I Got Giraffes, Take That Africa!

Working at the zoo in the winter is no fun. There are no people with lost kids, no stolen cars and no major injuries. The only thing to look forward to is spending time with the animal keepers. It's probably some breach of American zoo protocol but the keepers are pretty cool about letting you see the animals close up, as in not across twenty foot moats. It may not seem like much but believe me, when a tiger stares at you and starts growling because it can tell you're afraid, two inch solid steel bars are not enough to keep you from feeling like you just wet yourself. So, it was with great anticipation that I went to work at the zoo tonight. Armed with a brand new video camera, I had dreams of making Man vs Wild look like a trip to the grocery store. Then I got to the zoo. And remembered that it's a holiday. So there were no keepers. Still gayly optimistic, I started to check every single building within the zoo. With over a dozen the chance that one would be unlocked was pretty good. Well, after all was said and done, I only got into the rainforest. This isn't as cool as it sounds because the rainforest is basically a prison. If you don't actually work inside the building, you can only travel about ten feet in any direction if you are in an employee only area before you meet a locked door. These doors usually have signs posted, like: "Animal Containment Door, Keep Locked" or "Venemous Room, Keep Locked" or "If Orangutan Escapes, Lock Door".

I did find one door with a sign that should need no explanation:

Oddly enough, you wouldn't think a zoo employee would need to be reminded to wear eye protection around monkeys. Anyway, disgruntled because I only got into one building, I went to check up on the creatures who were out and or awake. Again, slim pickings. Five nosy harbor seals, one sea lion(that looked suspiciously high) and the giraffes. I don't know why but the giraffes are always awake. So I went visiting. And almost crapped my pants because there was one coked up giraffe that wouldn't stop running after it saw me. That wouldn't have been a big deal except for that the giraffes were inside. To be more specific, they were in two adjoining rooms that were only about 30' x 30' each and there was one giraffe that was lying on the floor directly in the path of the running giraffe. Yeah, it was a bad situation all around so I just took a video of a giraffe eating some dirt and left quickly.

All in all, a frustrating night but at least I got some excercise from checking all those buildings and I did see a high sea lion.