So at a zoo, there is a semi-unspoken list of things that should never ever happen: we're not supposed to feed animals things they can't have, be in an enclosure with certain animals, do something that could cause the death of an animal, or let an animal escape.
Today, we lost a snake. I think it was the most stressful thing that has happened to me on the job thus far. It was one of our ball pythons, and I'm not sure how long it was out. It could have been anywhere from an hour to overnight.
One of my coworkers and a volunteer walked in to the gift shop and came up to me:
One of the snakes got out.
What?!
We looked all around the education building with a flashlight, moving things, triple-checking possible hiding places--nothing. We found a few ways that it could have gotten out of the building, and that just made things worse. Just as we were calling our boss to tell her what happened, I lifted up the hedgehog cage, and nearly had a heart attack. There was our snake, curled up and quite comfortable. It and the hedgehog were just lucky it had crawled under the cage, and not between the bars.
I located a drill gun and fixed the snakes' drawer so it couldn't force it open again (which is how we assumed it got out).
Let me tell you, this is one zoo-happening that I don't want to have to take part in again.
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