Zookeeper Tales - Dealing with the public
Aug. 1st, 2010 03:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elionwyrA large part of our job at the zoo involved talking to the public and educating them about our animals - why we had them, what their stories were, what kind of natural behavior they were demonstrating.
"Oh, look! The coyote wants to play with my child!"
"No, ma'am. The coyote is hunting your child."
Some of the questions we were asked were not the type of questions you'd expect to hear.
"Can I pay you $5 to let my child go into the coyote cage to have his picture taken?"
"Ma'am, that animal is a predator. If he were a tiger, would you make the same request?"
*blank stare*
"The answer, ma'am, is no, we can't do that."
As an animal handler - a person hired to bring animals out into public spaces during after-hour parties and functions and walk amongst the guests with a wild animal, I'd like to say I learned diplomacy.
What I mostly learned was that the reason I liked being a zookeeper was that I really didn't want to talk to people.
My friend Dave shared a rather dramatic example one day of what it could be like to talk to the public. He was handling a snake in a public space and was approached by a visitor.
"Excuse me, could you answer a question for me?"
"Sure!"
"How do you kill a rattlesnake?"
"How do you...what?"
"Well, we were out west and we caught a rattlesnake. We still have it in a bag. And we want to kill it but we're not sure how."
(I don't think Dave ran screaming. Nor do I think he did the woman a violent mischief. But we've both managed to forget what exactly he *did* do, more's the pity.)
When our zoo was moved into a more public space, we eventually incorporated the use of outside microphones and inside headsets to communicate with the museum visitors. The system was only on for a hours a day, but those few hours could be a bit...shall we say challenging. Some of the animals thought those headsets would make dang good toys. We had to learn to censor ourselves. A lot.
"NO DUCKIE DON'T EAT THAT YOU CROW-KILLI- Oh. Hi, folks! Do you have any questions?"
Sometimes the challenge was simply to think quickly enough to come up with a family-safe answer to what the visitors were observing.
"Hey lady! What are those tortoises doing?"
"Ask your mother! Goingtolunchguysseeyabye!" *click*
Actually, running away from a visitor was..well..one of my better tricks.
When a child runs into an exhibit, points joyfully at a bald eagle, and chirps, "Wow! Look at the vulcan!" I...had, and have, no words.
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"Oh, look! The coyote wants to play with my child!"
"No, ma'am. The coyote is hunting your child."
Some of the questions we were asked were not the type of questions you'd expect to hear.
"Can I pay you $5 to let my child go into the coyote cage to have his picture taken?"
"Ma'am, that animal is a predator. If he were a tiger, would you make the same request?"
*blank stare*
"The answer, ma'am, is no, we can't do that."
As an animal handler - a person hired to bring animals out into public spaces during after-hour parties and functions and walk amongst the guests with a wild animal, I'd like to say I learned diplomacy.
What I mostly learned was that the reason I liked being a zookeeper was that I really didn't want to talk to people.
My friend Dave shared a rather dramatic example one day of what it could be like to talk to the public. He was handling a snake in a public space and was approached by a visitor.
"Excuse me, could you answer a question for me?"
"Sure!"
"How do you kill a rattlesnake?"
"How do you...what?"
"Well, we were out west and we caught a rattlesnake. We still have it in a bag. And we want to kill it but we're not sure how."
(I don't think Dave ran screaming. Nor do I think he did the woman a violent mischief. But we've both managed to forget what exactly he *did* do, more's the pity.)
When our zoo was moved into a more public space, we eventually incorporated the use of outside microphones and inside headsets to communicate with the museum visitors. The system was only on for a hours a day, but those few hours could be a bit...shall we say challenging. Some of the animals thought those headsets would make dang good toys. We had to learn to censor ourselves. A lot.
"NO DUCKIE DON'T EAT THAT YOU CROW-KILLI- Oh. Hi, folks! Do you have any questions?"
Sometimes the challenge was simply to think quickly enough to come up with a family-safe answer to what the visitors were observing.
"Hey lady! What are those tortoises doing?"
"Ask your mother! Goingtolunchguysseeyabye!" *click*
Actually, running away from a visitor was..well..one of my better tricks.
When a child runs into an exhibit, points joyfully at a bald eagle, and chirps, "Wow! Look at the vulcan!" I...had, and have, no words.
Click Here to Donate