Real Life: “It’s pretty great having your work-bestie be a tiger”

Debunking the adage ‘never work with animals’, caring for everything from pigs and goats to tigers and bears is a dream job. So say two local women who’ve dedicated their careers to animal protection. Alice Ryan meets them

Alice Vassallo, keeper, Shepreth Wildlife Park
“It’s pretty great having your work-bestie be a tiger. . .” Alice Vassallo is a keeper at Shepreth Wildlife Park and presenter of the podcast Asshole Animals with Alice

To start at the beginning: when did you develop your love of animals? And when did you decide to work with them? I always loved animals – particularly tigers – growing up. I started volunteering at a wildlife rehabilitation centre when I was at University studying something completely different and just absolutely fell in love with it. I was hooked from then on out!

How did you become a zookeeper? After a lot of volunteering and some internships. It’s a lot of unpaid work to get into zookeeping, but absolutely worth it once you make it. Nowadays, you do need an animal-related qualification though, so keep that in mind if you're considering it.

Your work has taken you all over the world; tell us about your animal travels? I’ve been lucky enough to be a zookeeper in the USA, as well as rehabilitate sloths in Costa Rica – which was an incredible experience. Anyone thinking of working with animals: definitely spend some time out in the field, it’s absolutely worth it. I learned so much and came away with some phenomenal memories.

We love the podcast! How did it come to be? And why the theme? I’m a big doofus at heart and love to be silly, so this podcast came from wanting to break stigmas of animals that people don’t like - like seagulls, snakes, sharks - and tell everyone why we should love them instead, but also to tell people that some animals have the capability to be bigger jerks than they think! It’s all meant with great fun and respect, but you gotta poke fun at Mother Nature a little bit, right?

Zoos can come in for a lot of flak. But organisations like Shepreth play a vital part in not only caring for but conserving species, don't they? Absolutely – zoos are vital areas for conservation work, in terms of fundraising for projects across the world and also by participating in breeding programmes for endangered species, providing a healthy genetic population in case we don’t manage to save those in the wild in time. There’s also the education element of the job: we spend a lot of time talking to people about why we need to respect our natural world and its inhabitants, and every zoo is also participating in research projects to study their animals in order to better understand their needs. Gone are the days of zoos being just for entertainment; a lot of important work goes on inside them nowadays.

Best part of the job? Do I really have to say it? The animals, of COURSE. It’s pretty great having your work-bestie be a tiger.

And worst? The worst part has to be the death of the animals. You get hardened to it over time, but some deaths really hit you - especially when you and that animal had a close bond. I will also mention the pay isn’t great being a zookeeper too! Those considering animal work as a career have got to know that this is not a job you can make good money from.

Favourite animal to hang out with? Great question – easily the otters. They’re so silly and interactive with their environment. Don’t get too close to them though – they have VERY sharp teeth and love to bite humans! You can see why they made the cut for the podcast. . .

How do we find and follow you? You can find me on Instagram under “assholeanimalswithalice” – where I post silly videos about the animals I work with and occasionally some podcast stuff too. We’ve got some exciting guests coming up, so keep your eye out!

See sheprethwildlifepark.co.uk for more.

Laura Graham, co-founder, Gee Gees Ranch & Rescue
“Initially it was all about being able to give animals a forever home but it has turned into so much more than that now. . .” Laura Graham is co-founder of Gee Gees Ranch & Rescue in Sicklesmere, near Bury St Edmunds

“I worked as a carer in my early 20s and used to visit an elderly couple every lunchtime, and would take my two dogs at the time along with me. The happiness it brought to the gentleman especially was so wonderful to see. I think that was probably my first realisation of how an animal can impact on a person's emotional wellbeing. Animals are far more sensitive than most humans, in my opinion, and they can teach us a lot, not least patience and empathy.

“In the beginning, the idea of us having these animals was to give our little boys - who are now 5 and 6 - an education in what it takes to nurture and care for something other than themselves. Seeing how they have evolved with it and all that they have learned from having our animals has spurred us on to be able to offer the same kind of experience to other people.

“We are now running our Nature's Nurture stay-and-play pre-school sessions, where we have combined outdoor play with learning about and experiencing our animals. We also work alongside various alternative education providers and run animal care sessions for children that can’t attend mainstream school.

“One student, whose teachers had previously struggled to have her write more than one sentence, went on to write three whole pages after her first session with us. I watch these children grow in every session and as they see their own relationship build with our animals, that’s where their confidence starts to shine through.

“Currently at our ranch we have eight horses and ponies, a donkey, 17 goats, 15 sheep, eight pigs, six rabbits and around 36 chickens, four turkeys and 14 ducks! A lot of our sheep were orphan lambs from other farms, four of which we hand-reared ourselves. Four of our miniature Shetlands we travelled to Italy to rescue. Clive and Eddie, the baby goats, came to us from another farmer who took them on to save them from going to slaughter. Clive has a cleft lip and is a firm favourite amongst our staff and visitors!

“We never really meant for any of this to happen! We just started taking on animals that found themselves needing a home and it just grew from there. Lockdown gave us Bella, our first mini Shetland, back in October 2020, because she was no longer able to continue her work as a therapy pony and that was what gave me the idea of going down that route somehow in the future, knowing what she had done previously.

“Moving to new land in March 2023 really kick-started being able to do more for the community and being able to rehome more animals. Myself, my husband Rob and our assistant manager Katie Smith see to the day-to-day running. Katie works three mornings a week and I am there 24/7. Rob works full-time as a general builder, but he has the major job of bringing water to the ranch weekly as we don’t currently have running water there. He also sorts out our fencing and builds whatever we may need him to. It’s hard going as there’s always things to do!

“Our weeks can really vary, but ultimately a typical day is making sure our animals are all fed, watered and happy. Some days we have students attend so they help with our daily chores as well as giving the ponies a groom or taking them for a walk, mucking out sheds and paddocks etc. Saturday mornings we have our volunteer sessions where children - and some adults! - from our local community help us for the morning. Having baby goat cuddles at the end is their reward at the minute!

“Initially it was all about being able to give animals a forever home, but it has turned into so much more than that now. The reward is seeing how happy and settled all of our animals are and how that shows when we receive visitors that are able to go into the paddocks with our animals who will willingly let them fuss and cuddle them. As much as it brings me joy to see the effect it has on others, selfishly the reward for me is just being able to own, love and care for all these animals myself as that has always been my lifelong dream.”

See geegeesranchandrescue.co.uk for more.