Zootails 51

 

Dr. Elizabeth Kaufman

Veterinarian – Hospital/Quarantine
 

Meet the Staff: Australian Dreaming
One doesn't need to get on an airplane and travel for 22 hours to get a feeling for what life might be like for animals in Australia. All you need to do is walk down the green leafy path across from the Childrens' Zoo to enter Idit Dror's own little slice of Australia. Idit is the Section Head for Australia and along with her trusty "Sherut leumi" girls, Sharona Yoni and Sharon Einei and a handful of volunteers they keep Australia ready for the rest of us to enjoy. Arriving at the Zoo at 7am, Idit goes straight to the section to check on her animals, and prepare breakfast for the hungriest animals: the birds and the sugar glider who gets a special good morning treat of his special warm cereal to lick off her finger accompanied by a good scratching. As the rest of the crew start the cleaning, Idit concentrates on the morning training. She works with the bats using a long pole with a piece of screening at the top, and touching them lightly gets them used to gripping and standing on the pole. This way, if one the bats' needs to be moved down from the heights where they like to "hang out" it can be done without stress. She handles them and carries them around for a few minutes before releasing them. Idit moves on to the kangaroos and wallabies for more handling that they need to get used to. She feels their tail bones to assess weight, pets them around the ears, eyes, nose and inside the mouth to get them accustomed to the feel of human hands. She even pokes them with a blunt "training" needle and syringe. This gets them used to the sight and feel of needles so that if they need veterinary treatment it can be done without stress. Idit is quiet by nature, patient and persistent and all of these attributes serve her well when dealing with her highly sensitive charges. Idit emphasizes that if she didn't have her helpers cleaning all this time she wouldn't be able to do all the training that she does and repeats over again how much she appreciates them. By noon, Idit and crew start cutting up food for both the afternoon feed and for the next morning. Some animals need small pieces of food and some need very small pieces of food and that goes for about 12 kilos of vegetables and fruits a day (for the bats). Idit finishes off her day around 3pm with a final check on all the animals and gives the cassowary and the bats their evening feed. When asked what she likes best about her job, Idit is clear; she loves the connection with the animals. She enjoys watching them, discovering new things about their behavior such as watching the kangaroos to see which is pregnant and which joey is getting ready to leave the pouch for the first time. Her favorite story involves Gaya the volunteer and the Keas. One day she and Gaya were in the Kea enclosure and the male began to follow Gaya everywhere. Eventually, Idit left and Gaya stayed to finish the cleaning. As soon as the male Kea was alone with Gaya he stole her hat and flew to the top of the cage! When asked if there was a message she would like to give all of you she said she would like everyone to have patience; sit and watch the animals, give it some time and you will be rewarded by seeing something special.