| A day in a local life |
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| Wednesday, 03 September 2008 | |
 Gerry Creighton Junior (40) followed in his father’s footsteps when he started work in Dublin Zoo at just 16 years of age. The Finglas local now holds the post as team leader at the Animal Care Department of the zoo.“There’s not a single day that I wake up and don’t look forward to going to work. I really have a dream job. I head into work for 7.30am even though I don’t officially start until later. I check the animals first to make sure they’re all standing and everyone is alright. I’m responsible for the large cats such as the jaguars and tigers as well as the gorillas and elephants. I spend a lot of time with the carnivores – they’re my favourite animals, I love how majestic and powerful they are. We don’t share a space with the elephants so we do all our checks through a protected contact wall where the elephants are trained to present their ears and feet through ports in the wall so that they can be inspected from the outside. “We have five elephants - four females and one young bull. We power-wash each of them every morning to exfoliate their skin and then they get a pedicure. People may not realise it but the elephants have quite an elaborate day where they have to search for food just like they would if they were in the wild. Elephants eat for 70 to 80 per cent of their day. It’s important that they work for their food so we hide it under barks of trees and in pipes for example. After all the checks are completed, I’ll probably give my two-year-old daughter Mia a call. She makes sure I call to let her know how all the animals are doing every morning. She’s obsessed with the animals. She can even identify all the elephants by name and knows the difference between a rhinoceros and a hippo. After that I’ll write up my report and meet with our vet. We have any list of things that need doing from vaccinations to ultrasounds so we’re kept busy. I’ll spend the rest of the evening filling out rosters and working on exhibits. I also meet with the public a couple of times a day for question and answer sessions. I’m incredibly lucky that there is so much variation in my day, not one day is like another. I’m home by around 5pm. My partner Leona is really supportive as on more than one occasion I’ve had to bring work home, literally. A baby chimp, Lucy, was rejected by her mother so we hand-raised her for two years. Leona absolutely fell in love with her. She slept in a cot in our bedroom and had to wear nappies and drink baby milk. We managed to successfully reintroduce Lucy into her family after two years. We built up a very special bond with her, when we go to visit her she knows who we are immediately and comes up to us. On other occasions I’ve had to bring tiger cubs home with me. In the evenings I spend a lot of time with Mia although all she ever really wants to talk about is the animals so sometimes I take her up to see them for an hour or so. I usually have to pop back to do something or other anyway. We have a snow leopard who we suspect to be pregnant at the moment so we are keeping a close eye on her. Back home there’s usually a squabble between Eastenders and David Attenborough in relation to the TV. Then later I’ll take Mia to bed and read her some animal story. I go to sleep at about 9.30pm every night because I’m up at 5.30am. I’m proud to say that after 25 years of doing the same job, I still get so such pleasure, excitement and reward from it. I’m very happy with my lot.” |
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North Dublin Publications, 80-83 Omni Park, Santry, Dublin 9. Phone 8621611 | Fax 8621625/6
Developed by Kevin Flynn