Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium is Hiring

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This weekend. I know that theweather might beat us a little iffy,
but I'm always thinking about things todo, not just during the weekend,
but during the week as well.And the place to go when it comes
to the city of Omaha is theHenry Dorley Zoo and Aquarium And I'm blessed
once again to be joined by J. C. Colson, who is in

(00:20):
charge of the communications over there.And jac first of all, welcome back
to the studio. Thanks for havingme. I guess the first question is
the start of spring. I justwant to get out and see the animals.
I know some of the animals arelike, hey, we get to
be outside all the time now,But that means that you guys have a
lot of opportunities for people if they'relooking to try to expand their employment or

(00:41):
maybe even volunteer as well. Whatdo you got going on over there?
Yeah, so we have tons ofjob openings right now, especially part time
opportunities. So for those stay athome moms that are wanting some extra income,
for retired folks that want to getback out into the community, we
have tons of employment opportunities. Andthen if you're looking for something that's a

(01:04):
little bit more flexible and you're justwanting to really do some good in the
community. We also have volunteer opportunities, so lots happening at the zoo.
We're always busy, we always havenew things going on, so it's it's
a great time to join our team. The team itself has so many different
jobs. I mean the volunteer I'vevolunteered at the zoo Blank Park Zoo in

(01:27):
Central Iowa, and when you signup to be a volunteer, the first
thing that you had to figure outis what would you like to volunteer in?
And the choices were pretty overwhelming.That's a much smaller zoo than Henry
Duley Zoo and Aquarium. I can'timagine even just the jobs that are available.
What are some of the things thatyou guys, are you looking at
as opportunities for people who might nothave any zoo experience. Yeah, so

(01:49):
anything from ride supervisors to driving atram and kind of the guest services sides
of things, to concessions. Wealso have some full time opportunities available as
well, in things like education andyeah, just lots going on all the
different departments. We have some animalcare opportunities if that's something that individuals have

(02:14):
experience in and yeah, that's goingon. This is we're speaking with jac
Collson from Henry door Ley Zoo inaquarium. I have to ask about the
job opportunities and with the animals,specifically in animal care, because that is
something frequent for me personally, youknow, I kind of felt like that

(02:35):
was something I could have been calledto do. It's just, man,
I get to be around my animalstoday, and you have keepers that are
assigned specifically to animal groups or differentspecies or what not to really take care
of them throughout the week. Ialways had the feeling that if you wanted
to be like a true zoo keeperor really get close to the animals in

(02:55):
that way, you needed a lotof education. Is that the case or
is are they the volunteer or kindof ground floor opportunities not necessarily to do
a lot with the animals, butto be around them as part of your
job, or you're volunteering at thezoo. Yeah, so it really depends
on the area and what it isthat you're doing. So if you're going
to be a full time animal keeper, it's pretty likely that you're going to

(03:20):
have a four year degree in somethinglike biology or animal sciences. But that's
not to say that there that thereis not going to be any interaction with
or experience with the animals, andeven volunteer positions, because you know,
what we do at the zoo isanimals. So just by kind of being

(03:40):
at the zoo, of course,as you know, you're having those experiences
with animals, and you're encouraging otherpeople to have experiences with animals as well.
So just by working at the zoo, you you kind of make the
animals a part of your life.And being a part of your life is

(04:01):
not a like you're not overstating thatI find attachment to a lot of the
animals at the zoo when I visiteven three four times a year because they're
just my favorites. You don't reallyknow what your favorites are until you just
go and see them and you're like, oh, I just absolutely love that
animal. For somebody like me whomight be thinking, you know, volunteering

(04:21):
is kind of the route I wouldlike to go. Are what a volunteer
shift look like in animal care ordoing anything else, And how much time
would I need to commit to ifI was interested on a per week basis.
Yeah, so it really depends onthe individual's interests and their availability.
So if you're more interested in educationand interacting with guests and teaching people about

(04:49):
animals, then you would be assigned with shifts that are more guests focused.
But if you're more interested in kindof the behind the scenes and maybe
helping out in anything from administration tocleaning, anything like that, we have
opportunities like that as well. Andthen again of availability, if you're interested

(05:11):
in the kind of lower hours perweek around ten or even down to five
that can be accommodated, or anywhereup to fifteen. It really depends what
you want to give, what youhave to give. But we really have
space for all sorts of people andwe want to make sure with especially with
our volunteers, that they're able todo something that they love that makes me

(05:36):
really happy. Right, everybody's kindof got a place there if you want
to be a part of it.Did you know today was World Penguin Day?
Is it? It is World PenguinDay, World Penguin Day April the
twenty fifth every year, And yeah, there's a bunch of like kids activities
that you can find online for Worldpenguin day. That's so fun. This

(05:56):
past Rock Copper breeding season we hadthe most chicks that we've ever had in
a single year. Ten wow.So yeah, so that was really exciting.
What are you got going on overthe something in the water? Yeah?
No, okay, So how doesthat work? You just kind of
let them do their thing, becauseI know with other animals on like at
the zoo, you guys are prettyparticular about does this animal fit with this

