Maybe I shoulda titled this one "My New Job" cause that's what it's about. Just got off working a 5 day 830-5 stretch and I think typing is about the only physical activity I can do right now without massive amounts of pain. Forget walking.... if you show me a shovel or rake I'd probably throw it at you (then break into bitty pieces and scatter all over the ground...)

I am a land sculptor.

I am a gardener.

I am a dietician..... or is that nutritionist?

I am an interior decorator.

I am an activities planner.

I am a chewtoy.

I am an enrichment producer.

I am a carpenter.

I am a janitor.

I am a mortician.

I am a caretaker.

I am an educational specialist.

I am a PR person *winning grin*

I am entertainment.

I am a construction worker.

And yes, I do, feel like my job, has thrown me straight into the Discovery Channel..... or Animal Planet. One of the two. Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls and even CHILDREN OF ALL AGES.....

I..... am....... an animal keeper.

Hey, I bust my ass out there too, yannow.

True, but what would people think if I said "we am an animal keeper?" They'd send my high school English teacher back after me.....

Well it is a joint effort

It is. That it is.

But something struck me my first few days out there.... and I know I'll have to deal with it often, already I got real good at explaining the answer.

Most people walk past the enclosures when I'm in there cleaning and I can hear them wondering just why these animals aren't returned to the wild where they belong (as all animals on premesis are native to the state). Well, after their uncanny ability to ignore the signs posted, I have to explain it to them. Yes, they should be in the wild. But check this out....

At this point I walk towards the golden eagle nearest to me (we have two *smile*) and he hops off his perch and runs across the sand, wings outspread to keep his balance......

Oh, wait. He only has one and a half wings. No way this bird could fly or even provide for himself. That's the way it is with all our animals. They have all somehow become dependant on humans for food, shelter, protection, the list goes on. But they could not function in the wild. Many of them are cripples. Hit by cars, destroyed by traps, still have scars from buckshot, attacked by domestic dogs. Some have been hand raised and became too much of a hassle (one of our bobcats is like that) or too expensive to keep. Many are orphans. Their parents killed by hunters who then try to somehow redeem themselves by rescuing the baby (our wild boar). Some are blind or have been ravaged by chemicals and other toxins humans have introduced to the environment (on eof our great horned owls got caught in an oil spill an dis on rehab for now, if he survives, he should be able to be released..... many animals that come in for rehab are). If you look at it that way, we're their last resort.

But it's nature's way! Survival of the fittest! They shouldn't live their lives out in cages! Hey, I don't like being caged either, I'll agree with you on that point....

What if some have neve rknown anything but? One of the raccoons we have is blind. He wouldn't have survived int he wild, true. But he's a perfectly happy and healthy animal, been blind since birth and if you didn't know it you would never be able to tell. We take him and his cagemate out for walks around the park. The visitors love it (and to be honest I do too *chuckles* I mean, how often do people walk around with raccoons?), they get exercise.... they also get to go play in the creek before going back into their cage. Not all that bad of a deal....

So just because it's unnatural for them to live in captivity we should just let them die as they would have in the wild? Lemme ask you something.... would you have ever seen one less than three feet away from you (with the bears, it's ten plus moat *chuckle*) if we didn't have them here? Don't just skim through and pity these animals. Every single one of them is happy, well taken care of, fit, have their cages cleaned every day (sometimes twice), are fed daily, given clean water daily whether their ponds need to be cleaned or not..... they are given things to play with, activities to enrich their day. Stop and observe. See that paper bag in the corner? It ain't trash dumped in by some litterbug visitor..... look around for some other bags. Are they of different sizes? Maybe they were part of a puzzle feeder in which the animal had to figure out how to get the treat. Is the bag by itself? Slimy looking on one side? Maybe it had jam spread on it and was rolled up to give our bears a little mental workout to get the jam out've there.

We spoil our animals. These guys live in the lap of luxury. One of the mule deer we have, timid little girl, got these beautiful big brown expressive eyes..... I think I spent 45 minutes kneeling next to her and scritching off whta was left of her winter coat (yep, with two weeks left, she finally gets her summer coat in). I had a pile of fur well over an inch thick on the ground around me. Yep, I had to rake it all up too. But man she was happy after that, all sleek and pretty and cool. And when she came back around, I fed her and the other three animal crackers.

Just yesterday our year old raccoon spent a good half hour sitting in my lap while I scratched his belly and back, rubbed his chin, fed him grapes. Oh the poor thing..... I think I got told 8 times during that half hour - by the people that stopped and observed - how much I must love my job. Damn straight I do.