Simone Davey

Senior Panda Keeper, Adelaide Zoo

Section/animals worked with:

Currently working as Senior Panda Keeper at Adelaide Zoo.

How long have you been working as a zoo keeper/vet/vet nurse?

Started working as a zookeeper in 2000. Started at Adelaide Zoo in 2006 on the primate department. Worked with the Orang-utans until getting the Senior Panda Keeper position in September 2009.

How did you get into zoo keeping/vet/vet nursing as a profession?

Started volunteering at the The National Aquarium and Wildlife Park when I was undergoing my science degree, majoring in Zoology and Ecology, at Australian National University.

Towards the end of my degree the wildlife park turned into The National Zoo and Aquarium in Canberra. I started doing weekend and holiday keeping and volunteer work.

The week after I finished my degree I started working full-time as a zookeeper.

I worked my way to head keeper at National Zoo and Aquarium before moving in December 2006 to specialise on the primate department, with the overall out come to be able to work with the Orang-utans at Adelaide Zoo.

Obviously I had never dreamt of being able to work with Giant Pandas, and so when the opportunity came up I jumped at it!

What do you love most about your job?

The daily connections you can make with the animals you look after and really getting to know all their personalities. I am really interested in animal behaviour. It fascinates me and I love watching and learning about their lives.

Also being able to pass on a passion to members of the public and educate them about what is happening in the environment around us. Giant Pandas and Orang-utans are my real passions and I like to try to inform people about their plight in the wild and how they can help.

It is nice to know that after all the hard work you have to do, in all kinds of weather, an animal will give you one look and it makes it all worth while.

What has been the wildest moment of your career so far?

There has been so many!

The most recent is, of course, this amazing journey that I am on with the Giant Pandas, Wang Wang and Fu Ni! Transporting these animals in the cargo plane was unreal.....it still feels like such a dream.

Rehabilitating “Lucky” the sole koala survivor from Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve after the Canberra firestorm was unbelievable. Lots of hard work but so rewarding when she was able to go back.

Having a bond with an animal that even if you have not seen them in years, when you go back they are so excited to see you that it is like you have never left! Last time I went back to the National Zoo a Black-capped Capuchin Monkey that I had had a great relationship with started screaming with happiness even though it had been years since I had seen him last.

How are Wang Wang and Funi settling into their new Australian home?

They are both doing so well. Fu Ni is such a little princess and we have such a great relationship. She is such a character and loves to play!

Wang Wang is such a special guy as well. What a sweetheart. He surprises us all the time as he has a wonderful playful side as well.

They have both taken to the Australian bamboo very well and are putting on weight.

They are wonderful animals to train as well and very smart. They will allow us to take blood draws, just presenting their arm. They take injections and allow us to take their temperatures. I am currently training Wang Wang to open his mouth for teeth examination and Fu Ni is being familiarised with hair clippers for future ultra sound training.