See the Keepers

October 17, 2020 7:45 PM

A lovely, very well done documentary about the animals and their human attendants at the Memphis Zoo. Informative at what it takes to care for the animals there in plus it presents both keepers and kept in depth as living, breathing sentient individuals each with their own stories.

See the Keepers
posted by y2karl (10 comments total)

You can also view it here.
posted by y2karl at 7:46 PM on October 17, 2020

Also this: I detested going to the Woodland Park Zoo for years because so many of the human customers were total jerks -- frat boys blasting air horns at the gorillas, for instance. I called it the Seattle Animal Prison. But they cleaned up and clamped down on such activities. And this film makes me wish I had such employment. To me, it is a dream job. And zoos are important for species preservation, so there is that, too.
posted by y2karl at 8:04 PM on October 17, 2020 [2 favorites]

Thank you for posting. I used to live in the neighborhood next to the zoo and had Tuesdays off. That was the free day and I loved going for a walk through there on my lap around Overton Park. It's a really great zoo. The nocturnal room was my favorite.
posted by nestor_makhno at 8:20 PM on October 17, 2020 [2 favorites]

Whoa! Ask and ye shall receive...
posted by y2karl at 11:59 PM on October 17, 2020

Mod note: Fixed show name title
posted by taz (staff) at 11:59 PM on October 17, 2020

Thank you Taz, so so much. And thank you, hydra77 just as much.
posted by y2karl at 12:02 AM on October 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Tangentially related, regarding stories of conservation activity more in general: radio authors Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva, aka The Kitchen Sisters, have The Keepers as a running theme of their podcast, featuring a wide range of portraits of “activist archivists, rogue librarians, curators, collectors and historians. Guardians of history, large and small. Protectors of the free flow of information and ideas. Keepers of the culture and the culture and collections they keep.”
posted by progosk at 2:42 AM on October 18, 2020

Ooh
posted by Going To Maine at 11:33 AM on October 18, 2020

A friend of a friend works for the zoo and does a lot of stuff for their youtube channel, like this explainer about hippos.
posted by bunderful at 7:44 PM on October 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Thank You! Many of my friends live in zoos and one friend is a retired Keeper.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 4:12 PM on October 19, 2020