📖 Reading: I Live in a Zoo
Read the following real-life story about Lucy Hawley, who works and lives in London Zoo.
I live with seven zookeepers in a cabin in London Zoo. We take care of the zoo animals day and night. In my house, animals were an important part of our family. We loved them all: two cats, two dogs, two rabbits, a hamster, a turtle and a cockatoo, so it is normal for me to live surrounded by animals.
I graduated as a marine biologist and always wanted to work at London Zoo. This job requires a lot of responsibility, and at the beginning I was very scared. During the night, I heard a lot of noises and didn’t sleep for a month.
Now, the zoo is my home. I get up at 6 every morning when some animals start singing, roaring and growling. We take turns to feed our baby sloth and our baby anteater, now that they are sick and live in our cabin.
The best time is sunset, when the zoo gates close. I like to walk around and check on all the animals: Bhanu the big lion, the lemurs, the monkeys and chimpanzees. A keeper will say they don’t have a favorite animal, but it’s a lie. My favorite animals are the emperor tamarins, they are small monkeys, and I stay and play with them for a long time.
Three times a week I work overnight. During these nights, it’s impossible to sleep. I receive phone calls from people who find injured animals and refer them to RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). Many times we receive calls from people who find a snake in their house, trains or buses.
In normal times I can invite some friends to stay the night in the zoo, but they can’t wander off. The zoo is near central London, so on my days off, I can go out to my house with my family or they come to the zoo.
Coronavirus changed many things. The zoo closed on 21 March. Now it’s open again, but with strict regulations. We take more precautions with the animals and also us, the zookeepers. I hope that with time everything comes back to normal, since our animals also miss the attention from the public and especially from the children. At London Zoo people can pet and feed most of the animals, and now it’s not possible. We need to protect our animals.
London Zoo is probably very far from your house, but go to your local zoo. Animals need human visitors.
