Behind the Scenes of My Wildlife Career

Rick dives into the first round of fan mail with a little Q and A from listeners. He shares insights on his career journey, spills some tea about being on national television and  gives a few practical tips for aspiring zookeepers. From scooping poop and doing media appearances to podcasting and advocating for our everyday conservation heroes, this 10 minute Tuesday is a little different, but no less enjoyable.

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Podcast Music: Positive Carefree Folk Pop
Artist: Burgberg
Used with Full Music Standard Lic.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

One of my favorite moments or favorite experiences was when I did a late late show with James Corden up in Los Angeles. Will Farrell was there in character the whole time as Ron Burgundy, and the setup was uh Ron Burgundy was uh making an announcement and was a guest on the show as Ron Burgundy, and of course, we were there as a San Diego Zoo. I was the spokesperson, shared the couch with Ron Burgundy and had a fun back and forth because he's, of course, from the characters from San Diego. So to play along with that, to be the straight man of offering animal information next to then one of the greater comedians of our time playing and having fun, that was a very good time. I'm Rick Schwartz, educator, public speaker, and all-around curious guy. Over the years, my curiosity and experiences, along with the many people I have worked with, revealed to me we all have a desire to feel connected to the natural world. You're listening to Animals, Nature, and You, a podcast that explores a connection between animals, nature, and humans. A podcast that celebrates learning more, following our curiosity, and reconnecting with the natural world. Welcome to another 10-minute Tuesday here on Animals, Nature and You. I'm your host, Rick Schwartz, but you knew that. But I also want to let you know I'm really glad you're here. A big part of what we're doing here is slowly building a little community. And whatever that community may be, we're all in different parts of the world, but there's engagement, there's connection. We're learning more, we're sharing information, and I appreciate that tremendously. As you know, because I say it all the time, this podcast has its own presence on Instagram, Animals, Nature and You on Instagram as the handle. I have my presence on social media plus my website, all that information, of course, is down below. But guess what? Not everybody does social media anymore. Some people take a break, some people don't come back to it, some people get rid of the app altogether. And I recognize that. And I wanted to open up an opportunity for engagement directly about this podcast. So if you're listening, it's not on Facebook, or I'm sorry, not on Facebook, not on YouTube, but if you're listening on a podcast player, the first link in the show description is called fan mail or send fan mail. It's a way for you to send me a question, an idea, a thought, further engagement about an episode, whatever it might be. And I thought, what a great way to add to that ability to connect. I mean, you know, you listen to some of the past interviews we had and uh have had, excuse me, and it's about connection. It's about working together, it's about building community to make a difference in this world. And that's a big part of what this is about. So although I had planned for today to be a top 10 list, I started getting messages in almost right away. So it was last 10 Minute Tuesday, a week ago, that I announced we're doing fan mail and put it in there for the first time. It's now on all episodes. And I wasn't sure what to expect. And I got a couple messages, and I'm really excited about that. And thank you for their for taking the time. I do want you to know, too, I don't see your personal information. And if anything you send me I want to use in the podcast, I'll ask for permission first. I'm not just gonna go all you know crazy on you. So with that, I do want to read some of them today and go over them with you. Oddly enough, though, now that I built it up about the fan mail, the first first thing I want to mention is a message I got on Facebook. April Taylor, who sent me a message about how much she enjoyed the opossum episode, also said, Hey, I want you to know about Animal Health Now. It's an app that helps people, if they come across a sick or injured animal, they can find someone to help them take care of it or whatever it might be. My initial suggestion was put in Google animal rehab, but animal rehab or animal rescue, and then your zip code. And she pointed out that that's not always accurate. And that's true. It would take for someone to put that information into Google or have a presence online for Google to find that. This is a quicker, more direct way. They have an app and a website. So I'll have the links for all of that down below. So April Taylor from Facebook, thank you for that. I appreciate it. Now, one of the very first messages I got on fan mail was