Can zookeepers pick what animals you work with?

Can zookeepers pick what animals you work with?

Daniel Simmonds (Zookeeper) gives expert video advice on: What did you have to do to become a zookeeper?; Is it a well paid job?; Do you become very attached to the animals you work with? and more...

You can't actually choose beforehand which animals you want to work with. There's a very specific reason for that. Nowadays here at ZSL London Zoo it's very, very important that all keepers work for the entire collection. In the past there were zookeepers who only wanted to work with certain animals and then when they were moved around sections it just made things a little bit more difficult. So nowadays you will work as a zookeeper for the zoo and you're almost told on your first day the animals that you will be working with. So there's a lot of chance involved but we are all animal lovers here and we will all work with any of the animals. We are all very happy, including myself, to work as zookeepers with any animal from an ant, up to a giraffe or a gorilla.