Safety is No Joke

Photo Courtesy of M.J. Grippin Photography

When I tell people that I am a zookeeper, many of them are immediately worried about my safety. From wide-eyed concern to jokes like "don't get eaten!" I respond to safety concerns from the public, my family, and friends every day.

Zookeeping is a high-risk job. Zookeepers contend with freezing rains, sunburn, dehydration, heavy lifting, poison ivy, chemical exposure, and insect swarms, not to mention zoonotic diseases, animal bites and kicks, and dangerous animal escapes. Sounds fun, doesn't it? We do it because we love it and are passionate about the animals we care for. Zoos also have safety protocols in place to protect their keepers as much as possible, and we are all highly trained to do our jobs.

However, accidents do happen. Many of you remember Dianna Hanson, the keeper that was mauled to death by an African lion at the Cat Haven Sanctuary in California earlier this year. Authorities are still unsure what enabled the lion to escape and reach the 24-year old keeper, but there are many safety measures in place to prevent such a tragedy at other zoos.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) regularly check zoos to ensure that both animal and keeper safety measures are up to code. When working with potentially dangerous animals, keepers use safety equipment, such as gloves, boots, masks, nets, catch poles, crates, tranquilizer guns, and radios. Keepers run drills to prepare for everything from severe storms to animal escapes. Dangerous animals are also shifted into additional holding areas for cleaning and feeding so that the keepers are never in an exhibit or den with a dangerous animal.

Inside the tiger dens. Notice the steel guillotine door
leading into the exhibit and the multiple locks on the keeper door. 

The Binghamton Zoo houses lots of dangerous animals, such as tigers, leopards, wolves, bears, and cougars. However, the top safety concern is often our two female Amur tigers. As a tiger keeper, I am asked daily by the public if I am afraid to work with them. Although they are intimidating, I feel competent and prepared to work with our girls. In order to work unsupervised with the tigers, I had to complete 50 supervised hours caring for them with a veteran keeper and then shift them properly with the curator's supervision. Additionally, every time I shift the girls between their exhibit and dens, I call on the radio to inform the staff, and I call again when the cats are secure. Finally, I am always separated from the cats by a barrier and many locks. To even get into the tiger building, I go through a door with two locks. Then another solid door with three locks separates the hallway from the exhibit yard. A chain link door with a padlock separates the hallway from a second hallway in front of the dens. Both dens have heavy-duty doors with three locks, and a hefty guillotine door with a sliding lock separates the dens from each other. If the cats are outside on exhibit and I need to clean in the dens, I close two solid metal guillotine doors (with automatic locks) that separate the dens from the yard. All of these precautions keep me safe. Although our tigers, Koosaka and Terney, seem to be afraid of their own shadows and have a good relationship with me, I never want to test that relationship.

Zookeeping is not 100% safe and it never will be. Working with animals is an inherently dangerous profession. However, we do everything we can to ensure both the animals' safety and our own.