career zookeepers sound off, great job or not?

T

Tropikal

Active Member
after 20 years in the zoo industry I am terribly curious how you have fared in your employment situation?

I have found employment situations vary radically from institutions to institution.

Some zoos have massive turnover and terrible conditions while others have near zero turnover and are wonderful places to work.

I don't know if there is any career out there with such a radical variance of employment situation.

thanks for reading and I look forward to your input.
 
yes, i have noticed....lol

perhaps this more of a zoo fan forum rather than a zoo professionals forum, if such is the case that is wonderful however I simply cannot find a forum where zoo professionals will give their heart felt opinions in reference to the state of the industry.

there was once a aazk forum but it seems to have dissipated.

The industry seems overrun with politics and corruption and that should make an interesting point of discussion, shame that perhaps there is nowhere where such problems may be discussed and confronted.
 
And some facilities don't like their staff contributing to forums like this.

:p

Hix
 
There *are* zoo professionals on this site, but they largely stay low-key.

They certainly would not risk their employment situation by discussing it with someone who has not posted a single thing until now in the four years they have been a member, and is thus an unknown quantity :p let alone discussing how "the industry seems overrun with politics and corruption"
 
I'll throw in my two cents worth: I came to zookeeping late in life but still managed to put in 26+ years. It was a great career in a great institution. As with any employer/employee relationship there were those who did not feel the same way. It's been my experience that you get out of this career what you put into it. If you give it your best effort, approach things with an open mind and a willingness to learn, then you have a greater chance of having a good experience.
 
very entertaining, sounds like my point is very well put.

people who stay low key and avoid controversial topics do so for good reasons in my experience.

ask for the single serious response I have received on this site I thank you for your effort.

"Rookeyper" did you only work for a single institution in your career and did you ever work with elephants or in a show situation?

were you employed in a union or were you in a "rite to work state"

thanks for your time and I look forward to your response.

what a shame that some institutions would retaliate toward zoo professionals who discuss their employment experience on the internet, its quite clear that people use pseudonyms and dont declare their place of work for fear of the consequences on this forum.

Do any of you know what happened to the AAZK forum??

in the series of zoos I have worked for I found the same "attitude" in the workplace that exists on this forum, no wonder the zookeeper profession is in the current situation that exists here.
 
I think the industry is in crisis. its such a terrible shame that these people cant or wont even express their opinion or experience here because of fear of losing their jobs.

I remember the aazk forum existed for some time and is now shut down because of all the complaints of corruption and politics. I'm surprised no one has produced a TV show about the zoo career.
 
Many employers now due to the growth in social media put into contracts what employees can and can not say on the internet. There are many cases in other industries where employees have lost their jobs due to what they have written on the internet. Most people are vary about what they can say so don't take the risk.
 
Yes the above post is spot on. It is a society-wide problem. In the United States which alleges to be a bastion of free speech, people are fired for what they post as private individuals on their off time on social media sites. It is true in many professions, zoos just being one of them. After serving almost twelve years as a docent at my local zoo (and being highly esteemed by my fellow docents) I got in trouble over what I considered to be a very minor incident on a ZooChat post. I mean it was so trivial in my mind it is laughable but to the zoo it was the end of the world and I was essentially forced to resign over nothing.

Of course as far as work environments it will vary from institution to institution. This is only natural as the same is true of any industry - some companies are better than others. To fan the flame of politics, I do believe there are problems associated with the AZA that non-AZA facilities do not face.
 
Arizona Docent said:
I got in trouble over what I considered to be a very minor incident on a ZooChat post. I mean it was so trivial in my mind it is laughable but to the zoo it was the end of the world and I was essentially forced to resign over nothing.
Click to expand...

I sympathise. Zoos have always displayed a deal of paranoia over the release of information. It goes way back before the days of the Internet and Social Media, but its arrival has no doubt compounded the problem and they must in some respects curse its invention, though of course it has its good side for them too, in respect of advertising themselves.
 
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