Magic Wands and Crystal Ball Needed

February 4, 2012

  I seem to have a talent for ending up at zoos with unreasonable management. I have had great managers in the past when it comes to work, but the only zoo where I have seen talented management was at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park. While I am in a very different role here at Munda Wanga (1. I am a un- paid volunteer, 2. I am not technically employed by Munda Wanga but by Peace Corps, 3. I am more of a consultant than a zookeeper), but I still have to deal with our management on a daily basis. Our manager wants something for nothing all the time, when it comes to volunteers, employees, or the general public. He also doesn’t respect his employees; I especially see this with the keepers. The keepers here work so hard and would put many zookeepers to shame in the United States and yes while they haven’t had a formal education they still know their stuff when it comes to their jobs. Not to mention they are not just in charge of their animals, but all of their upkeep as well (cutting grass in the park, fixing fences, electrical work, you name it they do it) and they do it for very little pay, even by Zambian standards and have very little supplies to work with. When I was at Fresno Chaffee Zoo the other keepers and myself would joke around that we needed magic wands and crystal balls to be able to do our jobs, I didn’t know that I would also need those items here, especially since witchcraft and magic are against the law in Zambia. Pardon for my rant, but I hate to see good people getting taken advantage of and yes while I can leave at anytime they cannot and I want to make as much of a difference here as I possibly can. One of the reasons I am working on motivating the keepers is because I can do as much work as I can, but my work will end when I leave if the keepers don’t have the time or the energy to carry on. Employees who are never rewarded for going above and beyond have no incentive to do so and have even less of an incentive if no matter what they do, good or bad, they are going to be yelled at. I have been in that very situation, especially at Fresno Chaffee Zoo, and I know how it feels. This is a major part of my reasons for leaving the zoo industry. While I still believe that I was supposed to end up at Munda Wanga, and that yes it is going to be a better way of ending my zoo career than Fresno Chaffee Zoo would have been, I now know more than ever that I am done with working in this field and that when I am done with Peace Corps I will move onto a new career path.  Not am I just done physically (with my back injury I doubt I could be a fulltime keeper again), but I am also mentally done with it. I am truly hoping that I can make a positive change here, not just for the animals but for the staff as well. Anyway I will close for today! Love and miss everyone at home, Tammy