Operation: Power Outage

I had a really nice start to my day. My father and his girlfriend came to visit me and the zoo. Even though letting me pursue this internship was a tough call for my family, my father could see why this opportunity was one not to turn down. After showing them how awesome of a place this zoo is, they left. :( I then went back to work in the Jungle like I would have any other day. The rest of the day went as smooth as it always is. I did more cleaning for the messy gibbon family, make new enrichment for other animals, and do some diet preparations like cutting up fish. The fish scent tends to stay with me until I take a shower. I would not recommend keeping the fish scent as your choice of perfume! After my afternoon shift was over, I asked if I could stick around and see what else there is new to learn in by helping out the closing keeper, Kyle, what it is like to close the zoo.

Shortly after we started closing down, the power went out. Since we were underground, it was VERY dark. Not a crack of light was to be seen anywhere. Luckily, Kyle had his flashlight. This was pretty useful for this situation. After struggling to find each other, we eventually do and our plans for a normal closing night is now skewed to solve a power outage problem. Kyle ordered me to check the DO levels (dissolved oxygen) first since the power stopped circulating the water flow. Since there was no water flow, this threw off the DO levels and could kill off some animals living there. Luckily, the levels were not affected too much.

The next thing on the list to make sure was getting back in order was by  check the water falls. Other than their their beauty to add to the jungle theme, the waterfalls are important because it helps prevent primates from going to other parts of the jungle. Most primates do not like water and try to avoid it. Since the waterfalls were turned off, this could create a problem that would allow the primates to go where they shouldn't. Luckily, none of the primates did not go where they should not have.

After taking care of that, we had to make sure all of the heat lamps would turn back on. A lot of the reptiles and amphibians need the heat lamps since living in a jungle is not our normal room temperature.

While I am trying to move as quickly as I can and hoping that the power comes back, the animals were stressed since complete silence is not normally in their habitat. They knew something was up. We lastly tried to get all of the animals back in their back holdings. This was hard since losing power and created an unusual environment stressed them out. All of the animals were very vocal at this point. However, with enough patience, compensation of treats and friendliness, all of the animals were safely put back in their back holdings.

All in all, it was a very long evening after a long day earlier to get all of this done. However, instead of just learning how to close down the Jungle, I got to learn how to follow through a procedure in case if there was a power outage!