Laura's Internship at the Belize Zoo

Falconry Expert
Originally uploaded by Creation Care Study Program.

These past two weeks, I have had the opportunity to work at the Belize Zooa s an Animal Care intern. What an amazing experience it was! From learning all about falconry and getting to fly large birds of prey, to handfeeding the problem jaguars and preparing food for all of the zoo's inhabitants, the two weeks I interned at the zoo were jam packed with amazing learning experiences. Food preparation took up a majority of my mornings, and of course there was the necessary cleaning of enclosures to ensure a sanitary living environment for the animals of the zoo. While these were the least exciting goings on of my internship, the amazingly fun experiences of working hands on with the animals made up for any minorly icky jobs tenfold. I was given a lot of responsibility, and was even entrusted to feed a couple of the animals (including the HARPY EAGLE) by myself! I learned so much about the native animals of Belize during my internship, as well as zookeeping in general. Working at the Belize Zoo only reinforced my desire to work in a zoo upon graduation from Messiah College. Not only that, however, it showed that whatever zoo I decide to work in, I need to have lots of interaction with the zoo guests, and can't solely be a caretaker of animals. In short, interning at the Belize Zoo was the experience of all experiences and my only regret is that it couldn't be longer!

Laura Klinefelter
Messiah College