Zoo Internquest is a seven-week career exploration program for San Diego County high school juniors and seniors. Students have the unique opportunity to meet professionals working for the San Diego Zoo, Safari Park, and Institute for Conservation Research, learn more about their jobs, and then blog about their experience online. Follow their adventures here on the Zoo’s website!
While some people pursue careers for the titles or high yearly salaries, many of us strive to pursue a career that we are passionate about and look forward to doing for the rest of our lives. This week my fellow interns and I had the incredible opportunity to meet with Erica Rustich, who is a Senior Keeper at the San Diego Zoo. Ms. Rustich has been working at the Zoo as a giraffe keeper for seven years and has enjoyed every second that she has spent with these amazing animals. An aspect Ms. Rustich enjoys most about her job is that there is always something new to learn about these animals, as well as new ways to support conservation efforts to save them from extinction.
Growing up in San Diego, Ms. Rustich spent much of her free time as a child visiting the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and fostering a very deep love for animals. At the age of eight, Ms. Rustich won a contest at the Safari Park and was given the incredible opportunity to name an aardvark and go on a caravan safari. On the safari, Ms. Rustich met with many of the animals in the Safari Park’s collection. Ms. Rustich said that this experience was one of the most inspirational days of her life and made her realize that she wanted to pursue a career in helping and caring for animals. Originally wanting to pursue a career as a dolphin trainer, Ms. Rustich graduated from UCLA with a degree in evolution ecology biology. It was not until her junior year in college, when Ms. Rustich began to work with the education department at the Safari Park driving the tram, that she realized that she instead wanted to work at the Zoo rather than working with marine mammals. After working with the Safari Park’s Elephant Department for a year, Ms. Rustich received a loan to begin working with the Zoo’s giraffe herd, and was introduced to the job she wants to continue for the rest of her life.
Ms. Rustich’s day often begins at 5:15am when she wakes up and gets ready to be at work by 6am. Once arriving at the Zoo, Ms. Rustich helps with hoof trims, blood draws, radiographs, or any other procedure that must be performed on any of the giraffes that day. Throughout the day, Ms. Rustich faces different challenges that make her day exciting and increase the opportunity to learn something new. Given that giraffes naturally spend anywhere from 70-80% of their day foraging for food in the wild, Ms. Rustich is challenged to bring out their natural behaviors using enrichment. Ms. Rustich also helps to train the giraffes and encourages them to perform behaviors that could help during checkups with the veterinary staff. While working with the giraffes, Ms. Rustich always implements a choice and control philosophy that allows the giraffes to choose whether they want to participate or cooperate with the keepers and, if the giraffe doesn’t want to participate, the keepers do not try to force them. By implementing this training philosophy, Ms. Rustich is making the lives of the giraffes at the Zoo as comfortable as possible by allowing the giraffes to perform behaviors that they would naturally perform in the wild.
Ms. Rustich shared that another incredibly inspiring part of her job is getting the opportunity to witness a giraffe give birth. When keepers observe that one of the Zoo’s giraffes is pregnant, they set up a separate “maternity ward” and split off a section of the enclosure so the giraffe can have a safe place to deliver their calve. The Zoo keeps very detailed records of the calves and their mothers in order to reference these records and learn what to expect from each giraffe pregnancy. Having worked with many giraffe mothers and their calves, Ms. Rustich is grateful for the incredible opportunity to work with giraffes of all ages and learn more about the amazing animal at each stage of its life.
Having worked with elephants, rhinos, giraffes, and different marsupials, Ms. Rustich has truly done it all. As a Senior Keeper, Ms. Rustich works tirelessly to provide all the giraffes and other animals she cares for at the Zoo with the best welfare and health possible. Ms. Rustich is honored to have the privilege to be a voice for animals, and to have the ability to provide kids with the experience that will inspire them to be passionate about animals. This experience could even encourage them to become keepers in the future! Ms. Rustich stresses that we should all share an affinity for caring for the world around us as well as strive to preserve the amazing animals that also call this planet home. Thank you for reading all of my blog posts and coming along with me on this amazing and inspirational journey!
Cole, Careers Team
Week Six, Winter Session 2019
