Appreciating Chattanooga Zoo Employees
April 11, 2024
The Chattanooga Zoo is grateful to have each and every employee at our Zoo. These amazing individuals keep the Zoo running, keep our animals safe, happy and healthy, and help our visitors create lifelong memories as they connect with and experience species from across the world. There are many important jobs at the Zoo, and our keepers, maintenance team, veterinary technicians and volunteers are just a few of the vital people that care for guests, animals and the Zoo grounds. We want to share some details of what our amazing team does on a daily basis to highlight and recognize their important work. Keepers work closely with our animals to keep them healthy, happy, and enriched, our maintenance team keeps our Zoo grounds functional, safe, and beautiful for when you visit, the veterinary team ensures our animals are healthy, and Zoo volunteers work alongside various Zoo staff to interact with visitors, support educational programs, help with special events, and even provide some animal care and nutrition assistance around our Zoo.
Zoo keepers are what most people think of immediately when you imagine a job at the zoo, and for good reason. Keepers spend their days working hard to ensure our animals have happy, healthy lives and are receiving the highest standard of care. When a keeper arrives at the Zoo, they generally start their day by cleaning their animals' dens and feeding them breakfast. After checking on animals, enclosures, and nutrition, they begin to work on training animals and giving them enrichment objects and activities meant to stimulate and encourage their natural instincts. They also give their animals any medications they may need to keep them healthy, and continue to train them to be comfortable with medicine and checkups. Our keepers work with our animals in voluntary injections, voluntary nail trims, and voluntary weighing, to name a few necessary procedures. After these responsibilities are completed, the keeper repeats their process in the afternoon. They make sure to clean the animal exhibits before it is time to go home and they also feed the animals again and provide them with anything they may need overnight.
LeShea Cochu, who was recently promoted to the position of animal care supervisor, has been a keeper for 13 years and has been with the Chattanooga Zoo for 9 months. LeShea says that the most rewarding part of her job is knowing she is making a difference in the lives of animals every single day. LeShea also works to help educate the public on the importance of conservation, especially in terms of natural animal habitats in the wild, and helps people understand and connect with our animals. If your dream is to become a zoo keeper, LeShea recommends that you start volunteering at your local zoo so you can get a feel for what zoo work is like. Next, get a two or four-year degree in an animal science or biology-related field and begin internships in that field. Be prepared to work hard and, most importantly, always love your animals!
Our veterinarian team is another vital element in keeping our animals healthy and happy. Megan Ferrell, our staff veterinary tech, comes to Zoo grounds and analyzes what check-ups and/or procedures need to be completed. She will begin to fill medications, give injections, monitor animals, and set up equipment needed for the day. Megan also spends her time taking regular blood work of our animals to monitor their overall health and take note of any changes that may occur. She also works side by side with our keepers on animal training. Vet training includes voluntary injection training, voluntary blood work, and voluntary display of hands, feet, and any other body parts that may need inspection. Megan explains the most challenging, but also rewarding, part of her job is the type of exotic veterinary work she specializes in. There is not a lot of documented medical information on some types of animals, so she has to be creative in figuring out ways to medicate and best provide for the animals when treatment is necessary.
Megan spent two years in a veterinary technician program where she passed the Veterinary Technician National Exam (VTNE). After passing the exam, she began her Bachelor degree in Biology which also led to her clinical rotation with our very own Dr. Ashley, the Zoo’s full-time veterinarian, at Animal Clinic Inc. in downtown Chattanooga. During her clinical rotation, she made sure to specify she wanted to work with exotic animals. Now, she follows that passion alongside many other dedicated Zoo staff members who work to maintain the long-term health and happiness of all our animals.
Another incredibly important team, who often does not get the spotlight they deserve, is our maintenance department. This team is also vital to the health and safety of our animals, and they also work to make sure visitors have a safe and enjoyable experience. When they arrive at the Zoo, their first priority is to immediately tend to anything that could affect the safety and comfort of animals and guests. After any immediate needs are met, they begin to blow leaves away from paths, dispose of trash, clean viewing windows, and check exhibits and guest entryways to ensure everything is functioning properly. The team has learned to balance routine maintenance, like fixing lights and ponds, with special projects that need to be done, like building new exhibits. Anything that regards the physical state of the Zoo is the maintenance team's responsibility.
Typically, maintenance is all done on Zoo grounds by Zoo employees but, occasionally, our team works with outside contractors. Our director of maintenance, Chris Houser, is currently working alongside a team of private contractors to work on a very important long-term project, the expansion of the Zoo! The Cape of Africa expansion is underway and is set to open this summer! This entirely new Zoo section will hold servals, African Cape porcupines, warthogs, and a bigger giraffe yard for George, Porter and Hardee Star. Maintenance worked to design new exhibit structures, making sure each exhibit is suited for our new species. The maintenance department works very hard to help the Zoo grow, and works to keep our animals, staff, and guests safe and the grounds looking their best. Even the maintenance team, however, sometimes needs a little help from the community.
Volunteer opportunities are available all over the Zoo and include duties in animal care, guest experience, education, facilities, and other important roles and projects. Mary, a longtime volunteer of the Zoo, takes pride in the work that she has done here and that she chooses to make a difference for our animals and guests in her spare time. When she arrives at the Zoo, Mary goes wherever she is needed to assist the keepers. Mary typically works in our petting zoo with the goats, so she comes in and begins either spot cleaning or deep cleaning their pens. She replaces water and bedding for the animals and then moves to the public yard. A big part of her work involves the public. Mary takes care of the public yard in the petting zoo so that it’s clean for guests, and she will bring out brushes for children to brush the goats. She also spends her time advocating for goats and other animals by talking about them to the public. She knows the animals very well, so she can teach children and adults about goats and other species while also helping them interact with the animals in a fun and safe way. Mary’s favorite part of volunteering is the relationships she develops with animals, other Zoo volunteers, and Zoo staff.
Mary used our website, chattzoo.org, to apply to be a volunteer, and that is the best way for others to get involved. She encourages others to participate in this meaningful work whether they are animal lovers or just interested in making a difference somewhere in the community. (In Mary’s case, she preferred to volunteer at the Zoo instead of an animal shelter so she wouldn’t be tempted to adopt all of the animals!) Mary hopes that future volunteers understand that it can be hard work, but it’s extremely rewarding as you bond with animals, guests, keepers, and more.
Keepers, veterinary staff, volunteers, our maintenance team, and many others are vital to the day-to-day operations and ongoing success of our Zoo. It is extremely important we have top-tier animal care and that we pay close attention to every corner of our Zoo. We want to extend our appreciation to every single employee and volunteer here at the Chattanooga Zoo as we spotlight their important work.
Interested in working or volunteering at the Chattanooga Zoo? Visit our careers page to view open positions and sign up for job alerts, and check out our volunteer page for more information and to apply.