|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hi,
I'm Tyrone and I have a story to tell you. I work as an animal keeper. This
story is about one of my kool days at the zoo. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
I
arrived early to get a headstart. I was assigned the African string that
day, which consists of the white rhinos, African elephants, hippopotami
and pygmy hippos. I gave them all breakfast and let the elephants and rhinos
out in their yards. I cleaned their night quarters. The hippos were feeding
inside while I cleaned the outside pool. After that I went inside and opened
the door leading to the pool. The hippos went out. I closed the door and
started to clean their night quarters.
All of a sudden an explosion went off in my head. “Oh my God!” I had left
the side gate open! I dropped everything. I could see the headlines, “Dummy
keeper lets hippos escape. They stomp ten people to death!” I ran to the
side of the building and there they were, going out of the back gate. Their
heads were held high and their little tails were wagging like crazy. I never
saw them so happy. I ran and jumped in front of them—I was desperate. “Are
you two out of your minds? Get back in the pool!” |
|
|
|
|
|
They
just looked at me and laughed. (Sometimes they open their mouths begging
for a snack or when they want their tongues rubbed. Don’t do this unless
you are very good friends. They make a noise that sounds very much like
a laugh, “Haw, haw, haw.”) But I was kool. I know that hippos are always ready to eat, so I ran and
got three loaves of bread and made a trail of slices back through the gate.
They looked like vacuum cleaners eating their way back in, to my great relief,
and the headlines faded from my vision. |
|
|
|
|
Later
that day I was called to help unload the new baby giraffe, a ten foot baby
still in the crate. The crate was made of wood and topless. The baby giraffe
put her head over the top and looked down at me and seemed to say, “Hey
you! If you don't let me out of here I'm going insane!”
I said to the other keepers, “We
had better get her out of the crate before she panics.” |
|
|
|
|
The
door slides up in slots on the front of the crate. A keeper got on top to
lift the door up and out of the way. But it wouldn't budge. So I got in
front of it and tried to unjam it. All of a sudden the baby giraffe lunged
forward and hit the door. It broke away from the crate and fell on me. Of
course, the giraffe made a break for it. With slow-motion grace she ran
over the door and over me. From beneath the door I heard the other keepers
shuffling to get it off me. They looked down and said, “Are
you all right?”
I felt a little flat, but I was kool. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Another
day at the zoo, the keeper who cared for the primates had to go home early
and had left the two orangutans out. After I had fed my animals and put
them in for the night, I went to bed down the orangutans. Linda, the female,
and Rusty, the male, were still very young, a little smaller than chimpanzees.
I was the number two keeper on the string, so I knew them very well. Rusty
had a thing for me. Every time I hosed down the outside area Rusty would
grab my leg and sit on my foot so I would give him a ride around the grotto.
There were still a lot of people around and quite a few pretty ladies too.
Linda was on the ground and Rusty was in a small tree. |
|
|
|
The crowd was
smiling and waving, so I smiled and waved back. It was time for the orangutans
to go in, so I started to get Rusty down from the tree. He was only about
head high. I looked in his eyes--he had that look on his face of wanting
to hug me. All of a sudden he put a death grip around my head, pulling
my face to his chest--I could hardly breathe! I tried to casually get
him off my head but he was stuck like glue. I heard this roar of laughter
coming from the crowd behind me. Wondering what to do I turned around
and though I couldn't see them, I waved, saying to myself, “Somehow
I gotta go and peel this monkey off my face.”
|
|
|
But
you know, during one of the most embarrassing moments in my life, I was
kool.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
