What did you have to do to become a zookeeper?

What did you have to do to become a zookeeper?

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...

Generally speaking, to become a zookeeper in most sort of modern European zoos but especially in the UK, it's really quite important first of all to show your commitment to the zoo. For example, here at ZSL London Zoo, we do that by having a very structured voluntary scheme. I was part of that as I worked as a volunteer zoo keeper for well over a year, completely unpaid. And that just showed that I was very keen and very dedicated to the zoo and becoming a zookeeper. And at the end of that period I was lucky enough to be one of the people who was taken on as a permanent member of the zookeeper staff and I'm now a permanent member of the zoo keeping staff at the zoo.