I went to college and received a degree in animal behavior in biology.
I started working at the Tampa Bay Zoo when I was 25 years old.
I’ve been here for the last 10 years. I love working at the zoo and visiting with all of the animals. I started out working in the kitchen making food and supplements were all of the animals. Now I am a trainer and the bird aviary. I absolutely love working in the aviary with all the birds. We have tropical and local species. The Tampa Bay Zoo is home to thousands of birds. Each one of them has their own personality. I love spending all day inside of the aviary, even on my days off. Last Tuesday I didn’t have anything planned on my day off, so I went to the Tampa Bay Zoo and sat in the Aviary. I visited with the birds and I watched all of the people coming in and out of the zoo. It was an insanely hot day and the outdoor temperature was 93 degrees. The zoo wasn’t terribly busy because of the heat, but there were a couple of people walking around. One lady in particular decided she wanted a refund because of the heat. I overheard the conversation while I was inside of the Aviary. The woman was talking to her husband or boyfriend. She was yelling about that heat and complaining about the temperatures. She told her man that she wanted to ask for a refund and he told her that she was being silly for complaining about the heat in the state of Florida.