from Jacob. He said, Rick, I miss seeing you around the zoo and Safari Park. I've been a fan of your work since meeting you while you were doing a presentation at the San Diego Zoo. I was wondering why you left. Well, Jacob, I appreciate that. I'm glad that you have been following along my career all along, and and hopefully you enjoyed the presentation at the San Diego Zoo way back whenever that was. And I guess sometime between 2000 and 2020, because that's when I was doing presentations. But either way, so I didn't leave. There was a serious there was a layoff in the department I was in, and I was one of the people to get laid off. And I was surprised, I was shocked, was planning on retiring there, but also it pushed me into a space to really reconnect with who and what I am, which is a communicator, a wildlife educator, a passionate person for connecting people and wildlife and reminding us we all have this innate desire for nature. So I did not choose to leave. It's a great organization with some great people. They had some different ideas on what they want to do with the structure, the department I was in. And so a handful of us got laid off, unfortunately. So uh hopefully, though, you do enjoy the podcast and the YouTube videos and social media presence. And I've been doing some speaking engagements, although for private companies, but uh yeah, we'll see what happens. I but thank you, Jacob, for that message. I appreciate that. Uh Kristen said, I loved I'm sorry, I loved seeing you do the morning shows and late shows. You were always so good and shared so much about the animals. Well, thank you, Kristen. I appreciate that. I I enjoy doing it. Uh I've always wanted to know, do you have a favorite show to be on? And do you have a show you didn't like being on? Ooh, okay, so easy answer for the first part of the question. Kelly Ripa is a wonderful human being, and I was fortunate enough to be on her show two, three, sometimes four times a year. And over the years, she had a couple different co-hosts. Um every time, though, she was so gracious, so wonderful, truly cares about animals and is fascinated by them. The staff there, uh, the producers, the sound guy in the back, everybody I ever met and worked with were always really genuinely good people. High stakes, high stress environment, because they are responsible for maintaining a number one morning show. But the level of professionalism was always there. And I really enjoyed going back there. And because we did go back so often, there's some familiarity, familiarity that happens that it's like, you know, just hanging out with friends after a while. And so it was always a great time. So that was probably one of my favorite shows. I also can say one of my favorite moments or favorite experiences, not part of the Live with Kelly show, was when I did a late-late show with James Corden up in Los Angeles. Will Farrell was there in character the whole time as Ron Burgundy, and the setup was uh Ron Burgundy was uh making an announcement and was a guest on the show as Ron Burgundy, and of course, we were there as a San Diego Zoo. I was the spokesperson, shared the couch with Ron Burgundy and had a fun back and forth because he's, of course, from the characters from San Diego. So to play along with that, to be the straight man of offering animal information and conservation facts and the reason why these animals are important, next to then one of the greater comedians of our time riffing off playing and having fun, that was a very good time. Second part of your question, I'm not going to name names. Uh, I'm I have no desire to name names. I will say the the moment though it was a show up in Los Angeles. Uh this person is no longer on that show. In fact, I think they've rotated through hosts and and show names anyway. But right before we go on, I'll often you don't meet the people you're working with on set until you're there with the host or hostess of the show. This particular person, right as we're about to come out of commercial, haven't really met them other than I just know what my job is and they know what their job is, ask questions, interact, talk about what we're gonna talk about, looks over at me and says, Oh, I don't even like animals. And it wasn't sarcasm or a joke. The whole attitude and affect was that through the whole interview. It's one of those things that if you're a professional, you can keep that to yourself. You don't have to present that being your first words to me right before I'm going to be interacting with you about animals and sharing my passion and excitement and curiosity for them. So that was that was one of my least favorites, but we're we'll just leave it at that. We won't go into any more details. So thank you, Kristen, for your question. Uh, last question from the fan mail. Annalise, what advice would you give someone who wants to be a zookeeper? Oh, Annalise, we could do a whole episode and a half on that. In a nutshell, to my knowledge right now, most zoos that are accredited accredited facilities, these are nice professional