Pros
Your animals, and the camaraderie between you and your coworkers because everyone is miserable together.
Cons
- You are not respected. - You are replaceable. - You are not listened to when upper management makes decisions about your animals (the ones you work with every day) that they know nothing about. - HR sides with upper management, they don't listen to your concerns. - Pay is extremely low, especially when you're doing the job of 5 people. - They aren't hiring/replacing positions of people who leave, you're just expected to make up for that missing person. - The zoo chooses to pay 6 figure salaries to upper management, but "can't afford" basic necessities to care for the animals, i.e. shade, proper heating in winter, camera systems, safe containment, etc. - Favoritism and bullying from the top level - Not being able to have the resources to properly care for the animals that you love - Not enough space for the animals - Not enough time to dedicate to the animals because you are being stretched so thin (mostly a post-covid issue) - People who make big mistakes aren't held accountable, i.e. letting an animal out - The zoo likes to act like it's transparent, but it's not. Several animal deaths not told to the public (the public only knew about the 3 giraffe deaths because it was leaked to the news, they didn't include the bongo, the zebra, etc.) The baby tigers were pulled away from their mother - that reason about her not producing milk is not the true reason. Staff continuously bring aggression concerns to management, but are ignored, and then more animals are injured/killed. This is a very, very toxic zoo. If you take animal care and conservation seriously, steer clear of this "organization."