A Keeper's Day

I figured you would want to hear about being an Animal Keeper here at the mountain.  It's none too exciting and differs from day to day and shift to shift.  But here was today as a good example:

It was opening shift so keep that in mind...

This is Sitka, our female Eagle.

6:20 am - Snooze alarm
6:25 am - Snooze again (where is that sun?)
6:30 am - Get up, drink coffee out of the fridge, and eat a brownie
6:45 am - Read Ephesians 4
7:10 am - Get in Uniform
7:15 am - Drive up the mountain (I live right at the bottom)
7:30 am - Arrive, unlock the office, medicate and feed the cats, grab a radio and pepper spray
7:40 am - Weigh out sardines, smelt, and mice for otters and owls.
8:00 am - Clean otter dens, feed otters, (while other half of team does the same to cougars)
8:45 am - Measure out Bear food and feed bears (while other half feeds and cleans skunk pen)
10:00 am- SNACK TIME!  Yogurt for me with the granola that Tara and I got for free!  Down to 7 boxes friend!
10:10 am - Wash dishes and prep today's enrichments
10:50 am - Out in the habitat (rain or shine) to talk with guests and give scheduled enrichments
12:00 pm - LUNCH!
1:00 pm - One last enrichment before handing it off to the closing crew.
1:30 pm - Feed otters again
2:00 pm -Various (weed-whacking, cleaning pools, making enrichments-todays involved peanut butter, paper mache and meat filled lemonade in balloons.
3:30 pm - Outta there!!!!!
4:00pm - Sit on the internet (coffee shop or library) and blog about it.

If I closed, I would work enrichments in the afternoon. And do a closing protocol with deer, eagles, and cougars.  My hours would be 10:30am to 6:30pm.  I close about half of the time and open the other half.

And Kodie being lazy as usual.  I think he needs an Enrichment.

FOR THOSE WHO are like, "What is an enrichment?"  An enrichment is anything that breaks up the daily routine of a critter to keep it from getting bored in captivity.  It could be a food snack, a puzzle, a game/toy, or a scent.  Anything to get them up and active.  We give each exhibit two enrichments a day and we try not to repeat an enrichment for another month so that they don't get used to it and defeat the point.

Sound like a fun day?  Do I get to play with animals?  meh...a little.  But mostly it is feeding and cleaning.  Like taking care of furry babies.  haha.

On a side note:  If you are interested in the t-shirt I designed as a fundraiser, you can find it here at  http://carolineritchey.theworldrace.org/