Is it worse to include "sketchy" zoo experience on your resume when applying to AZA accredited zoos?

Including non-AZA zoos in your resume...

  • Makes it look worse

    Votes: 2 18.2%

  • All experience is good experience

    Votes: 9 81.8%
  • Total voters
    11
GorillaRadioShow

GorillaRadioShow

New Member
Just curious to ask for those who might have some idea regarding this. My first job experience in primate care was a zoo in rural North Carolina that was obviously not held to the standards of care that an AZA accredited zoo would have been. Is it impacting my resume to include that experience now that I have more recent, more reputable experience, or do I need all the experience I can get?
 
Depends on the facility. There are plenty of places that are reputable and frequently collaborate with AZA institutions: Alaska Zoo, Santa Ana Zoo, Duke Lemur Center, Sylvan Heights Bird Park, Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch, etc, all come to mind, plus more secretive breeding centers like White Oak and Rum Creek upon others. In general local nature centers and wildlife rehab facilities are are good to list as well.

I'm not familiar with this rural North Carolina facility you worked in so I can't give a definitive answer on what the right call is here. However, if you have to question if you should include it or not, that doesn't give me a lot of confidence. ;)
 
Did you learn things at the rural NC Zoo that you subsequently had to unlearn when you went to a more reputable facility? If not, then I would say include it on your resume. I'm assuming that you took the job at the non-AZA approved facility out of a desire to learn as much as possible and to provide the best possible care that you were capable of for those primates. If you say something to that effect in an interview, I can't imagine that an AZA-approved facility would judge you harshly for it.
 
Did you help improve the zoo? If not, you shouldn’t include it. If you did improve it but its not better than a zoo like animal adventures, you shouldn’t include it
 
pachyderm pro said:
Depends on the facility. There are plenty of places that are reputable and frequently collaborate with AZA institutions: Alaska Zoo, Santa Ana Zoo, Duke Lemur Center, Sylvan Heights Bird Park, Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch, etc, all come to mind, plus more secretive breeding centers like White Oak and Rum Creek upon others. In general local nature centers and wildlife rehab facilities are are good to list as well.

I'm not familiar with this rural North Carolina facility you worked in so I can't give a definitive answer on what the right call is here. However, if you have to question if you should include it or not, that doesn't give me a lot of confidence. ;)
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I've worked with the Duke Lemur Center a bit as well and this place was nowhere near their standards of care unfortunately. There's quite a lot of random "wildlife parks" and such across NC, and I don't want to name them specifically for fear that this thread will show up in a Google search, but it is well-loved locally and quite a popular spot that mostly takes in former exotic pets. Obviously their facilities are much better than these primates continuing to be pets, but there are quite a few aspects of the care that I disagreed with, even when I was working there as an inexperienced undergrad. I doubt they've accrued any kind of national reputation, but from a cursory glance it's pretty obvious that it wouldn't be in the DLC category of non-AZA facility.

Gretchen L said:
Did you learn things at the rural NC Zoo that you subsequently had to unlearn when you went to a more reputable facility? If not, then I would say include it on your resume. I'm assuming that you took the job at the non-AZA approved facility out of a desire to learn as much as possible and to provide the best possible care that you were capable of for those primates. If you say something to that effect in an interview, I can't imagine that an AZA-approved facility would judge you harshly for it.
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Yeah, my hope would be that I wouldn't be penalized for it. I essentially worked there during Covid out of a desire to get any kind of experience I could, which in fairness did lead to more reputable opportunities for me. Anything that I had to unlearn from the experience has already been unlearned, and all of my other problems with the zoo were problems that I had while working there that were pretty obviously wrong and stupid (which was part of why I stopped working there).

MOG2012 said:
Did you help improve the zoo? If not, you shouldn’t include it. If you did improve it but its not better than a zoo like animal adventures, you shouldn’t include it
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I would like to think I improved things slightly while I was there, but I don't know if I could reasonably point to improvements there. I tried writing up procedures for macaque bites/scratches/fluid exposures and printing out Herpes B medical and information cards for them, but to be honest I don't think they even believed me that Herpes B exists.
 
I've never worked in a zoo, but I know people who do/have. Generally, they've told me that AZA zoos don't really care the quality of the zoo you have animal care experience at, just that you've had it. Most AZA keepers started off working at non-AZA facilities, even roadside zoo on many occasions.
 
GorillaRadioShow said:
I've worked with the Duke Lemur Center a bit as well and this place was nowhere near their standards of care unfortunately. There's quite a lot of random "wildlife parks" and such across NC, and I don't want to name them specifically for fear that this thread will show up in a Google search, but it is well-loved locally and quite a popular spot that mostly takes in former exotic pets. Obviously their facilities are much better than these primates continuing to be pets, but there are quite a few aspects of the care that I disagreed with, even when I was working there as an inexperienced undergrad. I doubt they've accrued any kind of national reputation, but from a cursory glance it's pretty obvious that it wouldn't be in the DLC category of non-AZA facility.


Yeah, my hope would be that I wouldn't be penalized for it. I essentially worked there during Covid out of a desire to get any kind of experience I could, which in fairness did lead to more reputable opportunities for me. Anything that I had to unlearn from the experience has already been unlearned, and all of my other problems with the zoo were problems that I had while working there that were pretty obviously wrong and stupid (which was part of why I stopped working there).
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Sounds like you already had good instincts when it came to best practices. I don't think that it will hurt you to include it on your resume. Just my two cents... Good luck in your search!!
 
If you worked at the non AZA facility first, then would absolutely include it.
It would look "maybe" bad if you went the other way, but not necessarily so.
Unless it was some really wild place doing illegal stuff. OTOH if you left because it was sketchy that would probably be a plus.

Honesty rarely gets you in trouble
 
Not necessarily - Some zoos will specify that they are looking for ___ years of AZA facility experience, but if they don't, there's nothing wrong with including non-AZA zoos in your resume. There are lots of facilities with great animal husbandry and care that are simply not AZA-accredited. As long as it wasn't like a mall-zoo I think it's perfectly acceptable to include those skills and experience on your resume.

Getting a job at AZA zoos is difficult enough as it is, so any relevant animal experience you have helps you out. But if you have more reputable experience since that job you could leave it out if you are really doubting it.
 
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