How Katri feels about husbandry...

Last summer, I saw the High School Interns getting to sun the sea turtles, and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. What I didn’t know is that we get to do other husbandry things, like feeding the birds and cleaning the gator bins and other assorted fun stuff! Although it can be kind of smelly, gross and dirty, husbandry duties are often a highlight of my day. My favorite husbandry thing so far is definitely bird rounds, although it’s no bed of roses. The smelt that we feed to the birds in the salt marsh are cold and slimy and fishy. Also, the trays that we pick up from in the plants have a smell like nothing I have ever smelled before. And it’s AWESOME! Because we get to give the guests a chance to so something really cool and learn about our birds. Plus, it’s really fun to play “catch” with the pelicans who get SO excited about some fish. All the birds start making noise and they all just love that 7 minutes of enrichment where it is every bird for himself to catch the fish. And don’t even get me started on Scottie Pippen. Cutest barn owl in the WORLD. And Griswald, the most adorable, grumpy old man-owl who isn’t even old. It’s just too much. So cute.

Doing husbandry duties also gives us a more intimate look into the inner working of the Aquarium. What REALLY goes into keeping all the animals as healthy as they can be. It helps us interns to have more informed conversations with guests about our animal care. And it also helps us to personally understand how much dedication it takes to keep everything here running smoothly. Plus, it’s really FUN!

-Katri

(From the left, Jen, Katri, Kale)