I'm sure there have to be good coworkers as well! 
Life after zookeeping...
- Thread starter John1981
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Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
I'm sure there have to be good coworkers as well!
Of course there are, and thankfully in most cases these are the majority of cases in terms of workplaces.
In many institutions where there is good management practice there will be a strong camaraderie so dont let the horror stories put you off getting into this field of conservation as a career. But even so be extremely mindful of what can go wrong in the dynamics of these kind of work places and the prevalence / pervasiveness of it in the conservation / scientific world. It is rife and many of the most prestigious and famous institutions which you wouldn't automatically assume had problems are actually hotbeds of toxicity and plagued by these kind of dynamics.
Above all trust your intuition and "vibes" about a place and do not in any circumstances take any **** from anyone. Just putting your head down and permitting yourself to be treated in an abusive way without fighting back just sets a precedent for this kind of conduct to continue (and it will keep crippling the field unless it is consistently challenged) which helps no one.
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That's good to hear. I was starting to get nervous hearing all these horror stories that everyone seemed to encounter. I'd ideally like to be on some sort of primate care team (unless I end up doing my own educational outreach business) but I understand that you have to take what you can get when you first start off. Are there any general assumptions that could be made about a primate care team (or any kind of species-specific care team in a zoo) that can be made?
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
I'll have to defer your question to someone else who has actually worked with primates in a US institution as I haven't and actually am pretty new and sporadic to primates in general.
In terms of general assumptions with primates in captivity (Although could basically apply to most mammals though) lots of zootechnic work on diet and nutrition (and this is only going to get more important with all of the studies that have been conducted in regards to microbiomes and gastroenterology) , cleaning , cleaning and more cleaning , constant environmental enrichment in enclosures.
Observation skills very much needed for recognizing each individual animal and its character and the signs / cues of onset of breeding , stress, illnesses , pregnancies, and changing social dynamics of groups which may require separation of individuals.
Basically registering quickly anomalies from baseline of what typically is normal within specific captive environment and group. This is a skill that takes quite some time to pick up and practice.
Thanks, but I didn't mean the primates themselves, haha. I meant the people on the care team for the primates. I wanted to know if there are any common trends among primate keepers (if they tend to be snobbish, tend to put down their coworkers, are very kind and open, etc.)
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
I see , well it can be very hard to draw any inferences or generalization from a keeper or zoo keeping position based on the animals / taxa they work with. A better means of gauging this is in a case by case basis according to each institution and what model of organizational culture is used. However, even then you will find people who dont fit neatly into categories so it is best not to generalize.
I think that it depends on the country / culture where the institution is located. In the Western / Northern hemisphere in highly industrialised or "first world" countries of Europe and North America there is typically much more of an emphasis placed on competition due to more advanced economies , colder interpersonal interaction due to more reserved cultures and few to no cultural mechanisms to diffuse the problem.
It is that region where I have observed these problems to be occuring to a greater extent and where they are most visible , embedded and normalized.
Update: It’s been nearly a year and a half since my original post. I appreciate all the discussion. I’m still on my same job...and would say that I’m open to a career change than I was previously. The talk of toxic work environments and poor middle management has never been more spot on. Nothing has changed...I’ve done what I can to counter this environment...and what I have found is a profound and deep denial by the organization that this is a problem (and in fact it’s not THEIR problem, it’s the staffs’ problem). The culture of toxicity, blame, and downright disrespect continues and gets worse. You really do put up with a lot when you love your career, but one bad employer can really just make you realize it’s no longer worth it. It’s taken a long time and lot of internal conflict, but I think finding something new the only viable option for my mental and physical health. Zookeeping, up until recent years, has been highly rewarding...but when you are mistreated, exploited, and work in a culture of abuse...it’s no longer worth it. At some point taking care of yourself Becomes more important than staying to care for the animals. I know I am not the only one...the turn over rate does nothing but increase with valuable employees leaving for other zoos or new careers entirely. So I guess...another one bites the dust. And yes...I do think eventually they might recognize the problem, but by then the organization will have imploded beyond repair.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
I'm really sorry to hear about this John, really I am.
I think that from what you have described this is a workplace with an organizational culture where mobbing and interpersonal toxicity is rife and has become an established norm.
I don't think it is likely to change and the HR department and union are probably utterly useless with dealing with the situation too I imagine.
They say that the best thing to do ultimately when it comes to stopping mobbing is to leave the organization and look for work elsewhere and I think you are absolutely right to do this at this present time and perhaps put working within zoos on hold for sometime.
That said, I do not encourage you or anyone else to give up your / their longterm goals within this field due to having been the target of mobbing so I strongly suggest you do not do that or allow yourself to be forced out of this career and derailed by those people.
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I once wanted to be a zoo keeper and regret focusing on an art career instead. Now I have no regrets since a majority of you opened my eyes to how underpaid keepers are and the toxic environment of the zoo workplace.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Well I'm glad that you have been exposed to the reality but it is by no means always the situation with work in zoos, NGO's etc.
Please don't have the impression that it applies to every zoo because that is not the case but it can happen when there are deeper problems with an organizational culture that are not being addressed.
I should say when I was commenting I was actually mainly talking about toxic organization cultures in the academic workplace / study place relating to biology / conservation.
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