How I Got That Job: Cindy Swanson, zookeeper

Last update: November 15, 2009 - 12:10 AM

Salary range: $22,000 to $58,000, based on Minnesota state salary figures for 2008.

Education: I have a degree in child psychology [University of Minnesota]. The requirement now would be biology, zoology or some related degree. Sometimes, two years of experience in the field with a different degree is acceptable.

How did you get a job at the zoo? At the time when I applied for a job here [21 years ago], the new cat, marine animal and primate facilities were being opened and they were adding about five more zookeepers. My degree in child psych is very heavily oriented toward behavior and learning. With the amount of animal training that I do here, it fits very well.

How did you first become interested in zookeeping and animals? I always loved animals. When I was younger I had horses. I was looking for a career change, and it happened to coincide with when they were adding staff here. At the time, I was a behavior analyst and I worked with developmentally delayed young adults.

What do you do at work? I work with seals, sea lions and polar bears. We do all the general caretaking of the animals: cleaning, feeding and medical care, observing if there are any problems with an animal. Prey animals, they like to hide those medical problems. You have to be very observant and know your animals very well. We also get them ready for the vet, to make those visits less stressful with practice procedures. We have them ready to be able to cooperate in ultrasounds and X-rays, in case they would ever need to do that.

How do you begin training an animal? We start with name recognition, and we pair feeding with a clicker. You say their name, they look at you, you click, you feed. They learn to associate that clicking noise with reinforcement. It's much more precise than just saying "Good!" It's very sharp and it's very distinct and it's instantaneous. We have a team of four trainers. If we are teaching a new behavior, consistency is extremely important, so one trainer takes on the new behavior by themselves. When it is learned and becomes reliable and consistent, then you can pass that behavior on to another trainer.

Tell me a little more about working with Sparky. I didn't always work with Sparky, so that first show with thousands of people watching was certainly quite memorable. The height of the Sparky season is also the height of breeding season. Sometimes, animals can be unpredictable or behave differently during breeding season. There was one show where Sparky simply did not respond and didn't do what she was supposed to do. She just went over to the edge of the stage and looked around at all of the people.

Are there differences in training different animals? Seals and sea lions are definitely very responsive and high-energy. Polar bears respond very well, but they're a predator so they don't move fast. They're intelligent, but they don't have the need or desire to be quickly responsive. They're a little bit more on their own time.

HILARY BRUECK

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