Red River Zoo Preparing Kids and Teens for a Future in Animal Science

From grooming the horses to feeding the wolves, the Red River Zoo is preparing kids for a future in animal science.
 
The Junior Zookeeper Leadership program is giving kids and teens 11-17 years old a chance to help take care of the animals.

One task as a Junior Zoopeeker is to make enrichment activities for the animals, like making a paper mache deer filled with wolf treats.

“Enrichment is all the things we do to keep out animals mentally and physically active. We want the animals here at the zoo to display a lot of their natural behaviors and engaging those natural behaviors just like they would in the wild,” Red River Zoo Education Director Erica Prokrym says.
 
With things like meal prep for the bunnies, they’re helping do the tasks of a real zookeeper.
 
“Even when it’s raining, we still have to feed them cause rain or shine, they still need to be taken care of. This is one of my favorite tasks, preparing the food for them,” Junior Zookeeper Chase Schmidt says while feeding the bunnies.
 
And even though the work may include a little cleanup, coordinators say they do whatever it takes to make the zoo ready for visitors.
 
“The bread and butter of our program here is sweeping up the poop in the petting paddock here because we don’t want people coming in and stepping in a lot of, you know, fecal matter,” Junior Zookeeper Coordinator Jared Saunders says.
 
The Juniors say it’s more than just a fun way to spend their summer.

They say this program will help them pursue future careers in animal science.
 
“It’s actually really fun, it’s a fun way to get out of the house and be in nature, I want to work at a zoo,” Junior Zookeeper Lily Huber says.
 
“It’s helping me be a little more responsible and mature,” Schmidt says.
 
“Often times when they get to the end of the program, they often like to get part time jobs here at the zoo, and since they already know the staff, we already know them, that makes it a very smooth transition process,” Prokrym says.
 
With all the clean-up, meal prep and petting time, these kids are getting prepared for a future with animals.

To find out how you can sign up for the program, visit http://redriverzoo.org/junior-zookeeper/

The zoo is also having a Zoo Brew on July 28th starting at 7:00pm.