As a child, I was the kid that was always bringing home all manner of lost or abandoned animals, and some that just picked me to be their “friend”, much to the consternation of my long-suffering parents. Some we ended up keeping as pets, but most were either returned to where they came from (in the case of wild animals), or good homes were found for them with neighbours or friends (stray/dumped kittens, etc).
My parents definitely drew the line firmly when I brought home an octopus that had attached itself to a fish that I caught when I was about 6 years old. Oh, and the baby fruit bat I found when out riding my horse as a teenager.
Sitting for a while, watching and noting individual mannerisms, learning to tell individual animals apart by sight, learning family structures, group dynamics, and just enjoying some of the silly antics they all get up to was a whole new world to me and I was hooked!
As fate would have it, I did not pursue a career in the animal industry when I left high school. It wasn’t even suggested by our school careers teacher – even though I went to high school in a rural area. I ended up working in the IT industry and eventually that led me to discovering the joys of the DSLR camera.
At this point in time, I was also volunteering with a dog rescue group in Sydney, and it turned out I had a bit of a knack for taking photos of the dogs we had in care that showed their unique and individual personalities – which were then used to advertise them for adoption.
If taking photos of dogs wasn’t enough of a challenge, I thought I’d visit a few of the zoos dotted around Sydney and see if I could reflect the unique and individual personalities of the animals there too.
Now, in order to photograph with the aim of showing the personalities of animals, one must get to know one’s subjects. So it was then my mission to talk to anyone who knew anything about the various animals in each zoo, and learn a bit about each animal from the carers’ perspectives, a casual observer’s perspective, and my own perspective as I watched those animals go about their daily activities.
Sitting for a while, watching and noting individual mannerisms, learning to tell individual animals apart by sight, learning family structures, group dynamics, and just enjoying some of the silly antics they all get up to was a whole new world to me and I was hooked!
Fast forward a couple of years, and I was made redundant from yet another IT job, so I decided to have a complete career change.
I studied to be a zookeeper at TAFE and I also studied vet nursing shortly thereafter. I have had the absolute pleasure of working the hardest, most physical, most dirty, and demanding job that ever existed.
I have experienced extreme highs, bonding with exotic animals, and extreme lows, when old “friends” have passed away. But I wouldn’t swap a minute of it to go back to the relatively well paid and clean IT industry. The pay isn’t great, the hours suck, and the demands are many, but the rewards are myriad… best job ever!
By: Tracey Dierikx — Animal Care Australia Exhibited Animals Representative. Originally published: September 2022 ACE Newsletter.
