Any advice for someone training to become a Zookeeper?

Question

I have been volunteering at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle as a Keeper Aide for the last year and customer service before that.

Answer 1

Hey Caleb.

Ask for a job. The zookeepers I know started out as volunteers then got paid jobs. :) You have an advantage because you have a little experience. I won't bother to go into much detail as many before me already have.

I just want to say - Good luck and have fun! =)

Stacey

Answer 2

tiger answer was close, but sounded  insensitive.....

  you need to write to every , zoo, in the USA.    ask for the head keepers. name . see if you can get hired....

  even for the summer season ...  

  get your   resume together, and add  you willing to learn , in any or all depts.....

     maybe you like birds, or dog or cats or any other animals...

  but will be happy with any other placement ...

  good luck

Answer 3

But you don't tell us your age, your educational background, or anything else....What does your volunteer job entail, do you just do food prep and cleaning, or do you get to watch the keepers withthe animals?  

First, your gonna need at least an Associates Degree (preferably in Psychology with a good background in Biology, Chemistry and some Physics).  Second, you can get some training experience by looking into volunteering with dogs or cats at a shelter.  As you should know, keepers also do training, and the same principles apply to training domestic animals as wild ones.  

Great that you have biology, but you need the animal behavior and learning end which is taught in psych, and you need the training experience.  If you have that training experience and can show that, it's a boon.  So is the assistance in medical procedures.  The observational stuff is secondary to the daily care and lots of good classes in statistics will help you understand it better.  But the observation stuff is used more by the curators than the keepers.  But if you impress the curator, you are one step above the rest.

Answer 4

ask for a job as a zookeeper!

Answer 5

I used to be a zookeeper, and got the job without any qualifications other than GCSEs. Having higher qualifications is no guarantee of getting the job (my boss told me he's had people come in with degrees who didn't know which end an elephant craps out of!), and not having them is no guarantee you won't get the job. However, having experience with animals will definitely help, so your volunteering is a good idea.

I would just point out that a zookeeper's pay is generally quite poor - I earned minimum wage. Many people want to work with animals, so they don't need to tempt workers with high pay. The hours are long and you may not be paid for any overtime worked - in the zoo I worked at, you were paid only between 8am and 5pm, even if you arrived at 6.30am and didn't leave til 7pm. You are also required to work weekends and public holidays without additional pay.

The work is physically very hard, and you will be dealing with people, in the shape of the public, as much as with animals. Indeed, there is often little interaction with the animals you care for - the majority of the job is cleaning (picking up faeces, sweeping up straw, window cleaning, etc.). Also, you often do not have a choice as to which animals you work with. Most zoos will simply take you on as a keeper and place you where you are needed, though you can request to work with certain animals if and when a position with them becomes available.