Wild about work

Zoo keeper Kendall Duncan has spent 8-1/2 years with the rhinos, lions and other residents of Busch Gardens. Now she will take her expertise to Discovery Cove.

[Times photo: Jen Sens]

Kendall Duncan, a zoo keeper for Anheuser-Busch Entertainment Corp., gives Samburu, a 5-year-old serval, a hug. Part of Duncan’s job was to educate park guests about the animals. Duncan recently transferred to Discovery Cove, a sister park to Busch Gardens park, in Orlando.

TAMPA - Kendall Duncan's day starts early. Instead of clocking in and heading for a cubicle, she gets to work with animals.

While the worst thing that can happen to many employees is a paper cut, Duncan has faced greater risks working with serval cats, rhinos and African lions. Duncan worked at Busch Gardens for 8-1/2 years as a zoo keeper, and recently transferred to Discovery Cove in Orlando to be a senior trainer of dolphins and small mammals. Discovery Cove is another Anheuser-Busch Entertainment Corp. park.

Duncan, 30, says that working with animals has inherent risks and thrilling moments. But she warns that it is not as glamorous or easy as many people might think.

Duncan was scheduled to start her new job Saturday. This interview was conducted before her move.

XPress: Did you originally plan on being a zoo keeper?

Duncan: No, I didn't. I knew I wanted to do something working with people and animals. I was thinking about becoming a vet, so I got a job with Busch Gardens to see if I would like working with exotic animals, and I never left.

XPress: Where did you grow up? Did you have any animals as a kid?

Duncan: I grew up an hour north of (Tampa) in a town called Spring Hill. I had a yellow Lab named Brutus and several cats and pretty much anything I could bring home and my parents would let me keep: frogs, lizards, injured birds. I also had horses, one named Holly.

XPress: How long have you been working at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay? What animals have you worked with over the years?

Duncan: I have been at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay for 8-1/2 years. I started off with hoofed herbivores, so I got to work with the gazelles, zebras and giraffes. Then I moved to the Edge of Africa, where we had lions, meerkats, hippos and baboons. I've worked with the great apes, and I've also worked with tigers, lions, hyenas and servals.

XPress: Is there any element of danger in working with exotic animals? Have you ever been afraid while working with them?

Duncan: I've never been afraid in the 81/2 years I've worked here. We've got really great guidelines in place, and I've had some really great teachers who've taught me how to be a zoo keeper. You have to know your boundaries and follow the rules.

XPress: Of all the animals you've worked with, which is your favorite and why?

Duncan: Umm, that's so hard. I love them all! I'd have to say the black rhinos and the carnivores. I love the black rhinos because once you get to know a black rhino, you're friends for life. They've got a great disposition, they're good to work with, and they're a great animal to get to know. I like the big cats personally because they're a challenge. I had an opportunity to raise tiger cubs. We got to go in and walk them. A cat is a cat is a cat is a cat. They have a great attitude and they're fun to work with.

XPress: Do you enjoy the work you do?

Duncan: I love my job. I cannot imagine not working with animals. I absolutely love it. It's very rewarding because I'm responsible for making sure the animals in my care are happy and healthy and that they have a great life.

XPress: Do you think zoo keeping is a job anyone can do, or do you have to be a certain kind of person?

Duncan: I don't think you have to be a certain kind of person. You have to love animals and be willing to get dirty. Even though I love my job and it's glamorous to me, it's not the cleanest job. What goes in must come out. For example, our rhino keepers have to shovel over 1,000 piles of dung a day. To me and the keepers I work with it's the best job in the world, but it might not be to someone else who likes to get all dressed up.

XPress: What advice would you give to someone who wants to become a zoo keeper?

Duncan: The first would be to come to Zoo Camp here at Busch Gardens. You don't really know what it is until you get into it. A lot of people have a different view of what zoo keeping is. It's a lot of hard work. You've got to stay in school, and while you're in school, having hands-on experience like working for a veterinarian or a kennel is really good, and definitely to get a degree. There are a lot of different ones you can get nowadays: animal behavior, zoology, biology, marine biology. We do a lot of training so psychology comes in handy, too.

XPress: Do you think it's important to educate young people about animals?

Duncan: It's very critical to the animals we have in the world today. If you come out to Busch Gardens and meet a black rhino up close and you're out somewhere and offered a rhino horn, you probably won't buy it after meeting Jodie the black rhinoceros. It's important to educate the kids on what these animals do. They all have a purpose, even the tiniest cockroach. I think if we can educate as many people as possible, then animals that are critically endangered have a better chance in the future.

- Meghan Godbout, 16, is in 10th grade at Seminole High.

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