This Zookeeper Week, we spent time behind the scenes with Dana, a dedicated keeper at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. Dana cares for the amazing animals in the Kids’ Zone. We asked her to share what inspired her to become a zookeeper and what working with wildlife means to her.

How long have you been a zookeeper or aquarist?

I’ve been a keeper on and off since 2012, and my background includes many facets of animal care. I have been in the zoo field for 15 years, first as an educator working with animal ambassadors and volunteering at a wildlife center. I have also been a bird, reptile, small mammal, and carnivore keeper at multiple facilities. If I combine all my years, I have worked with over 200 species of animals!

What do you wish more people knew about the species you care for?

I have the wonderful opportunity to work with so many different species of animals in the Kids’ Zone, but I feel like our reptiles and invertebrates aren’t as well-loved as some of our more furry animals in our area. I wish people could see how special our invertebrates and reptiles are. They all have such personalities and amazing adaptations that make them all so unique. Luckily, I also get the chance to talk specifically about these things daily during Close Encounters. If I can make one person think a snake is cute or a cockroach is cool, it makes me feel like I really did my job.

Can you share a moment when you really connected with an animal?

I have gotten to work with so many different species, and all of them hold a special place in my heart. But one animal I think about pretty much every day is a kookaburra I worked with for almost 7 years, providing presentations for guests. She was always excited to see me and would spend our first five minutes together trilling straight into my face to tell me hello. Her personality was huge, and she really challenged my training abilities and my skills at reading animal body language.

What inspired you to become a keeper?

I’ve always enjoyed spending time around animals, even from a young age. I grew up lucky enough to live in San Diego and spend my weekends at the zoo with my family, and it was almost serendipitous that I became a keeper. Although I’m an introvert at heart, when I talk about animals, I love to share my knowledge with both willing and unsuspecting listeners. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when I grew up, and a zoology class in my sophomore year of high school made me realize that I could use my animal trivia knowledge toward a career. Once I realized that, I never really looked back. And even though my career hasn’t been one straight path, it has gotten me to my end goal of becoming a keeper!

What’s one of your funniest or most memorable animal moments?

I got to help with a physical exam of an African lungfish a few years ago. Not much is known about them, and the vets were trying to figure out how to intubate the lungfish to make sure it could breathe. One cool thing about examining fish is providing a tube of running water over the gills to offer oxygen when they aren’t in the water during the exam. But lungfish have both lungs and gills, so the vets were trying to look at its trachea to see where the tube should go. While they were looking, the lungfish took a deep breath and pushed the air over its gills, making a very loud farting sound. There were at least seven people, all professionals, in the room who all burst up laughing at the fart joke the lungfish made.

Do you have a favorite animal to work with, and why?

This is always such a difficult question for me because picking one species of animal is too hard. Plus, animal personalities weigh so heavily on who is interesting to work with. But if I had to choose, I am always the cheerleader for reptiles. They are such an under-appreciated species and come with a lot of stigmas. They are portrayed in the media as something to avoid, harbor bad luck, or be scared of.  I love to help people understand that reptiles are an important part of the ecosystem and can coexist with us easily. I have had people apologize to me when I tell them I work with reptiles like they feel sorry for me! I usually tell a fun story about reptiles I’ve worked with, and while not everyone ends up understanding my love and passion for them, I always feel like they end a conversation with me more educated about the reptiles they share their space with. But if we’re being totally honest, I would work with any species of animal at any time because all animals are interesting in their own ways!