Animals - Zoo Care

Veterinarians and veterinary technicians work with all of the animals at the Zoo, from tarantulas to tigers. They provide medical care to sick animals as well as preventative medicine. Preventive medicine, involves routine scheduled physical exams, doing blood-work, checking for diseases, treating illnesses and carefully watching new animals in quarantine to make sure they are healthy before introduction to the rest of the animal collection. By providing these routine checkups we are able to detect and treat any health problems in their early stages – before they have a chance to endanger the animals’ well- being. For more information see Animal care Clinic.

Zoo Keepers take care of the animals, but what does this mean? Here are just some of the tasks:

1. Feeding the animals - animals get special “diets.” You have to prepare these everyday and you need to know how much each animal gets, what nutrients or vitamins they need and when to feed them. For more information see Feeding.
2. Cleaning - zookeepers spend a lot of their day cleaning exhibits and holding areas. It’s a messy part of the job, but it’s important for the health and well-being of the animals.
3. Basic health - zookeepers get to know the animals in their care very well so they are the best ones to monitor basic health and report unusual conditions to the veterinarians.
4. Enrichment and training - zookeepers provide enrichment activities that stimulate and challenge the animals. Most of these activities replicate natural animal behaviors. They also use behavioral training to assist with medical exams.