Keeping Down Under
Posted at 9:58 am October 21, 2008 by Adam Ruble
Hello!
My name is Adam and I am a keeper with the hoofed animal team at the San Diego Zoo. Working at the Zoo has always been a dream of mine, and to realize it every day is a wonderful feeling. One thing I discovered about being a keeper: if you find another keeper anywhere in the world, you can swap jobs with them! The minute I learned of this possibility, I started right away finding a keeper in Australia.
After a year or so of searching, I was introduced to a great keeper by the name of Brent who works at the Melbourne Zoo in Australia. After a slew of e-mails and waiting games for approvals, the exchange was all set to go. I landed in Melbourne and my counterpart in San Diego about two weeks ago. This exchange will last three months; Brent will work with all the pigs, deer, and gazelle that I normally care for in San Diego, and I will get a chance to work with all the wild Aussie animals.
After a smooth trip and a little time to settle in, I began training with the Australian Bush team and their animals. The particular round (set of exhibits) that I am starting with includes: red kangaroos (pictured above), Kangaroo Island kangaroos or KIs for short, Tasmanian pademelons, emus, and several aviaries that include an array of raptors, finches, and some beautiful orange-bellied parrots. The main area that I work in is an open walk-through exhibit that allows the guests to walk along a path that may or may not have an emu or KI walk up to you to say hello. The red kangaroos are enclosed off of the path because they are too nervous to have people walk up to them, but the KIs and the emus are confident to hang around amongst the guests. Due to the fact that we can touch and hand feed some of the animals, there is never a shortage of guest interaction. Every day we have an encounter with the KIs and emus, giving the public a chance to feed or just to get up close to the animal.
I jumped right in, so to speak, with the roos and began learning as much as I could to keep up with the dynamics of the animals. In my first two weeks I encountered issues ranging from behavioral to medical situations. Fortunately, I work with a team and vet staff that have an incredible knowledge base of macropods (Macropodidae is the family of marsupials such as kangaroos, wallabies, or pademelons, to name a few.) Just in the past two weeks we have dealt with the fighting, separation, and reintroduction of two male KIs and a case of ” lumpy jaw” seen in a female red. Roos have very sensitive mouths, and if they get a small cut or foreign body embedded in their mouth, bacteria can set in quickly and cause a potentially fatal problem. A Melbourne keeper made a great observation of a subtle swelling in the female red, and the next day she was taken to the hospital where they cleaned up her mouth and combated the infection. The veterinary staff was very gracious and welcoming and allowed me to stay with the red through the procedure.
Everyone in the zoo has been incredibly welcoming and extremely patient, considering I have to keep asking everyone to define all of the Aussie slang used throughout the day. The wealth of animal knowledge my team has shared thus far and continues to share reminds me of how this exchange is such a great learning experience. Melbourne is a wonderful zoo, and last week they celebrated their 146th birthday, which makes them the oldest zoo in Australia and the third oldest in the world. Now I just need to figure out which side of the street to ride my bike. To be continued…
Adam Ruble is a keeper at the San Diego Zoo. Read his previous blog, Follow the Leader.
Here’s a fact sheet on kangaroos and wallabies…
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October 21st, 2008 at 4:44 pm
ADAM, thanks for the interesting post. how neat is that to be able to trade places with another zoo keeper?! I bet they do have alot of different expressions and sayings in Australia. are the two of you e-mailing or keeping in touch with each other during this trade? maybe you’ll meet a pretty little aussie girl while you are there. maybe not if you are married. is it interesting working with the roos? do you still prefer the hoofed animals you had at S.D.Z. or would you like some other animals to work with? it must all be extremely interesting!!!! anyway, enjoy your new experience and learning about the Australian animals as well as Australia itself. I would love to travel there if it wasn’t so far. keep us posted ok?
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:40 am
Oh dear Adam I was happy to have your blog I miss you so much, yesterday I met Brent and April and Torrey the sweet dog. Not to much new I am trying to print your blog so the children can use it in there schooll sounds like you fit right in and I know how much you enjoy animals and learning meds etc. I am so blessed to have met you Adam. I am going to Maui, Hawaii soon, I am driving and back to church and still doing pt for stairs and balance. Oh I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear from you so I can blog you, lucky animals that you care for. Hugs to you and the roos they are so lucky to have you in the down under
October 22nd, 2008 at 10:08 am
Adam,
I am glad to see that your transition to Australian life has been a good one. We miss you back here in the States and wish you the best of luck. I hope they know what a great zoo keeper they have for the next 3 months. We are all excited to see pictures and here your stories. It would be awesome to travel and see you but its just not possible right now. I tell Madeline about your trip to Australia all the time even though she doesn’t understand but we will make sure that she knows who you are when you return. Keep us posted on your trip and all your adventures. I am so jealous! Well have fun and see you soon.
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Right on Adam, I’m so glad you have this blog so I can keep up on what you’re up to. I’m sure everyday for you is a new story to tell, and I’m so happy that you’re truly living your dream man. I hope you enjoy the rest of your 3 months there, I know you’ll make the most of it. It’s too bad you’ll be gone for Christmas but that’s life man….you gotta go have your adventures! Anyways, I can’t wait to read more…I miss ya a lot over here in Thailand! Hey, it’s not too far from Australia you know.
October 24th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
What – no wombats?
I belong to an electronic discussion lists for librarians (and others) with difficult reference questions. We have adopted the wombat as our mascot. The following, from the Project-Wombat page explains why:
What’s up with the name “Project Wombat”?
Project Wombat was created to take over from the now defunct Stumpers discussion list. In May of 1994, several messages about wombats got caught in an endless mail-delivery loop and were sent repeatedly to subscribers. The word wombat became a joke, then a mascot, and finally a term for subscribers to the list. So when it was time to change the name of the mailing list, and we were going to be hosted by Project Gutenberg, there was an obvious choice…
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Adam, that was a really good view of Melbourne zoo, I am so lucky to have had to spend time with you and the roos during your first weeks on my work experience, good luck with the rest of your time there!
November 8th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Hey Adam,
Glad to hear that things are going so well for you there. Look forward to hearing more. I met your counterpart the other day as he boarded a bus for a tour here at the Zoo. He seems to be enjoying his time here as much as you are enjoying your time there. Take care.