I’m debating posting at the end of every week orrrr still trying to post every day, so far, it hasn’t worked out that way. This might be a long blog post so bear wth me. This week was a little rougher than the first. I can definetly see and feel myself getting stronger, it also helps that my zookeeper mentor and the other keepers motivate me to push myself physically (like you would a gym partner, but never pushing beyond my limits :i.e hoisting a bale of hay stacked 4 high, I can hoist up to 3 now 🙂 ) Sunday, my keepermentor (who is getting married in july!!) was at a bridal show with her mother-in-law, so I was with our Elephant Manager, and two other keepers ( both are fairly new to the zoo, maybe 2-3 years). It is at this point in the blog post that I must say that from here on out the posts might be getting a little short, mainly because we do fairly the same things with the elephants every day ( i.e prepping morning/evening diets, weighing morning/evening hay, each girl gets a bath, then they are usually sent out to the yard ( if its above 40 and they will NOT go outside if its raining ( their choice really lol) then we deep clean the stalls (we play musical chairs to get the stalls clean of shavings/feces/urine before giving the girls their bath) then during our lunch time the girls will have “intros” since we have 2 newish elephants we send the O.G’s ( ty, gina, asali) out first and then introduce Daisy and Bambi out for at least an hour and a half) and thats what happenes pretty much every day.
So the highlights of this week!
Sunday: because my keepermentor was gone, like I said I was with the elephant manager and the other keepers. We take blood on each elephant on sundays ( CBC, T4, chem) and the girls do great!) I got to hand feed Ty with the elephant manager ( which I was not expecting! ) The girls do not like tactile sensation, unlike Emily from BPzoo so its basically I am a glorified Pez dispenser. But I was in my GLORY! And then I got to feed Bambi with our elephant manager that same day! ( a double whamie!)
Monday: My keepermentor is back and we had a little sit down, she let me know that I am doing really well and that is why I was allowed to feed the elephants, and that this typically doesnt happen till at least week 4. This internship, working with elephants, is not for the faint of heart ya’ll. It is definetly teaching me obedience, patience, self control and trust in my keepermentors and them in me, if they feel like they couldnt trust me then I wouldnt ever get close to the girls. This day was also very cold, we did what is called winter shifting ( if you want to know the details email me) in order to clean all the stalls without letting the girls outside. They did go out finally at around 2:30pm but that was the warmest part of the day.
Tuesday: Cold, cold, cold! I am starting to wear 6 layers of clothing, my snow boots, ear muffs and snow gloves! My allergies have been literally trying to kill me and now I have a cough… We finally got a hay delivery today. There must have been at least 100 bales of hay. But between me sneezing and coughing it was slow going for me… we winter shifted the girls again and they did not go out till at least 3pm and were not out for more than a half hour.
Wednesday: I had to call out of work today ( work= internship) But I couldnt stand myself anymore! I needed some relief! The cough has gotten so bad that I feel shortness of breath after a fit. So of course I want to go to a minute clinic, guess where my insurance ( MassHealth) says I cant go? that’s right, a minute clinic. But they did say I could go to an urgent care. So I make an appointment, get myself out of bed ( oh and did I mention I dont have heat in my room?? that right, there’s heat everywhere else, BUT my room, which stays at a balmy 50 degrees) So I go to the closest urgent care and they tell me they dont take my insurance ( to which I was like … I mean duh, but my insurance said I could come to an urgent care??) Anyhow, so I get back in my car and get back on the phone with the insurance company and explain to them what happened and then 30 minutes later I am driving to the HOSPITAL, because thats where they said I could go, the EMERGENCY ROOM for a COUGH! I was very upset that I was waisting these poor ER nurses time, but when I explained all this to them they were very understanding. To boot, I didnt have to wait very long, just a full episode of “the young and the restless” ( mums favorite soap if ya’ll didnt know) But did the Dr. look in my throat or eyes or nose or ears or anything? Nope. She asked me my plight and prescribed me prednisone and Pepcid AC ( which apparently is a Histamine 2 blocker and really helps allergies!) and I’ve been taking Robatussin DM for my cough and in retrospect I feel beter but I am 100$ poorer now thanks to the ER co-pay…
Thursday: Which is my Friday! Today went well, cold and rainy and the elephants did not want to go out at all! My keepermentor showed me what I missed yesterday in regards to we had a “down elephant ” meeting yesterday that I missed because I was sick 😦 this is because Ty went down 5 years ago while she and Asali were out on exhibit over night ( this is appropriate during the summer time) and there is a video of what was done and basically the meeting was a game plan should it ever happen again, whether it be in the barn or out on exhibit. Now Ty and Asali and Gina are all really bonded to eachother. Gina is the muscle/ diva of the group and pretends like she is the matriarch, even though Ty is the oldest. Asali is the most subordinate and vocal of the three elephants. Seeing her on the video of when Ty went down was the saddest thing! She keeps trying to help her get up and calling for someone to come help and is just so distraught over her friend! She didnt want to leave her side! Because the elephants were staying inside and my keepermentor had a meeting with the Big boss, I was handed over to our team lead jason. Who is also in charge of giraffes! Jason took me on a field trip over to Giraffes! We have one residing male, Niklas who is very good at what he is supposed to do because we have three little ones! Allie is the youngest and just got off the bottle this week. Niklas is a very loving giraffe and loves to be scratched under his neck and his horns. Allie the baby was very interested in me and gave me kisses on my cheeks and was trying to eat my hair! Her confidence spured the young male ( also a baby) to come over and try to eat my jacket! The mums kept coming over to check things out but were comfortable with our interactions. I even got a giraffe painting!
Friday!: My first official day of my weekend! Lots of cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping and gas filled my day, plus most importantly playing with my house mate’s cat Lainey Bug! We also have a new housemate names Melanie who is the new Endocrinology lab tech! She is waiting for her house to be finished and will be here for the next 2-3 weeks! I am so grateful that we have all become fast friends !
Pacyderm Intern 