It may be indicative of the life of a zookeeper that my first (and last) entry occurred a year ago. Being a zookeeper keeps your mind busy almost as much as your ex boyfriend's new girlfriend does.
I work eleven hour days. I wake up thinking about my elephants. I take a shower thinking about my elephants. I eat breakfast thinking about my elephants. They are so complex, so unknowable, so unendingly fascinating that I am pretty sure I could think about them for the rest of my life and never run out of things to think of.
I work with four African elephants right now. They are great. They are hilarious. There are few things on this Earth less amusing than our littlest elephant chasing wild birds through the exhibit.
Anyway!
Things I Have Done This Week:
-Played "catch" with our herd's matriarch.
-Answered a phone call from a member of the public who needed to know if giraffe are carnivorous.
-Scratched elephant butts
-Had elephant snot blown into my mouth...jeez, guys.
-Thrown whole sweet potatoes directly into elephant mouths.
No matter how crazy busy I get, there is always always always something that makes it worthwhile. Who cares about sore backs and dirt under your fingernails when every day you can feel the satisfying "thump" of an elephant putting it's trunk in your hand and blowing in your face? Not me.
