Inside life of Kano Zoo keepers

“More than 85 per cent of the zoo keepers here are doing the work not because of what they earn but because of their concern for the animals. Like me, for instance, I have been working in the garden for more than 30 years, but if I tell you my salary, you will laugh at […]

“More than 85 per cent of the zoo keepers here are doing the work not because of what they earn but because of their concern for the animals. Like me, for instance, I have been working in the garden for more than 30 years, but if I tell you my salary, you will laugh at me. However, because of the passion for the job, I am still here doing it.

“I enjoy mingling with animals and my job here is to feed them. Despite the risk involved, I still like the job and I am proud to be one of the people feeding the different species. It is a very dangerous job, but since Allah has destined that this is where we will earn our living from, we have no option than to do it.

“Our major challenge is that we operate manually. We are still learning on the job because we’ve not received any training to update our knowledge on how to handle the animals. If someone joins the job today, we are the ones that will train him because nobody will send him for any training on how to handle the animals. This is what we have been doing for many years.

“Had the management of the zoo been sending some of us for training, there would have been an advancement on the way and manner we handle the animals. For instance, the day a lion escaped from its cage some weeks back. If it were in countries where the government takes care of both the animals and their caregivers, it won’t take the management 30 minutes to track the lion and take it back to its cage. But because we don’t have any training on advanced ways of handling animals, it took us days before the lion went back to its cage voluntarily.”

This is the testimony of one of the zookeepers at the Kano Zoological Garden, who identified his name as Walwala Mai Sa’a (not real name). Mai Sa’a spoke to Daily Trust Saturday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

Another keeper, who also craved anonymity, hinted Daily Trust Saturday that their major problem was lack of adequate working tools, noting that most of the workers, especially those working closely with the animals, were risking their lives.

He explained that “most of us feeding the animals are putting our lives in danger because dealing with animals like lion, hyena, tiger and the likes is not an easy task. We are risking our lives for the animals to survive.

“We do not earn a good salary not to talk of hazard allowance and when it comes to working tools, it is also zero.”

He recalled that since he joined the garden as a zoo keeper about 20 years ago, he has never attended any training within or outside Kano State, noting that “We learnt the tricks of the job from older colleagues. The risk associated with this job is enormous. I have escaped death several times. There was a day I was trying to clean the lion’s cage and provide it with food when suddenly the lion tried to jump into the section I was working.

“I was scared stiff because that was my first time of having such experience, but gradually I become familiar with such kind of situations. I later understood that whenever the lion was hungry, there is the tendency of experiencing such incidence. That was why when the lion escaped recently, we tried to lure it back with meat, but it resisted our plan.”

Also speaking to Daily Trust Saturday, Muhammad Inuwa (also not real name) said, though he does not deal with animals directly because his main job was sweeping the premises of the garden, he feels the zookeepers were endangering their lives.

He said, “I learnt a lot of lessons when the lion escaped recently. Everybody in the zoo was shocked and afraid of the consequences of the lion’s escape. Unfortunately, the incident has proven that most of the facilities and tools meant for handling the animals are obsolete.

“For instance, three tranquillizer injections were administered on the lion, but it did not sedate it. Again, experts were brought in from Abuja, who also administered the tranquiliser they came with, yet they could not capture the lion or sedate it.

“This is to tell you that most of the facilities here are not functional. Apart from having outdated facilities, there is also the issue of stealing of equipment meant for the garden by some bad elements among us. Another factor that is also affecting our job here is that most of our seniors do not want to leave the place even after they have retired from service.

“Most of the senior officers find ways of returning to the zoo as contract staff after they retire from service. This simply means that we (the junior workers) will never be promoted to the next ranks since there is no vacancy to fill, and this is a minus for the junior workers.”

Alhaji Mamman B (not real name) is another zoo keeper who has worked at the Kano Zoological Garden for over 15 years. He told our reporter that they deal with the animals manually as according to him, they do not have modern facilities and tools for handling the animals.

His concern is not about salary or working materials, but the unavailability of different species of animals. He noted that “the garden is virtually empty now because most of the animals that will attract visitors are not there. We have very few animals now in the garden. So, our concern is for the government to bring more species to the garden.”

He lamented that a few years back, animals such as giraffe, tiger, zebra, buffalo, hippopotamus and many others, which people, especially the youth are not familiar with, were available in the garden. But today, such animals were no longer there because most of them died and have not been replaced.

“Most visitors are disappointed when they come here because of none availability of a variety of animals. The government should therefore try and bring in new species to the garden so that people would have a worthwhile time when they visit the zoo.”

When contacted, the managing director of the zoo, Alhaji Sa’idu Gwadabe, said presently over 20 personnel of the zoo have been undergoing studies in various institutions on advanced zoo keeping and forestry which are the cardinal courses for zoo keeping.

“I noticed that we do not have specific safety staff in the garden. All the training done before were done for all the staff. I, therefore, advised that we should identify a few workers, maybe four or five on Grade Level 8 to be given special training on safety. When they come back they will train others. The programme is on course.

“Recently, some experts from the National Park came and trained our staff, especially those on the managerial level. In terms of salary, our workers are on a special salary scale which is better than that of other workers. So, we don’t have any problem as far as salary is concerned.

“On training, even this week, we have sent our veterinary doctor for training and we have also sent others to Ibadan for another seminar organized by the National Wildlife of Nigeria. So, we are doing all these to update our personnel,” he said.

Gwadabe added that in terms of equipment and tools, the garden has many safety tools, but however, the management has identified some modern tools which they require and has made a request to the government.