- The bond between a zookeeper and animals.
Published by -NAWA News Feed- in -Zoo News- · Friday 01 Oct 2021
Zookeepers are a special kind of caretaker - their charges do not talk. Communication happens through trust, consistency, body language, and training sessions. Most people know that zookeepers do not get into the field for the money, it is for the love of animals and the job that keeps them going. To their own peril, zookeepers have refused to leave their animals even during wartime and natural disasters. Believe it or not even the most unassuming animals can have a huge impact on their keeper and vice versa.
Snakes, hedgehogs, or small birds get to know the keepers they see every day feeding and cleaning after them and bond with them. Such is the case with the Tahr and her keeper at the Akron zoo. Tahrs are a wild mountain goat from the Himalayas. Their natural environment is extreme altitude and cold and being preyed upon by snow leopards. At the Akron zoo, Amanda the Tahr had a different role - to tell about her species and why it was important to conserve them.
Himalayan Tahr - Hemitragus jemlahicus
Her keeper, Angela grew very close to her over the years and cared for her deeply. It is hard to explain what it feels like to lose one of the animals you care for on a daily basis. Because the Tahr population is doing much better in the wild, the Akron zoo will no longer have them in their collection after the passing of Amanda.
We at NAWA believe there is still an opportunity to engage the public about the role of the Tahr in the Himalayan ecosystem and hope that they create a memorial to Amanda that explains her life at the zoo and how she taught so many about a lesser known goat.
You can learn more about the Himalayan Tahr's here.