“I volunteer at the zoo. It has given me a chance to study animals, meet new people, and overcome my shyness about public speaking by touring. And I never have to clean up poop!
The best part of volunteering is going behind the scenes. For example, it’s interesting how the elephants are cleaned. Keepers put the elephant in a metal apparatus that fits to the elephant’s size, restricting its movement to prevent it from falling or hurting the keeper. Then the keepers use hoses and brushes to wash off dust and insects, as well as to stimulate new skin growth. After the bath, the elephant picks up hay and dust with its trunk and spreads it over itself as a sunscreen and bug repellent.
The tamarins are my favorite animal
In the Golden Lion Tamarin Project, keepers trained the tamarins (a small reddish-gold colored primate that lives in trees) to live independent of humans, so someday they can be returned to the forests of Brazil. The trainer took a zoo-born tamarin pair and introduced them to real trees. Initially they were scared because the trees swayed under their weight, which never happened on metal jungle gyms. In the trees, behavioralist hung cups of fruit from the branches, so the tamarins learned to forage for food in the trees. They also gave live crickets, the tamarin’s favorite food, to enrich their diets.
When a male polar bear died of cancer, his twin sister became very depressed—pacing around the exhibit, especially at the entrance where the keepers took him away. After being abandoned by the mother and living with him for over 30 years, she did not know how to live by herself. Her keepers gave her balls and other toys, but nothing seemed to distract her. Since then she has adjusted, but the months after her brother’s death were particularly difficult for her.
At the zoo, you learn interesting factoids like the difference between a crocodile and an alligator by its snout: the one is narrow and pointy while the other is blunt. When birds fly, they poop to rid their bodies of excess water and be as lightweight as possible. Birds can “collapse” their execretory and reproductive organs to make their body compact.
During my training, I met students from all over Southern California—from such neighborhoods and cities as Hollywood, La Crescenta, East Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Torrance, Glendale, West LA, Westchester and San Dimas. We discovered that, despite our different backgrounds and experiences, we all share a common interest and love for the preservation of endangered species. And the volunteers are just as diverse as the people who visit the zoo, so they speak all kinds of languages.
During our training, we had to talk for five minutes about an animal. I picked the ostrich and showed a poster comparing bird egg sizes. Ostriches are not only 8 feet tall, they can run 45 to 55 mph. After my speech, my classmates surprised me because they really enjoyed it. Two weeks later, they voted me to speak at our graduation, which was something I thought I could never do.
When I volunteer, I usually stand by the African meerkat exhibit (you may remember the friendly meerkat Timon from “The Lion King”). One of the great perks of showing people the meerkats is getting to people-watch at the same time. As an only child, I love watching others’ parents, children, and grandparents happy together. When I wear my khaki uniform and my “ASK ME!” button, people seem comfortable approaching me. One Sunday, a darling grandmother felt compelled to tell me that the “industry leaders, directors, and stars of Hollywood” should donate money to the zoo, as an investment to enrich the lives of Los Angeles children. She believed that the entertainment industry’s fiscal support could transform the LA Zoo, an average community zoo, into a world-class community zoo like the Bronx Zoo.
Another zoo volunteer, who was 65+, impressed me with her active life-style and volunteerism. After working and raising three daughters, “Miss Julia” and her husband regularly play tennis, tutor children after school, prepare meals at their local retirement home, and tour patrons around the zoo.I never would have met Miss Julia, if not for the zoo.
I enjoyed meeting different people
My experience with zoo patrons has changed my ideas about people. Once, I saw an Orthodox Jewish couple—both heavily dressed in black, in ninety degree weather—in front of the meerkat exhibit, which I enjoy talking about. I wasn’t sure they’d be friendly, because people who are strict about religion usually seem standoffish towards outsiders. However, as I approached them, they surprised me with their sincere friendliness. The husband saw my name tag, said “Hello Susie!” in a rich, pleasant voice, and introduced himself and his wife to me. I talked about the meerkats’ peculiar behavior, how they’re constantly on guard for eagles and hawks, even though it’s very unlikely that a predator would swoop down from Los Angeles’ urban skyline. Although meerkats live in groups of 3 to 30, they all take turns being on guard. Every three hours, a fresh meerkat becomes the new sentry. Meerkats eat mostly insects, but also snakes, scorpions, small birds, plants and vegetables. Related to the American prairie dog, they’re smaller than a cat, but they can kill a slightly-larger animal like a chicken, with one bite to the neck!
How to become a zoo volunteer
Is the zoo a place you haven’t visited since you were five? That’s how I was a few years ago, but you can become a volunteer, too. How? In June, call the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association at (213) 664-1100 extension 363 for an application. Expect to submit a teacher recommendation, your GPA, and an essay. A month after you send it in, you’ll be interviewed at the zoo. Only half of the people who apply are accepted, so it’s a fairly competitive volunteer program. Once accepted, you must attend six-hour training sessions every Saturday morning from October to March. During the day, you will take notes as a guest speaker presents lectures and slide-shows. Each Saturday ends with a behind-the-scenes tour, such as watching an animal behavioral expert give a primate a cricket-filled tube, which the animal pokes with a stick to force out the insects. Not only do students receive instruction in animal evolution, anatomy, physiology, and taxonomy, they experience how rewarding it is to teach people of all ages, ethnicities, nationalities and religions. Once the six month training ends, you can volunteer on any day you want except Christmas Day, the only day the zoo closes.
If you’re considering a career with animals, volunteering at the zoo brings you into contact with artists, natural historians, animal behavior experts, zoo keepers, and the zoo director. They can tell you what you should major in at college in order to get where they are. “