Well I dug this old thread up to show someone about the Teaching Zoo. And while I'm at it I'll post my thoughts on the program now that I've graduated back in August 2005 (wow has it been that long, and look I'm still in school
). Oh and BTW I'm Drax, just a new screen name.
So let me expound what I said earlier. The program is 5 semesters long, you HAVE to be in the program 5 consecutive semesters, that means including Summer! The first semester is where the staff will start weeding out those who think that working is a zoo is about cuddling cute fluffy animals. WAKE UP!! It's not! You're going to be put to work for your first semester without any contact with the animals just to see how dedicated you are. This is called your "basic" year. For my class we had about 30% drop out by the time first semester was over. Semesters 2-5 are when you work in an area of the zoo for 3 months, three days out of the week cleaning and feeding your assigned animals. Every week you switch animals to work with a new group in that area. You will get dirty, you will learn to pick up feces with your bare hands (well maybe not primate feces, but others types are very interesting), and you will get on your hands and knees to scrub branches and other enclosure furnishings. You work either Mon, Tues, Wed or Wed, Thurs, Fri at the zoo from 8am to 12pm (or 11am I can't remember), then you typically go to one of the zoo classes explained below. Then you come back at 3 for an hour to feed evening meals and finish up any loose ends. SO when you're at the zoo on your assigned half of the week (Mon - Wed, or Wed - Fri) expect to be at the zoo from 8am to 4:30 or 5pm. Plus you have to do a set number of weekend days from 8am to 4pm for each semester. And for the breaks between semesters, people have to cover that time as well (yes even Christmas and Spring Break). You won't do the whole break, they split it up to have enough people to cover each area then a few extra to make sure so everyone works 3-5 days depending on the length of the break. You will prepare diets, including handling raw meat, and rodents (which really shouldn't bother anyone here), even stuffing raw meat inside rodents! Yum!! You will also get time to observer your animals and make "enrichments" for them. Enrichments are activities that you give them designed to stimulate them and break the monotony of captive life. My favorite was giving a carved pumpkin filled with food to a pair of lemurs.
But be advised YOU CANNOT PET OR TOUCH THE ANIMALS!!!
A lot of zoos have hands off policies, but there are some that let you have free contact (i.e. - touch and play) with them. The Zoo Program wants you to not develop a bad habit of petting your assigned animals then going to a zoo that has a hands off policy.
Aside from working in the zoo you will take classes that the zoo staff teaches plus classes to finish an Associates of Science degree. There's a class on mammology, herpetology, avian bio, and "aqua culture" (which is pretty much marine mammals and a bit about water quality) as they apply to zoos and captive situations. You'll also learn about nutrition, animal breeding, enclosure design and maintenance, among other topics I can't think of right now. As I said before you get an Associates degree, so you have to be aware the zoo classes aren't geared to teach you EVERYTHING, just give you an overview and then some. Now be advised that all the classes the zoo offers (see the web page, those beginning with PAZXXXX) WILL NOT TRANSFER TO OTHER COLLEGES, except Friends, Oswego, and University of West FL. And for those I think they only give partial credit. The other classes you take to finish the AS degree (English, Maths, Bio, Speech, etc - typical gen ed classes) will transfer normally. The program is designed to integrate you directly into a job in a zoo. Now granted most zoos require a 4 year degree now, so it's very difficult to get a job in a zoo with only the Teaching Zoo degree. Alot of my class mates (and those graduating a class ahead of me) didn't have a 4 year degree so it was very tough for them to find jobs. Now since you actually work in the zoo for 1.5 years (1500 hours), even though you don't get paid, most zoos consider you to have paid experience. Don't count on this though, a lot of my friends looked for zoo jobs for a year or more after graduating. Eventually most found jobs, but some like me decided it's better to get a bachelor's out of the way first and then seek a job. But the decision to get a BS was the hardest one of my life. I was ready to drop what I was doing and get a job in a zoo. I knew though if I started working in a zoo I would never want to go back and get a BS degree.
Ok so now you may be asking what's the perks to working/learning here?
Well since you are at the zoo pretty much 8-5 every day for a year and a half you get to know your fellow classmates very very well. Think of them as co-workers and classmates and close friends all in one. Plus if you keep in contact with them and they get jobs in zoos, that means behind the scenes tours!!
Not everyone can get nose to nose with a black rhino, or a 600 pound Siberian tiger, or have a keeper say "Here hold this black headed python." The classes staff teach are far and away the most memorable and enjoyable classes I have had in my entire education! The director Jack Brown teaches almost all of them and he's won Professor of the Year for the entire state of FL a few years ago. He does great animal impersonations and his classes are very interactive! I went from being a student who barely applied himself to classes, skimmed by with a C, to being a student that looked forward to getting up at 7am driving half an hour to class and striving to make As and Bs in my classes. And then there's the animals. People always ask me which was my favorite to work with. For almost all of them it's very hard to decide (except the birds, I could do without them), it's like asking which of your kids is your favorite. I'll have to post some pics sometime... Doing enrichments for your animals is always fun too. You get to design something you think the animal will enjoy and see what happens! But I think the best part about the zoo is the opportunity for behind the scenes tours. In your senior year at the zoo you will get a behind the scenes tour of Sea World, Disney's Animal Kingdom, and the St. Augustine Alligator Farm. Plus for the majority of zoos I've been to just mention you're a graduate of the program and they'll usually set up a tour for you (and let you in for free).
So in summary (I think I said everything I wanted to):
1) Realize that you're not going to be able to cuddle with the animals.
2) None of the zoo classes will transfer, so it may not be worth the time/money if you already have over a year paid experience in zoo.
3) Like Telefrag said, zoos don't pay very well, you have to be willing to work for well, peanuts. But for the most part you have
IMO one of the best jobs in the country.
4) I would suggest getting your 4 year degree out of the way first then go to the program so you're ready to go straight to a job in a zoo after you're done. Believe me it's a real drag to go from working at the zoo (even w/o pay) to being back in a class room for another 2 years.
5) If I had the choice to go through the program again I would in a heart beat.
Oh and one more thing that needs to be said. I know a lot of herpers tend to have piercings and tattoos. The zoo requires that you keep your tats covered up at all times when you're working in the zoo and have only one piercing on each ear lobe (yes lobe only). It's a real pain, but like I said before about petting the animals, they try to be conservative so that people don't expect that every zoo has the same policies. Not all will hire people with tons of piercings and tattoos. Not all let you pet and play with their animals. They want you to be a cut above everyone else so that you don't go to your new zoo job and make a fool of yourself. But for the most part from what I've learned the Teaching Zoo is overly critical and most zoos don't care as long as you look neat for your interview and look professional at work. But there are a fair number of zoos (Disney is a biggy) that will not hire people with visible tattoos or an exorbitant amount of piercings.
