Winter of our Discontent

One of the most constant questions that I get from zoo visitors is, “What do you all do with the animals during the winter?”  It’s a question that I can get so tired of answering that I have to remind myself that it really is a legitimate question, one that a lot of guests wonder about.  My zoo has a decent number of tropical animals, we don’t have any indoor exhibits, and we’re in a part of the country that can get pretty cold in the winter (not “Fargo” cold, but cold).  Even though we are open year round, not many guests come by in the dead of winter to see the animals.  I suppose it’s easy for them to suppose that we crate everyone up and ship them all down to Florida or someplace.  That WOULD be nice…

In truth, most of our animals handle the winter weather just fine.  Some, like bison and bears, don’t even seem to notice the cold (or if they do, it’s while thanking heaven that summer is over).  Others, like the reptiles, can’t stand the cold and have to be moved inside.  Most of the animals are in between these two extremes.  Some might be locked inside at night or in the worst of the weather, but most will be fine as long as they’ve got shelter.  “Shelter” means different things to different animals; for some it might be a block-building with a gas heater and heat lamps, for others it might be a wooden lean-to.  At any rate, all will be given lots of bedding, fed extra well, and be under the watchful eyes of the keepers, who will make sure that everyone is warm and safe, and adjust the animals’ care as needed.

A better question?  What do the KEEPERS do in the winter.  The answer: suffer.

I should have stayed a reptile keeper.  That’s what I remind myself every winter; every year, I feel a little less capable of handling the cold.  In the good old days, I could wear shorts year round – all I needed to do was make the thirty yard dash from the car to the 80 degree, tropical paradise in which I worked.  Now I have to wear so many winter clothes that the simple act of going to the bathroom is preceded by a fifteen-minute ceremony of removing four or five layers until I can even find my fly.  In comparison, the animals have it easy – even the ones who stay outside year round can just hunker down in a nest box or doze under the heat lamp.  We HAVE to be out and about…

It’s not just the cold, either – every aspect of the job in winter makes life harder.  Locks freeze; you have to squeeze them in your bare hands or breath in them or hold a lighter under them to melt the ice inside of them.  Water bowls freeze up (to be fair, in the summer this headache is replaced with algae), and the ice has to be chipped out, and then removed from the exhibit so that animals don’t cut their feet on it.  Poop is frozen to the ground.  Heavy snowfall can damage exhibit roofs.  Tools become brittle and break.  Heat lamps have to be tended to endlessly: is the bulb burning out?  Is it too close to something flammable (like, say, your bird’s right wing)?  Animals are pooping and peeing in their bedding more, which needs to get cleaned out more.

 

Of course, there are advantages to the winter as well.  Peace and quiet is nice; on those rare days when it’s cold enough to keep the crowds away but not too cold to work outside, a lot of projects can get done.  A lot of the animals seem to prefer the winter to the summer, being more comfortable in snow than heat.  This is obvious for a lot of the North American and Eurasian animals, but even a lot of the tropic species aren’t the wusses that guests seem to think they are.  This is especially true after a snow fall – it’s amazing to watch kangaroos, lions, and zebras playing in the white stuff.  Plus, snow has awesome enrichment opportunities – hide food in it, make snowmen for your animals to pounce on, stash some in the freezer to bring out in the summer… and it’s fun for keepers too!  Provided that it doesn’t come down in six foot increments and threaten to collapse every structure in the zoo…

See, he doesn't look TOO miserable!

So winter at the zoo isn’t ALL bad.  It can actually have it own charms, which are, of course, best appreciated from inside the break room, especially if your zoo is lucky enough to have a working coffee/hot-chocolate maker, and especially especially if someone was wise enough to bring in donuts that day.  As long as the animals are okay and no keepers lost fingers to frostbite, it’s all good.  Besides, spring (and the crowds… and mulching… and weeding… and all of those other jobs) will be there before you know it.

Happy first day of Winter!