A Zookeepers Life #5 Dependable Donkeys

The last two days have been very busy at work. Yesterday I started out on the horse section due to an impending vet visit to have the horse’s teeth floated (filed) and a check up on our shire horse Meg’s eye as it has been sore and weeping. I arrived at work and collected the vehicle keys and drove the tractor round to our stables and met my head of section. I then went across and fed the reindeer their morning breakfast giving them hay and straw also, and returned to the stables to get the horses fed and cleaned.

One of our horses Bruce HATES being stabled but we couldn’t turn him out until the vet had been so I moved his favourite companion Meg an 18hh shire down to the stable next to him to stop him banging on his blinking stable door and to save my head! As we have 6 stables I could jig the horses around and clean their beds without them in it and then add hay and water ready for when they were to come in later. At 9am the vet arrived and sedated all the horses and donkeys to allow for safer dental work as well as a proper look at Megs eye, upon inspection it has been found that meg has a cataract forming in her right eye which could of began from a variety of different reasons and is now being treated. All their teeth were done and within 20 minutes all the horses came back around from their sedative. A gag is put on to the horse and their mouth is propped open; some horses do not mind the process whereas others lose their minds and will not allow the vet to perform the work so therefore ours were sedated- they are special butterflies. All our horses are rescues and have horrific neglect stories to tell, I will in the next few days tell you more about them.

After lunch, I went up with my head of section and senior keepers to walk the reindeer over to the corral within the zoo grounds. I was given Sami and he was not best pleased and we did about 30 pirouettes in the short walk and lots of rearing and head dodging from his antlers, it is the most daunting and frightening experience a reindeer can put you through – sod. Though I made it out of that walk unscathed, trying to explain to junior staff that these deer are so dangerous and its not that great walking them is near impossible they all can’t wait and that scares me.

Today

This morning I was back with my Lorikeets and training a junior member of staff so we did a lot of general cleaning and watering the plants, then we checked the nest boxes and found a new egg which is always exciting as we have managed to breed our birds successfully whereas other zoos in the UK have struggled with this species. We have gone from 26 birds to 49 within 2 years with 100% success hand rearing rate and out of all the births we have lost two young birds for different reasons that were out of our control we couldn’t be more proud. The last set of chicks we allowed the parents to fully raise themselves and the chicks to fledge from the boxes, it was the most stressful time especially when 6 chicks jumped from their boxes on the same day and we had 1000s of people in the zoo due to summer holidays– typical. The amount of times we climbed back up those ladders and put them chicks back because they were not ready and not even feathered it was a nightmare!

Once again after lunch I was sent up to do more reindeer training and this time we were walking one deer to the corral and back to get him used to being separated from the herd in time for Christmas events held during the festivities. I must say I was not optimistic about this session but I wasn’t the one holding the deer, instead I was traffic and human control and the first thing Ronnie would run into should he bolt – great ha-ha. Ronnie proved me massively wrong and walked beautifully there and back and the school group of 50 students that arrived to see him were well behaved which aided the situation more. After the session, I got some Basil time which I haven’t had for a few days and he was fantastic, I have started to train him to allow me to put my fingers in his mouth to be able to feel his teeth in the future or potentially to ask him to open his mouth I will see what behaviour comes first from him it is really his choice.

Todays Species and Profile:

Scientific Name: Equus asinus
Common Name: Donkey
ID: Dougal & Drew
Age: 3 years old
Birth Location and details: UK Zoo & Captive born
Current Weight: 164.5KG & 118KG
Pecking Order: Dougal is a bit of a wimp and will follow Drew for direction
Diet: Grass, 1 bale of hay shared between 3 horses and 2 donkeys twice daily, straw when stabled. No hard feed- they get fat quickly.
Behaviour: Dougal is very sensitive to anything he deems as dangerous and will run until a safe distance then stand and look whereas Drew will always investigate it’s like he has no fear sometimes. Drew is a very cheeky donkey and will grab hold of your trousers, keys, radio, skin, brooms, brushes basically anything that fits in his mouth and rag it around like dog. These two donkeys are also ridiculously strong and I have been physically and mentally victimised by them both and dragged all over the zoo. They are also the sweetest funniest pair you would ever meet, they walk in sync, they are always together and cannot be separated without getting very upset.

Are they dangerous?: When horses/donkeys spook it is usually in a blind panic which can make them very dangerous to work with. Generally, they are pretty relaxed and used to walking through the zoo daily and are managed by one person. Always must look out for kicking and biting.
Conservation Status: Their status in the wild is Least concern. Their numbers are stable!

Top 10 Donkey Facts

• Donkeys have excellent memory and are incredibly smart. They can recall a place or other donkeys they have met up to 25 years ago. They are also capable of thinking for themselves and complex decision making compared to horses.
• They can live up to 40 years
• They originate from the desert areas of the Middle East and Africa and can survive in these conditions.
• The large ears allow the donkey to cool down quickly, they can also hear up to 60 miles away in desert conditions.
• Donkeys hate the rain as their coat is not waterproof meaning they can become unwell quickly.
• If they sense something is wrong, Donkeys will not move ahead and dig their heels into the ground which is thought to be intelligence however it is still referred to being stubborn.
• There are more than 40 million donkeys worldwide with China having the most.
• Donkeys are used in developing countries as a method of transportation of goods and services as well as commuting. The donkey in these countries take place of cars and other transport options. This is where donkeys get their dependable reputation from.
• A male donkey is referred to as a Jack and a female as a Jenny.
• Horses and donkeys are regularly crossbred. A female horse and male donkey crossbreed is called a mule and a male horse and female donkey crossbreed is called Hinny. Mules and Hinnys are born sterile meaning they cannot reproduce.

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