A Day in Life of a Keeper

Journal Excerpts Recovered from an Ambassador Animal Keeper at Zoo Atlanta

6:30 a.m. – Death has not taken me in my sleep, so from my bed I must go yet again.

6:45 a.m. – My third cup of coffee has improved my demeanor greatly and I no longer have the desire to perish.

7 a.m. – I sustained myself on a hardy smoothie full of greens and fruit to fuel my rigorous day. I followed with a slice of cold pizza for morale.

7:30 a.m. – After great deliberation, I do not feel at this point in my life I can provide enough quality online content to pay my way, so to work I must go!

7:45 a.m. – Perchance, is it every single person’s first day driving a motor vehicle on the interstate? Everyone around me is either in too much haste, or much too leisurely in their commute. I alone am going at an appropriate and reasonable rate.

8 a.m. – Huzzah! All of my charges are well and accounted for! I greet them all heartily, eager to begin my day.

8:15 a.m. – I have now tidied and readied the building for my day! Oh, how a clean and prepared workspace soothes me and puts me in a place of productivity!

8:17 – Everything is cluttered and there are dishes everywhere and I am completely overwhelmed.

11 a.m. All the animals are well fed – and by the amount of cleaning I have thus far completed, have very healthy, functioning bowels. I will quickly fold laundry and wash dishes. Surely there cannot be an excess of either in the brief time I have been at work!

12 p.m. – I enter my lunch hour a broken person. The laundry was eternal. No matter how many towels I folded, like a cruse of oil they were replenished. The dishes also seemed to multiply before my eyes. Surely this is some form of dark magic. I will use this hour of repose to set right my accounts and balance my ledgers.

12:30 p.m. – My accounts are feeble and my ledgers depress me. I will buy a coffee and a sweet treat to console myself.

1 p.m. – Fie, how I envy these creatures and their crepuscular schedules. Midday IS the ideal time for a nap and yet I must return to my duties. The sun is bright and the breeze is friendly; I shall take two of the animals out on grounds to welcome our guests! It is a lovely day to encounter some families and reasonably sized groups of persons.

2 p.m. – My animals and I greeted what appeared to be roughly ten thousand school children on field trips. They were legion. Eager for knowledge they plied me with questions about all the intricacies of diet, habitat, and natural history. Their thirst for wisdom inspires me!

3 p.m. – How quickly the day goes by. It is now time to ready meals for end of day and tidy up after the day’s activities. I shall take care to present the meals in a way that resembles their natural diet, so that the animals may be enriched in their foraging.

4 p.m. – All animals are fed, accounted for, and secured in their homes. I have naught left but to complete my records and of course, the dishes and laundry.

4:30 p.m. – Barely was I able to complete the glut of washing. Yet it is clean, all of it, and I must go now to tend to my own washing I left behind at my home. And the animals that live in my home. And prepare my own meals. And, of course, do the dishes.

Roxanne B.
Ambassador Animals Team