AAP Primadomus, Spanien 26. december - 15. september 2024
Erasmus Rapport
Hello! My name is Line, and I am 23 years old. I am currently taking my zookeeping education at Roskilde Tekniske Skole in Denmark. A close friend of mine from class, asked me to join them in Spain and gain experience working with different animals. After already working in Norway for 1 year, I was ready to try something new. Fast forward, I traveled to Spain in 26 of December and moved into a small flat with a lot of volunteers and students. From past experiences, this flat was an upgrade and so was the students I lived with. Very kind and outgoing people who tried their best to take care of me. Already the next day of my arrival, I started working. Early in the morning, the volunteers walked together to the van and drove the 15 minutes to AAP Primadomus
My first 3 months was going to be in the Primate department. There are 4 modules:
1. Quarantine:
I started working in Quarantine with an experienced zookeeper named Miguel. It was difficult in the start to understand his English because of the Spanish dialect. We therefore made an agreement, that through the day he would teach me a few common Spanish sentences or words, and i’ll teach him how to pronounce difficult English words. After a couple of weeks, I improve my Spanish and strengthen my bonds with the volunteers and locals from the city.
In Quarantine, I learned a lot about safety, clean/dirty areas, diseases, medical checks, moving animals, behavior, security, disposing of infected (dirty) things and much more. I took care of the daily cleaning, enrichment preparation, observation, feeding and extra tasks such as disinfecting the units and tools. The animals I worked with was servals, marmosets, babary makaks and kinkajous. After a few weeks, I started helping in module C since they needed an extra pair of hands. I felt confident in my new routine and skills because of Miguels encouragement.
2. Module C:
This modules residents were primarily babary makaks. All the animals had usually suffered an abusive past, wrong diets, stressful environment etc. which led them to have abnormal behavior. The zookeepers do a lot of observations, preparation of medication, daily enrichment, strict routines, introductions and training to help the different groups. You quickly understand the amount of work and dedication the zookeepers have for these animals.
The time schedule was usually hectic, and I had to improve fast to help lessen the load of my colleagues. The daily routine included feeding, cleaning and extra tasks (usually more cleaning). I had a hard time thriving in this work environment of a strict time schedule and pressure. I am happy I gained this experience since I learned more about my boundaries and communication.
The last month before I changed department, I had a few days in module A & B.
3. Module A & B:
The residents of Module B is 2 groups of chimpanzees meanwhile in module A there is 3 groups of babary makaks. The routine was less stressful, and I got to work with highly intelligent primates which had a whole new system of security and rules. Primates a very expressive and emotionally intelligent, which means they can outsmart you if you are not careful. The zookeepers had a lot of time to answer all my questions, and I was allowed to take time to read and engage in the documents. Since I’ve never worked with chimps before, I was super nervous because it’s one of the smartest animals you can work with as a zookeeper. This experience made me realize I like working with primates but depends on the species.
After 3 months, I moved to Big Cats for my remaining time, and it quickly became my favorite workplace.
Big Cats department
Module E:
This module was the first to be built in Big Cats and therefore the most difficult to clean. There were only lions since AAP received a lot of rescue animals from Ukrain when the war broke out. Most of the lions are from shut down circuses, private pet owners, zoo or other places.
Module F (Climbing cats):
Specialized module for climbing cats such as leopards, caracals, servals, pumas etc. the difference is that the outdoor enclosures have high climbing platforms, extra security (metal plates on the fences and extra electricity wires on the top) and specialized fence for smaller cats. Contained caracals, leopards, servals and tigers.
Module G:
Better version of module E. the indoors enclosures had lower platforms for the Big cats and easier for the volunteers to clean fast and effective. Contained tigers and lions.
Kitchen:
Working in the Big Cats kitchen was the best. It gets very, very hot in May.. so being able to stand in a cold kitchen, listening to music and sharing quality time with other volunteers was amazing. In the kitchen, it is important to work in pairs or else you quickly destroy your back. The work consists of managing heavy meat crates (between 17-25 kg), preparation of the meat for 30+ cats, sanitizing the area, organizing for the next day etc. When we have meat delivery, we get around 500-1000 kg of meat and organs. The meat can be from horse and cows. Smaller deliveries come in small packets containing quails, rabbits, rats and day-old chickens. If we have new animals who are not used to eating this type of meat, we buy a variation of market meat (usually a whole chicken) to help them adapt.
Gained work experience:
• Systems and routine
• Observations of group and single animals
• Training
• Hands off protocol
• Safety measures
• Abnormal behavior
• Deep clean of enclosures
• Safety working with chemicals
• Moving animals from enclosures + to another country
• Medical check procedure and safety
• Enrichment ideas and use (cognitive, sensory, environmental, manipulative, food)
• Conflicted communication + handling responsibility
• Housemaster responsibility for new students