KEY POINTS:
I always wanted to work with either animals or children. When I left school I became a Karitane nurse because I was too young to be a zookeeper, and after a year I enrolled in an animal technology night course at ATI (now AUT). My lecturer, Graham Meadows, was curator of Auckland Zoo - that was my in. I was offered a job and I've been at the zoo for the past 25 years, give or take two to have my daughter Claire.
Why do the baboons have big swollen bottoms?
That's the most common question I'm asked at the zoo, where I've been a senior keeper specialising in primates for 10 years. If it's a woman asking, and I explain that this is what a female baboon looks like, often the woman's partner will say: Thank God you're not a baboon!
I've seen massive change in my years at the zoo. Today, Auckland Zoo is really at the forefront of the industry in regard to conservation, both of animals and the environment. We're working hard to walk the talk over issues like recycling and power and water consumption we've got a way to go, but its great to see.
One of the toughest days I've had was when we had to make the hard call to euthanase the very badly injured baby gibbon, Iberani. Her mum, Iuri, rejected both her twin babies; she had a 2-year-old at the time, and this was her sixth pregnancy. Iberani had a severe bite wound from her mother that paralysed her leg.
Her twin, Iwani, was also injured, but I hand-reared him for a year. It's something we rarely do because we believe animals should be raised naturally by their parents, but in this case we needed to give nature a hand. The day we reintroduced Iwani back to his mum and dad was one of the best (but most tearful) I've ever had.
Does winding your watch and making a coffee count as exercise? My job is very physical so I have a workout every day; walking, cleaning, lifting and plenty of jobs that require upper-body strength. I don't need a gym, though some people might say otherwise.
The word chocolate always gets my attention. I always make room for dessert. In fact, I read the dessert menu before the mains.
Indra, the female orang-utan, and I have known each other more than 20 years. She was partly hand-raised, so she's very people-oriented and curious. We have a mutual respect for each other. She knows I know when she is being naughty, whereas she'll really push the limits with some other keepers. I know her tricks, like trying to poke you with a stick, or playing peekaboo. She'll always come up to the enclosure window if she sees me, and often put her hand up to my hand.
Getting divorced when my daughter was just 2 was pretty tough. On the upside, I did have the support of my ex-partner in bringing her up. To me, it's not what happened, it's how I dealt with what happened, that has enabled me to get on, and life's pretty good.
My daughter Claire and I are besotted with our two cats, Ava and Sylvester. Sylvester is an ex-zoo cat, a very laidback affectionate moggy, considering his wild past. He was found motherless at the zoo 10 years ago, and I took him home. Ava is Claire's expensive purchase; she's a long-haired birman, the only cat we've ever paid money for.
I was attacked by a winch one day, when I was using it to try and open a slide door within the orang-utan enclosure. I miscalculated and got my hand caught, and fractured a finger. Not cause for hospitalisation, but a trip to A & E, followed by surgery, and six weeks off work. Now I've got a bent finger that points around corners.
Christmas Day is wonderful especially if I'm rostered to work. Because the zoo is closed (the only day of the year we close), there are minimum keepers, and the atmosphere is really special and peaceful. We make up little special food parcels for the primates, wrapped in Christmas paper, and like little kids, they love it. Though unlike little kids they like the content more than the wrapping.
- Interview by Claire Harvey for Canvas