(06:20):
animal, and which animals should bebreeding and which ones shouldn't be, and
then if they're not supposed to be, making sure that they're separated. So
nature doesn't just do stuff it's notsupposed to do, at least in your
confines. How does that work forthe penguins. So with the penguins in
particular, I'm not totally versed ontheir breeding practices, though a majority of

(06:44):
our animals are part of what's calleda species survival plan, and that's determined
by the association of zoos and Aquariumsthat we're a part of, and so
they ensure that genetic diversity is atthe forefront of all breeding within zoos,

(07:05):
and so they make recommendations based ongenetics. So this is not an accident,
no, no, when when Whenbreeding happens, especially with animals within
the species survival plan, intention ispresent for sure, and then of course

(07:27):
the diversity of the genetics just goingto make the species stronger in the az
A network, and this is whyaccredited zoos are so important to follow and
not necessarily your tiger kings of theworld that have no rules or regulations that
are monitoring them. Speaking with jacColson from the Henry dor Le zou and
Aquarium, UH have to ask howthe baby elephant's doing. He is doing

(07:47):
well. It's it's sort of surprisingto look at him now versus when he
was born, because he still looksquite small, but he's he's growing.
He's got other little ones that he'ssurrounded by as well, and he still
probably is the smallest of the bunch. Yes he is. You'll see our
older two Eugenians Sonny, who arejust over to now, next to the

(08:11):
adults, and they look very small. But then you'll see Eugenians Sonny next
to Hondo, the two year oldsversus the couple months old, and he
looks pretty tiny. And this iswhy it's cute. You go there,
you see little tiny elephants. Ah. Yeah, that's why you go to
the zoo. That's why every timeyou go, there's always a little bit

(08:31):
something different. I always tell people. I have one of my friends,
He's like, I've been to thezoo. I don't need to go to
the zoo all the time. Iknow it's at the zoo, and I'm
like, it's different every time,no matter what, whether there's a baby
there or the animals are doing differentstuff. I have to tell you my
favorite animal right now that I'm obsessedwith his beavers. I just I love
beavers. You have beavers, wedo. They are in your cave right

(08:54):
underneath you don't ms of the nightin the swamp. Yeah. So if
you wanted to go there, thereare alligators, there are beavers. There
are cayman. There's a cayman downthere, you know, like it kind
of looks like a little crocodile lookingguy. Uh. And it's and you
can see the bats and all that. I love bats too. You got
some you know, really good batspecies. Uh. There's always something different

(09:18):
down there. But I have toask in in this you know time frame,
are all the animals back on regularexhibit now? Or is the temperature
kind of warmed up enough for that, and how do you guys figure that
out? Yeah, So the biggestthing that's that's present throughout the zoo as
far as when animals are in theiroutdoor habitats or inside or in their private

(09:43):
areas is choice. So a lotof times if you come to the zoo,
you may not see an animal andits outdoor habitat, even if it
is really nice outside. And that'slikely because they are choosing to be in
their private areas at that time.So we also, I'll have certain areas
where they can kind of hide outwithin their habitats, and so the different

(10:07):
animals have different temperature thresholds. Butnow that we're in the warm season,
you'll likely see those outdoor animals outsidemore often. Okay, so we are
kind of to that point. It'swhen it's you know, you've got a
kind of severe weather thing that mightpop up in the next forty eight hours
or so, how do you guyshandle that? I know, nighttime you
already tend to, you know,try to make sure that the animals are

(10:31):
where they need to be on theinside and safe already. But is there
something different when the storm pops upand they normally would be outside or do
you still let them kind of figuretheir own stuff out. So we have
protocols and procedures in place for severeweather. What they are for each specific
animal or habitat, I'm not totallysure, of course, but we are

(10:52):
always always prepared, and we keepan eye on the forecast, whether it's
extreme cold or severe weather like we'relooking at tomorrow thunderstorms. Each area has
policies and procedures in place to preparefor that. Okay, So jac Callson
from Henry Doorley Zoo in Aquarium joiningus. So what's the next thing that's
kind of on your guys's docket rightnow that you guys are planning for.

(11:13):
Yeah, So actually next week onFriday, we are going to be opening
our Ice Age Adventure exhibit at LiejiSimmons Wildlife Safari Park in Ashland. So
beyond just our zoo and Omaha,we also have our Wildlife Safari don't forget
about that, And yeah, don'tforget about it. It's great, and
we'll be opening Ice Age Adventure thisweek. Ice Age Adventure coming to the

(11:37):
Wildlife Safari Park. Okay, Sowith that happening and all that going on,
and the jobs opportunities for people andthe volunteer opportunities. Where can they
find more information about Henry door LeyZoo and Aquarium. Yeah, so,
if you're looking for the job opportunities, it's Omaha zoo dot com slash work

(11:58):
here, and that's mahazoo dot comslash work here. That's where all of
our job opportunities are going to belisted. And that's easy enough. And
follow Henry Dourley Zoo and Aquarium onsocial media please, you can't go wrong.
They're always sharing animal footage and everything. It's so great. Jac Colson,
you're awesome. Thanks for coming in, Thanks for representing the zoo so
well, and we'll talk to youagain soon, I'm sure. Yeah,

(12:20):
thanks for having me all right,Jace. Always love talking to her.
I always love the zoo