If a child eats any goat poop, just tell the parents to call the family doctor when they get home.
Have you groomed a llama before?
Do you know how to harness a llama?
Please clean the windows inside the blue tongue skink/bearded dragon exhibit, and be careful not to disrupt their eating.
It seems peculiar that, after growing up in Fowlerville surrounded by corn fields, hogs, milk cows, and the fair, my first experiences holding a chicken, picking up horse poop, and harnessing an animal would be in Hawaii. Yet, here I sit writing about it.
The highlight of my last shift at the Keiki Zoo was not getting spit on by Lorenzo, the llama. The second best part of the day was getting to walk him around the zoo.
After the cleaning and first feeding of the day were complete, it was only 11am, plenty of time to learn how to harness, groom, and walk Lorenzo. I had already met Lorenzo a couple of times, since I've cleaned out his and Gracie's romp. Gracie is the sheep who shares living quarters with Lorenzo. She has never been a problem. Lorenzo can be ornery and has many more expressions than most of the other animals in the petting zoo section, keeping me on alert every time I'm in their romp. I try to act very brave and nonchalant when I'm near Lorenzo for fear of being spit on. So far, I've stayed clean.
Around 11am, Kendall, one of the keepers, asked if I wanted to learn how to take Lorenzo for a walk. Of course I did!! He explained how to put the harness on, what the animals expect, and what's expected of them. He warned that Lorenzo was most likely going to grunt and look at me sideways the first time I tried to harness him. Kendall said to take him on his bluff, and continue with my job no matter what, as to maintain a level of respect and authority. Easy for the keeper to say.
Kendall first showed me how to put the harness on Lorenzo and walk him around the romp. As we switched places, it began to rain quite heavily. Half of the romp is covered, but I could tell that Lorenzo was uninterested in getting wet. Our area for moving and walking was now only about 10' by 6' with a pole on one side. Tight quarters for an irritable llama and new zoo volunteer.
I stepped into the romp, walked up to Lorenzo's left side, managed to get the harness on with nothing more than a quint and ear flick, and breathed a silent sigh of relief. Since the rain continued, Kendall asked me to hang tight with Lorenzo while he went to get the grooming tools. A small group of people crowded around the romp, eager to see what I was going to do, since I obviously had some special skills with the llama. So, I walked Lorenzo in a small circle, only having to use some force on the rope once when we neared the wet side of the romp. Then we stood, since those are the only special skills I have.
It's funny how excited people get when a person is near any animal in the zoo. Just opening the guinea pig house, people rush over saying, "Look! There's a lady in there. Come watch! Nathan, Brian, get over here quick! Oh wow! She just set down the water bowl." I'll admit, that I pay extra attention when there are humans interacting with the critters. But, the guinea pigs? The chickens? Nothing to see here, folks.
Kendall returned with the brushes, secured Lorenzo to the pole, and demonstrated how to brush Lorenzo's coarse fur. He didn't seem to like the feeling, though Kendall told me he never usually minded much. Well, today was a different day. Lorenzo was less than thrilled about being groomed. He started spitting up a storm while stomping a bit in place. Kendall stayed near his head, keeping the rope secured to the post while I continued brushing. It seemed to help when I kept one hand on his back while the other brushed. He looked very handsome when we were all through.
I was so glad when the rain let up just as I was finishing with the brush. Off we went on a short stroll through the zoo. Kendall showed me the large loop to take to avoid the tiger and the savannah section, as those animals will consider Lorenzo their lunch and cause a raucous. I was happy to avoid that. Lorenzo was alert and fairly easy to lead around. Many visitors stopped to look, take a picture, and say hello to Lorenzo, calling him by name. Ten minutes later I led my new llama acquaintance back to his romp where Gracie was bleating loudly, obviously distraught that her pack mate was gone. Once reunited, all was quiet again.
Maybe next time I'll get to help clean Hoku, the miniature horse's, hooves!