zoos that are doing the good work, they're gonna require a four-year degree or something equivalent. So experience and education in biology, zoology, ecology, animal behavior is a good one, psychology, anything in that area. Then beyond that experience, how do you get experience for a job if you can't get the job to get experience? I always tell students, please find a way to volunteer. Animal shelter, wildlife rescue, animal rehab, a veterinary office, wherever you can clean poop, feed animals, and really get dirty to understand the need to be able to read behavior, to understand what when you're looking at poop, is this animal well or not? Uh, measuring food amounts, all of that. Most zoos require experience. And the experience range can be anywhere from a year to four years of experience, just depending upon the facility. That's the other part of it. Then I would start going and looking at zoos you might be interested in working at and seeing what do they require when they have a job posting for a zookeeper. What are the requirements? How can you start managing your time to meet those requirements? Now, I am speaking to you as if I know, but I don't actually now that I just said that. I don't know if you're in high school or college, but that would be if you are in high school or college, that's what I'd recommend. If you're already out of college, it's not impossible to get into the zoo world if maybe you have a degree in political science or something else. There are people, I mean, I I actually Alice, I think, who was on a couple episodes back, I don't think she had a zoo background as far as her schooling went. The point being, though, is again, it goes into can you start volunteer volunteering at places to get experience? And that volunteer position and time that you put in can eventually roll into a part-time job, could eventually roll into a full-time job. Be willing to move around to do different things to learn and grow your experience. But that's just in a nutshell, right there, what I would recommend for someone who wants to be a zookeeper. I would also recommend make sure you have a realistic view as to what your life is going to be like. It is not just playing with and cuddling. You go in early, you work hard, you have to clean, you feed, all of that. There's a lot of science and knowledge, you have to be able to communicate with veterinarians and fellow co-workers, documenting different things that are happening throughout the day. That's a lot of work. Uh, it doesn't pay very well usually. There's very few that pay really well. You usually have to work weekends and holidays because animals need care every day. But if you can go towards this career knowing these things and being aware of them and being able to work with that, it is it is a wonderful career. I didn't plan on not being a zookeeper, but my career path shifted. And so, goodness, I was 18 years into it. Uh, my career path shifted to being more a spokesperson and educator and stepping away from the zookeeper side of things. But initially I'd always thought I would just be a zookeeper for the rest of my life. And even when I transitioned further away from it and more on the wildlife education and spokesperson side of things, even then I was like, okay, but this is my world. This is my realm. This is what I do. Uh, zoos, conservation, wildlife care, exploring nature, that sort of thing. So, anyhow, I could, like I said, go on forever with that. It could be a totally different episode. And I'm sure we've already gone over 10 minutes at this point. Thankfully, that was the last question. Annalise, thank you so much for that. Everybody, thank you so much for sending in your questions via the fan mail link just in that first week. I don't plan on doing a lot of QA episodes unless we get a lot of questions in that make for another good episode of fun questions to answer. We'll see what happens. The top 10 lists that I mentioned earlier, we'll do that later on the calendar. And of course, as always, we have 10-minute Tuesdays every Tuesday. We have really cool interviews with awesome people doing awesome work every Thursday. So with that, I want to remind you if you haven't already, please subscribe or follow, whether you're watching on YouTube or listening on a podcast player. That way you don't miss any of the upcoming episodes. All the social media links and every way to get a hold of me will be down below in the show notes, again on YouTube or on your podcast player. The only one that's found not on YouTube is the fan mail button, which you're welcome to use anytime you'd like. If you want to get a hold of me, leave a message, anything of that nature. And I do hope, I do hope you continue to do what you've all been doing, which is sharing this podcast. You've been telling people about it. We are slowly growing over time, and that's exactly how it's gonna be this grassroots growth, if you will, for this podcast. Uh, it just means a lot to me, and I really appreciate it. So, with that, we're gonna wrap this up. Have a good one, everybody.