We got a Zoo

In West Fresno, many early morning staff members conduct their duties at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. With over 100 different animals living at the Zoo, staff and zookeepers often arrive as early as 4 a.m. But for elephant zookeeper Royce, the challenge of waking up early is something that doesn’t affect him.

“The fact of working with them, we take for granted where we walk into the barn every day and there’s an elephant five to ten feet away, and there’s that moment of realization just randomly throughout the day where you are like there’s an elephant right over there. It’s not a job that everyone gets to do. So being able to do it is an honor. It’s a privilege,” Royce said.

The role of each zookeeper is always changing as with animals. Nothing ever seems to go the way intended, whether it’s cleaning zoo pens or performing weekly checkups. Anything that an animal needs to live a comfortable life in Fresno is provided by the Chaffee Zoo staff.

“We have a lot of different jobs to do in a day,” says Micaela, a zookeeper who takes care of the sea lions. “So it’s anything from cleaning up, preparing their food, and then a big part of my day is also training our animals.”

Everything from maintenance to the very occasional playtime is in the daily work life for the many staff and crew members as they continue to work to better the lives of the animal residents that call the Fresno Chaffee Zoo home.