We Are All In This Together
Samantha Arner | Animal Care Coordinator
As the Animal Care Coordinator for the Conservancy’s educational ambassador animals, I’m considered an “essential” employee. Essential means I get to go into work. It means I get to see other life forms on a semi-regular basis. Many people assume us animal caretakers are living our best lives right now. In some cases, we probably are. We are finally working on projects that were put off for months because the bandwidth was just too difficult to manage. We can feed our animals at times that are convenient for us and we can add in additional training sessions that we usually can’t manage. We are getting what every animal caretaker wants, which is to spend unwatched, unfiltered moments with the animals we love and spend so much time caring for.
However, behind the Facebook posts and Instagram stories there is still hardship and struggle. This may look different between all of us and some may be having an easier time coping than others. The pandemic catchphrase, “we are all in this together”, has never rang more true than at the very moment I write these words. This virus has no boundaries, and the reach of the pandemic is greater than the eye can see. Basically, what I’m cautioning is that we should not judge a book by its cover, or more relevantly, we should not judge an Instagram post by its hashtags. While we may be flooding your phones with #TriviaTuesday content, #WildlifeWednesday photos, and #CreatureFeature Thursdays, we too have difficult moments.
I want to start off by saying that my animal care team has been amazing! Between Nerissa, our recently hired Animal Care Naturalist, and our champion education interns, Covid-19 cannot crush the confidence that I have in my team. As a supervisor that is typically very present in the day-to-day tasks, splitting my time between working from home and being at the Nature Center has been extremely disorienting. A mixed feeling of FOMO (fear of missing out) and curiosity hits me as I sit at my kitchen table writing this. Micromanaging has never been my style, but I truly enjoy my job. I like working alongside my team. I like mentoring the interns, watching them grow and move onto their next gig. I love checking on the animals, watching them improve with their training sessions or interacting with an enrichment toy for the first time. Not being able to get up from my desk to go check on the animals and my team just feels…wrong.
It’s also been extremely frustrating not being able to find the basic supplies we rely on daily to take care of our animals. Bleach, isopropyl, and soap are a hot commodity these days. I’ve spent hours adding things to my online shopping cart, only to have them removed at checkout. I’ve had a shipment of worms get lost in the mail for a week, only to find that most of them wound up dead in transit. Simple things like disinfecting enclosures and feeding our baby alligators their favorite foods aren’t so simple anymore.
This post comes with a mix of emotions. I’m so grateful for my team and the work that they are doing daily to keep things running smoothly. I’m bummed that I cannot always be there with them to lend a hand where it is needed or to help troubleshoot when things go awry. I’m frustrated that simple things like doing my job are now difficult. Ultimately though, I’m thankful that we are all still healthy, and that we all get to do this very important job of caring for our animals and educating the public. While I am an essential employee, I stay home as often as I can for my team. I stay at home because we are all in this together and I cannot do this without them.
