Keeper inside Musk Ox exhibit

I\'ve found that picture in the 1981 guidebook and was wondering to see a keeper inside the musk oxen exhibit together with the animals, females with calfs....Its unbelivable to see that....

Last Year, a female keeper was killed by a musk ox in the same park.

Musk Oxen are surprisingly feisty and are known to give even a Grizzly Bear pause for thought.These old photos give a fascinating perspective on the day-to-day nonchalance of keepers in the era before health-and-safety considerations came to determine husbandry protocols.We have all heard of the stories of keepers who couldn´t get a leopard into night quarters and who went in to shoo the cat in with a broom - that sort of thing.Sometimes you can get away with those tricks and sometimes you can´t , but they are never recommendable.I believe that within ten years´time we will be shocked to see old photos (2009 era) of keepers in with elephants - there is ALWAYS a risk in that.The confidence of today´s keepers will be seen as nonchalance in the near future.

Regarding Musk ox husbandry, can a keeper still go into the paddock with the Musk ox or is it protected contact nowdays ?

Keeper in Musk Ox exhibit

I'm sure I've seen an old photo [Catskill Game Farm?] of someone combing out the wool from a cooperative Musk Ox. There was a suggestion then that the stuff had commercial possibilities; can't remember if the idea was to shear them, or comb the wool ['quiviut?'] out as they moulted.
Always worth remembering that people get killed occasionally by horses, cows & dogs, & we don't [yet!] suggest protected contact for those species.

I'll bet the bull wasn't in that enclosure. I can remember being scared by the bull at Whipsnade when I was looking at a very young calf (in my memory it was about the same size as a border collie) - and there was a metal fence between us.

Alan

It certainly goes against common sense to expose oneself to unprotected contact with these animals. If combing is needed , the animals should be conditioned to come up alongside a suitably- designed fence.Anything else is just tempting fate and an accident is a matter of time.

I was always a bit concerned about getting to close to them when hiking across the Arctic in the north of Canada. There was nothing to hide behind if one decided he did not like you. The Inuit kids also used to harass them on bikes to get chased. The aim of the game was to see who could get a Musk Ox the closest to the back of their bike. It would have been a problem if we walked over a hill to find a Musk Ox some kids had just finished harassing.
We did get close enough for them to circle and surround the calves with all the adults facing us before they ran of.