The Craziest Creatures I’ve Worked With
I have worked with animals most of my life. Some have been great, and normal. Some … well let’s just say I still talk about them to this day. Some I even have pictures of.
Koko the Komodo Dragon
Unfortunately this is not one I have pictures for. The summer between my Junior and Senior years of college, I had an internship at a zoo. It was in the Herpetarium, working with all the lizards, snakes, tortoise, and such. One of the creatures not directly under my care (much to my mother’s relief) was Koko, the 7 foot, 7 inch Komodo Dragon. One day the keepers noticed she wasn’t feeling well (she hadn’t eaten or even shown interest in food in several days) so they decided sedating her was worth the risk and had her checked out by the vet. Blood work, x-rays; the works. Since she was already sedated, she might as well have the full work up. When her check up was done, and nothing conclusive was found, we brought her back to her enclosure. Sometime later we noticed she didn’t seem to be moving, and was unresponsive to stimuli. It was near the end of the day and I was one of only a few people around, so they let me go in her enclosure and assist. It was then that we discovered she was not breathing (some lizards only take a breath every few minutes, so it wasn’t immediately apparent). They had some basic first aid supplies, and intubated her (stuck a tube in her mouth and into her esophagus) but did not have a bag to breathe for her, so of course, we had to breathe into it. So there I was, inches from a Komodo dragon’s mouth, breathing into a tube, and she flinches. I don’t think I have ever moved so fast in my life. Unfortunately, this story does not have a happy ending, as after 5 hours of working on her, despite the few times she seemed to be coming around, she didn’t make it.
Two Headed Creatures
That snake has 2 heads!
I worked at an aquarium whose owner had a morbid fascination toward two-headed creatures. Not just the dead stuffed ones, actual living, breathing animals with two heads. Mostly snakes and turtles. A two-headed animal is much like a siamese, or conjoined twin.
It is where an identical twin stops splitting in the embryonic stage. Just in this case only the heads split. I don’t really have any other info on these critters, but I do have pictures. I was not the direct care-taker, so no funny stories or anything, but come on! Do you have any pictures of a two headed creature? That’s what I thought.
Stingrays
Just as slimy and salty as you can imagine
At the same aquarium, we had stingrays. Of course the year I worked there was the same year Steve Irwin died during a freak accident with a stingray … a week before we rolled out our “Swim with the Stingrays” program. To show they were not vicious killers, I kissed one. Yup. On my lips.
I have tons of other stories, but I don’t want to keep you all day. What is the craziest creature you have ever touched? Don’t forget to check out the other blogs participating, and enter the giveaway below. 
Oh yeah, BTW, I have pet a cheetah. Yeah, top that.
Lol, I love you a little bit more chica!
Haha, thanks!
Wow, I’m so jealous!
I did luck up a huge spider crab once so my kids could get a better look at it. They were all screaming lol
Xx
Spider crabs look too much like real spiders, so you can keep it.
Wow, you have a very cool job! No, I’ve never pet a cheetah, that is extremely cool…but I did get to play with baby lions once, and I fed a giraffe, which was lovely, if only because of how completely gracefully it bent down and plucked the leaves from my fingers. Incredibly gentle animals. I would love a job with animals, although I’m sure it has its rough days, like with the komodo dragon…
Wow, baby lions! That is pretty cool! And giraffes are so graceful. I love them too!
Wow! Pet cheetah. I can’t match that not with our 6 cats.
Fantastic post. Sounds like you have some amazing experiences. Very sad story about Koko. Komodo Dragons are impressive but I wouldn’t want to get too close.
Thanks for taking part in the blog hop
It was so sad, she was such a majestic animal. But makes for a cool story. And great memories!
as a young woman, i worked with a local guy who rescued big cats…you know the ones….someone decided they had to have an ocelot or margay…..or freakin tiger for goodness sakes…..and after having them declawed and having their canine teeth removed brought them home only to find exotics really weren’t the best choice for them. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
anyway, i’m stopping in via the blog hop and it was great to read your post!
People make me so mad … on the plus side, that’s cool! Thanks for hopping by!
I honestly think we need to sit around swapping zoo stories for a few weeks at least. I have no pictures of two-headed animals – you win there!
I had a similar experience to Koko when I was working at my zoo; our male lion Marshall had an infected, ingrown dewclaw, so we had to operate. I use the ‘we’ rather loosely here, I am not a vet! The vet was worried about his advanced age so he only used half a dose to sedate him. For safety, he tied him to a post and had my co-worker and I hold his head down with a squeegee…not sure exactly what that would have done…and the old man twitched the whole time! I’ve never had so much adrenaline coursing through my veins in my life. Our old man was fine in the end and yes, we have photographic evidence of the somewhat suicidal event. I even got to keep his dew-claw as a souvenir.
Nice to meet you!
Oh yes, I bet we could swap stories, feel free to shoot me an email or stalk me on twitter!
Very cool! The komodo dragon story is awesome, I remember reading that one in your blogoversary post
I’m ridiculously jealous that you’ve touched a Cheetah. I would love to work at a zoo!
I figured everyone who had read that wanted the full story. It got a lot of comments! It was pretty great!
Let me clarify, by great I mean it was a great experience, not the actual conclusion.
Okay, those are some great stories. And your pet cheetah tops my wild boar. How exciting. Thanks so much for sharing those stories.
But see I have not pet a wild boar, so that is awesome!
OMG I’m now in awe of you – and so jealous of the chettah petting! A big cat sanctuary that I love has baby tigers every year or two and you can get your picture taken with them, but it’s on the other side of the country, so I never get to do it! It’s on my bucket list!
Let me know if you need a date, I am so in! I had a lion try and “mark” me as his (and by mark, I mean like cats mark, by spraying … gross!)
Well, I petted a koala once, which isn’t too crazy… but I did do it in Australia, which makes it kinda kickass
I need to go to Australia and pet a koala. The closest I have come is a lemur and a sloth. Those were pretty cool.
Loved this post! I want to hear and see evidence of more of your animal tales! I’ve fed a few interesting injured animals including a baby coyote, screech owls, and a baby red fox. Seriously, please give us more stories!
Haha, I will see what I can do!
What a job! Great post.
Thanks!
I love reptiles of all kinds! I’ve always been fascinated by Komodo dragons–they’re not venomous, but there are so many bacteria in their mouth–that’s what gets you. Snakes and turtles have a greater tendency to have Siamese twins, lol. Fun post!
Reptiles are great! Thanks for checking my site out.
Wow, wonderful post.
Thank you!
Great stories! I love the pics of the two headed animals – those are really neat.
My cousin spent a semester in Australia and has pictures with koala. I haven’t gotten close with anything exotic though.
Very cool! And thanks!
Your question made me think – what is the craziest creature I have ever touched? I thought about monkeys in the Philippines, snakes in Thailand, eels in Japan, giant turtles in Hawaii, livestock in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, and zoo animals everywhere. And while not “exotic,” I think I’d have to say the craziest creature would have to be the camel. So prehistoric, yet tame enough to ride (well, sort of), very functional, and full of personality. Perhaps the craziest thing about a camel is the way one looks at you. Yes, the camel, that’s my final answer. Not nearly as cool as a cheetah, but definitely a bit crazy.
Camels are crazy! And so expressive. Sounds like you have some good stories!