First official shift at the Keiki Zoo was today. I was up early, had my clothes and name tag ready to go last night, and had a dream that included a mongoose, though I don't remember why.
At precisely 7:58, two minutes before showtime, I made my way into the volunteer center to sign in. I came upon a lady I had seen walking down the street in front of my hotel earlier. Us volunteers are everywhere. Lena was volunteering in the Keiki Zoo also but she's done it for a while now. We wait for the zookeepers to finish the morning meeting and then get started.
I meet the two zookeepers and find that Lena is going to show me the ropes. I find right away that Lena is good-natured, from France, and that she's technically incarcerated. I put in the technically because she shared the info with me using air quotes. No joke.
So, we proceed to clean and rake and get very sweaty because there is a whole lotta sun and almost no shade or breeze today. Lovely.
The head zookeeper interrupted us in the first couple of minutes of Lena explaining how we scoop and rake poop to ask us to use leaf blowers to clean the walkways first. I haven't gotten to use a leaf blower before and was actually a bit excited. I was able to start mine right away and felt that proved that I wasn't as weak as I may look. Lena and I spent about 20 minutes battling the flowers and leaves all over the walkways which continue to collect every minute from the enormous tree in the center of the Keiki Zoo. Thought it looked a little better than before we started, it was impossible to keep them clear.
Next, Lena and I began raking poop in the llama and sheep romp. I tried very hard to show no fear to Lorenzo, preventing a spitting session. There was a moment when Lena was talking to Lorenzo when his ears went down, lips began grinning. Thankfully, the moment passed without incident.
By now I have found out that Lena has spent 3 years in prison out of the max sentence of 10. Mind you, there is no one else around and the zookeepers are out of sight. No big deal. Lena stops raking and asks if I want to see something "trippy." Of course, I do. We find that a dead frog, about 2 inches long, is upside down and being spun around by ants! Trippy it was! The ants moved the frog by a couple of inches in no time.
After the llama and sheep romp, we scooped horse poop, goat pellets, and washed windows. While taking a water break, Lena shared with me that the reason she was in jail was because of selling a tiny bit of ice to an undercover cop. She was out on furlough trying to get a job and spent a 4-hour shift volunteering at the zoo. TMI, probably. However, her honesty was refreshing and not too over the top.
After the water break, a zookeeper asked us to clean out the guinea pig romp, apparently Lena's least favorite thing to do. I can see why. It was messy, to say the least, and low to the ground, so we crouched a lot. We did get to use a huge vacuum cleaner and talk tot he 4 guinea pigs, so it wasn't all bad.
with about 45 minutes left of our shift, Lena found some shade and sat to observe the crowd, making sure no one ate or drank or any other obvious unsafe behavior. She shared some more of her difficult life story before leaving to get a drink of water. Let's leave it at that for now.
I asked a zookeeper if I could help with anything, so he instructed me how to "show" an animal. First day in the Keiki Zoo, and I got to show a guinea pig. Whoa, I couldn't believe it either. You might think that there is some specialized training involved in such a responsibility, but no. I just picked up the pig, sat down, and the kids swarmed. The zookeeper gave me a few pieces of info so I could answer common questions. After 10 minutes and a lot of little fingers, big smiles, and a few shrieks, my first shift in the Keiki Zoo was complete.
Maybe next week I'll get to show a chicken.
