cull (the killing of surplus animals). When the Wild Animal Park’s curator staff found out about the deadly fate of these amazing animals, they brought the elephants to the United States (four more elephants went to a zoo in Florida). Mr. Andrews and the elephant keepers play an important role in the lives of the now eight African elephants at the Wild Animal Park (one of the elephants was pregnant during the move, and she gave birth to a calf named Vus’musi – aka Moose - in February 2004). Despite all the heavy lifting, I cannot imagine a more rewarding feeling than to have a job like that of the elephant keepers of Moose and family.

Contributed by Lindsey - Zoo InternQuest Careers Team

Posted in Default, General | Link to this post

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments are currently closed. Pinging is not allowed.