I like animals. I always have, and I've worked with a lot of them. Frankly, I'm a little surprised I haven't lost a finger, hand, limb, my life yet. Well, not really that surprised, I'm very careful.
But I've been really close to a lot of animals that people usually don't get that close to. The above picture, for instance, is me about 8 or so feet from a male black bear. I've been much much closer.
But as of yet, I've never been bit or intentionally scratched or clawed at by anything I have pet or been very close to. Though, in this pic, the capybara is attempting to chew on my shirt. It's a giant rodent and I had been cutting up food for the last 2 hours, what do you expect.
I have gotten unintentional scratches, but if you hold something that doesn't get a regular mani/pedi, you're gonna get a scratch.
Does it look like I'm really close to the giraffe in this pic? That's because I really really am. But I'm not an idiot. I loved my job.
I really loved my job. This guy is twice my height. He's awesome.
This was my favorite animal in all the zoo last summer, followed very closely by the giraffe from a few pics up. He's such a neat boy.
And yes, I really am standing that close to a rhino. It was pretty much awesome. When you're shoveling poop most of the day, it's nice to get the occasional awesome perks.
Yep, that is my hand, feeding a grape to a lemur.
Nope, there's no glass or fence here.
Here either. Awesome huh? I miss animals. I miss working in the zoo. I miss brown bear lips reaching for dried berries, scratching tiger butts through fences, getting licked by a cheetah, petting a leopard and treating it meat. I miss tigers playing in the water of a hose, watching the bears scowl at us for giving them coconuts (which are harder to get into than you may think). Hell, I miss having a pet. I want a zoo job, I want my PhD, I want a lot of things. Mostly, I want to be back with my animals, or new ones. Oh kids, you guys were so great. Thanks for not killing me. And to me, thanks for not being an idiot.
