u/bodlv_jlz

I just finished my first week as a full time keeper at a new facility. I have previous experience in education/ambassador training and multiple internships at different facilities. This is my first keeping focused role.

I had 2 different people start training me and it went very well, I was excited and learning and comfortable. A different person started training me later in the week and it all went downhill. I felt like I was on one of those competitive cooking shows. The entire time she was training me she’d constantly be saying “you have two minutes left” “you have 4 minutes left” “I usually don’t spend this long in this section”. She has worked there for 10+ years. She is also very blunt in her corrections and offers little to no explanation, and often makes me feel like I’m a huge inconvenience and not catching on quickly. As I mentioned this is literally my first week, and I’m still learning and figuring out all the quirks of everything along with the individual steps. I feel so defeated and like I am stupid when earlier I felt confident and was moving quickly. She also makes me redo things her way if I do them the way I was trained previously (mind you by a manager who is higher up than her) and then complains that it’s taking too long. Worth noting that all my previous experience is from AZA facilities and this new job is not currently AZA. When I ask questions or try to understand things better (nothing even AZA related) she seems to get offended and give snarky remarks somehow relating back to being a smaller facility and not having the money/resources etc. when it didn’t really have anything to do with what I was asking.

So all this to say how long did it take you to feel comfortable and confident in your routine when you first started out? I am hoping the answer is longer than just a week and that I am not falling behind lol

Hi! Looking for some advice or input as to what everyone has seen throughout their careers in this field. I did an internship for 6 months in zoo education at an AZA facility and was then hired and have been working as staff for 2+ years doing direct handling, training, and educating. I wanted to expand my experience so I also did an internship for animal care at a different facility while still working education.

Throughout my short time in the field I have noticed there to be kind of a distinct line between educators and keepers at certain facilities. I am starting to worry that it is extremely difficult to transfer from being seen as an educator to being a keeper at a different facility. I started in this field without any zoo knowledge or experience (general degree in wildlife bio with a focus on field research), and while educating decided I may want to transfer to the keeping side of things. Has anyone else made this switch and noticed the difficulties in culture or viewpoints surrounding educators vs animal care, and what helped you break that barrier? At my current facility it is unfortunately very divided. There is almost a perspective of educators stay as educators, keepers stay as keepers, and there is no room for gaining experience or trying your hand at anything else. I almost feel like my fate has accidentally been signed away (as dramatic as that sounds lol). Thank you for any and all input!