This past summer, I spent a sweaty and spectacular month at Keepers of the Wild Nature Park in Valentine, Arizona.   Over the course of 200 hours, I worked with over 40 species of native and exotic animals cared for by a tireless staff, and I learned an immense amount every day about the practicalities and nuances of exotic animal care.  I put my theoretical knowledge of animal nutrition, behavior, and enrichment to use, all while assisting with the day to day operations of the park.

I was continually impressed by how such a small staff could keep everything running smoothly, something that is not a small feat in the hot, dry Arizona desert with over 100 dependent animals.  Not only was I impressed with the staff, facilities, and grounds of the park, I was continually impressed by the growth I saw in myself over the course of my internship.  I learned how to work outside in a harsher climate than I am used to, to quickly adapt to different protocols depending on the animal species, to construct specialized diets based on species and individual animal needs, and so much more.  Every time I talk about my internship, I come up with something new that I learned via the immersive education experience.

The nature park itself is divided into three large groups: care center animals, hoofstock, and big cats.  The care center encompasses the birds, primates, and many native species, and this is where I spent the first week and a half of my internship learning the ins and outs of the park’s basic operations.  It is also the site of one of my most influential lessons while at Keepers of the Wild.

We always learn that networking in any career path is an extremely important part of growth and advancement, and the most important contacts in animal care are the animals themselves.  One of my favorite new contacts from this summer was Billy.  Upon meeting, I was not Billy’s favorite person.  He found me threatening, yelled at me frequently, and did his best to scare me off.  I spent my first week trying to impress Billy, or at least keep him from becoming stressed at the very sight of me.  I should also probably mention that Billy is a baboon.  Billy came to Keepers of the Wild in 2002 after being owned by a teenage girl following his life as a baby baboon in the entertainment industry.  As many animal loving humans know, primates and other exotic animals do NOT make good pets.  They are wild, highly intelligent creatures, and animal instincts are not something to fool around with.

Though we frequently learn in classes how closely related primates and humans are, Billy gave me this education in an up-close and personal way.  He loved apples and bananas and would drink Capri Sun straight from the pouch, as long as you put the straw in for him.  He people watched and played with toys; he just communicated differently, had opposable toes, and incisors four times the size of mine.  When I first arrived at my internship, Billy couldn’t stand the sight of me.  He threw rocks, yowled, stared intimidatingly, and did everything that he could to keep a threatening stranger away from his home and friends.   I went home nightly and did research on enrichment techniques for the animals I was working with, and I made sure to look up ways to make myself less threatening to Billy and the other primates.  Many of them had already had incredibly stressful lives prior to arriving in the park, and the last thing that I wanted to do was induce more stress while trying to take care of them.

Slowly, Billy got more used to seeing me.  I kept my head down (direct eye contact is a sign of aggression to primates), worked hard, and pushed myself to absorb as much as I could each day.  He went from exhibiting threatening behaviors, to apathetic tolerance, and finally, Billy accepted me into the fold. It was a Wednesday afternoon when I was working on the Big Cats team (an incredible experience in itself, with many stories for another time), and I walked past Billy’s enclosure giving my customary “Hi Billy!” greeting.  He had been coming over to the side of the enclosure to grunt hello to me for a few days, but this day, he ran right up, sat down at the fence, chattered his teeth in a sign of greeting, and insisted on holding my hand and grooming me.  As I sat there with my arm in Billy’s hands, I became hyper aware that it was an astonishingly special moment that I would never forget.

Animal care is grueling, difficult, dangerous work that pushes you to the brink of what you think you can handle.  Lives are on the line, and they are lives that cannot advocate for themselves, making the job a thousand times more difficult.  It is stressful, exhausting, but also unbelievably rewarding.  For every moment spent close to tears because you are hot, dirty, and frustrated because something very simple (like a lock) just won’t cooperate, there are beautiful moments where human and animal intelligence are brought together in mutual understanding.  My moments of understanding occurred constantly throughout this internship experience, and I am so incredibly grateful for having this opportunity.  Billy and I got along swimmingly for the remainder of my time in Arizona, and I think of him daily.

In the same way that Billy grew to accept, appreciate, and maybe even like my presence at Keepers of the Wild, I grew even more certain that a life spent in animal care is the right career path for me.  I came out of my intensive month more desiring to go into exotic practice for veterinary medicine, and I hope to do this work in conjunction with a rescue organization someday.  I have an enhanced appreciation for small, non-profit rescue parks and for exotic animal care in general.  I know that my newly developed mindsets and perspectives will help me to become a better veterinarian, and I can’t wait to have more experiences like this in the future.