When Shawn Miller was just 3 years old, he and his grandma used to find baby toads on her lawn. Miller was fascinated by the tiny jumping creatures. “That’s when my passion for reptiles and amphibians really started,” Miller says. “If you asked my parents what I was going to be when I grew up, it was always a zookeeper.”
When Miller turned 15, he got a job working on the grounds crew at the Milwaukee County Zoo, cleaning. He knew that when he grew up, he wanted to work with the Zoo’s animals. After high school, he went to college to study biology, an important degree for any zookeeper to have. When he graduated, he got a job working at the Zoo’s Small Mammals building, taking care of armadillos, porcupines and other critters.
In the nearly 20 years since then, he’s worked at many positions at the Zoo, and now he’s the Zoo’s aquarium and reptile curator. That means he designs many of the exhibits you see, handles snakes and frogs and fish, and even goes on trips to countries around the world, like Panama and Grenada, to study reptiles. He loves the whole job, but it’s all the time he gets to spend with the animals that really makes it great
“I’ve grown up with the Zoo – it’s a part of me,” Miller says. “Now I get to work with super cool animals, and I’ve had the chance to do so many fun things over the years.”
Shawn’s Snakes
As a zookeeper, Miller knows the Zoo’s reptiles really well. Here are just a few of his scaly pals.
Danger Noodle (King Cobra)
“King Cobras are a little more intelligent than most snakes,” Miller says. “We’ll give her a closed cardboard box with food inside of it, and she’ll figure out how to open it.”
Olive (Anaconda)
“Olive is 15 feet long,” Miller says. “She’s about 10 inches thick around her neck. I’m the only keeper who has big enough hands to hold her when we move her.”
Kitty (Red Tail Boa)
“Kitty’s got a bit of an attitude,” Miller says. “But that’s actually a good thing because it allows us to train new zookeepers on how to handle a tougher snake.”
You Can Become a Zookeeper, Too
If you love animals, you can make a career out of caring for them as a zookeeper. The first step is to keep learning about creatures big and small. Zookeepers receive special training on how to care for the animals because it’s really important that they know the animals well. Most zookeepers go to college to study biology, so be sure to pay attention in your science classes, too! And maybe most important of all is to get involved at the Zoo, which has tons of programs for kids that will help you learn more.
