These Women Are Part of the Zoo Crew

So many kids say they want to grow up and work with animals. So did these two women, part of the crew who work at the Detroit Zoo. Get to know a little about them.

ELIZABETH ARBAUGH

MISSION: As coordinator of Enrichment and Training for the Detroit Zoo, Elizabeth organizes activities that allow animals to demonstrate behaviors as they would in the wild _ such as foraging and stalking. That’s so the animals stay engaged, active and curious.

EDUCATION: Elizabeth, 43, of Southfield, Mich., majored in zoology at Michigan State University. She’s been at the zoo since 1991.

A DAY AT THE ZOO: On an early June day, Elizabeth fed mulberry tree leaves to Chardo, a 23-year-old female giraffe. Elizabeth coordinates the animal enrichment work of about 40 zookeepers.

TRICKS OF THE TRADE: To mimic behaviors in the wild, Elizabeth helps zookeepers come up with innovative methods to stimulate normal animal behavior. For example, to bring out lions’ stalking behavior, Elizabeth and colleagues make pinatas out of cardboard and paste, and cover them with nontoxic paint to look like zebras.

Inside the pinatas is zebra poop, an intoxicating scent to lions. Hide them around the lions’ quarters, and as in the wild, you may see the lioness stalking it, and the male lion striding over to inspect it once his lady has done the work.

MOTIVATION: Elizabeth has wanted to work with animals since childhood. Her job never bores her. “My boss introduces me by saying, ‘This is Elizabeth. She has the best job at the zoo.’”

BETSIE MEISTER

MISSION: Betsie, the Mammal Department supervisor for the Arctic Ring of Life at the Detroit Zoo, provides care for seals, polar bears and arctic foxes. It’s the zoo world’s largest polar bear exhibit.

EDUCATION: Betsie, 31, of Birmingham, Mich., has a zoology degree from Michigan State University.

TRICKS OF THE TRADE: Her staff freezes 55-gallon drums of water, stuffed with herring and mackerel as well as treats, for giant popsicles for the bears. Once a day when the polar bears retreat to an interior den, Betsie and her staff clean their outside habitat, and spice up the bears’ senses by leaving pockets of cinnamon on the rocks, smearing them with cooked yams, or dousing them with cologne.

“You know, the stuff Grandma gives you that you don’t want? We bring it to the zoo,” Betsie says. “They like perfume.”

MOTIVATION: She saw Talini, a polar bear, born more than three years ago, via a camera in the bears’ den. The mother didn’t bring the bear out in the open for three months.

“It was really fascinating and a privilege to see a little polar bear grow up,” Betsie says. “It can be 10 degrees and snowing and if the polar bears are having a good time, I’m having a good time.”

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(c) 2008, Detroit Free Press.

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