A Quiet Place

Space remains at an all-time premium at most zoos and aquariums.  It's needed for fitting in additional animals to help sustain breeding programs, off-exhibit holding space, and for expanding the habitats of animals already in the collection.  It remains one of the most valuable commodities and is seldom allowed to go to waste (and when it is, that's usually the result of their being a lack of funds to do anything with it yet).

It's something I've always been very conscientious of... which is why it feels slightly wrong to say this.

I hope that every zoo that can leaves aside a little corner somewhere - undeveloped - just for staff.  Even though most will never use it.

This job can be stressful and fast-paced... some of the time.  Other times, a day can crawl by like molasses in December.   There's stress from coworkers, from the animals, from visitors, and from the facility itself, sometimes seeping out like sap from a tree. 

There's usually a lot to do on a given day, and that means taking a break off-grounds isn't often possible.  Likewise, it can be very hard to unwind in the public spaces, walking among the animals, especially during a busy part of the year.  It's hard not to be hypervigilant with watching visitors, making sure everyone is behaving and being safe, and fielding questions.

A few years back, I stumbled across a few isolated corners of our zoo's campus which have been largely left alone for decades.  No one goes there with any regularity.  Not visitors, not staff.  The deer that I stumbled across bedding down there bolted wildly when I approached, as if they hadn't seen a human for generations.  It's definitely an exaggeration, but it felt like a lost world.  It only took a few minutes to get there from the heart of the zoo, and I was only a radio call away in the case I was needed.  Still, I was alone, and it was quiet, and peaceful.

No, this isn't it... I wish, though

Perhaps against my better judgement, I've told a few other coworkers about it, but none seem to show much interest in it.  My supervisor knows I go there sometimes, and I was given the sole instruction not to get myself hurt out there on the unmaintained grounds, lest the zoo be liable.  I doubt that there's any plans to develop these areas.  So, for the foreseeable future, I've got a little sanctuary in the (sort of) woods to retreat for some peace and quiet, if only for ten minutes a day.