Todd Jenkinson

Keeper, Taronga Western Plains Zoo

Beginning his keeping career in 1999, Todd now works at Taronga Western Plains Zoo caring for a diverse range of animals.

Section/animals worked with: 

Within my role as a keeper at Taronga Western Plains Zoo I work with a large range of animals across the Birds, African, Asian and European sections of the Zoo. These include animals such as finches and parrots to Giraffe, Bongo, lions and Przewalski’s Horse.

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

I started in a small private wildlife park in Queenstown New Zealand in 1999

How did you get into zoo keeping as a profession?

I grew up on a farm in New Zealand, so I have been looking after animals since I was a kid, but really got hooked on animal husbandry when my parents purchased me an incubator when I was eight. As I mentioned above, I started in a small private wildlife park in Queenstown New Zealand in 1999 by continually checking (hassling) the park owner about potential keeping positions until a vacancy became available (he finally got so sick of me, that he give me a job) 

What do you love most about your job?

I love to see the ‘kick’ that visitors to the zoo get when you talk to them about the animals. I also love the different personalities that the animals have and how on even your worst day, they can make you smile.

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

I spent three nights in the Haast Forest (West Coast of the South Island, New Zealand) catching and banding kiwi. We were flown into the rain forest by helicopter, had to pitch tents and spent the nights catching, banding and attaching tracking equipment to the birds. The kiwi is a nocturnal bird, so we had to go out at night and sit around in the very cold and wet forest and wait for the bird to come to us by playing recordings of other kiwi calls. The birds are very aggressive, so catching, handling and banding the birds was very interesting. Once we had finished, we had to pack up all our gear, put it in our backpacks and spend a day walking out of the forest.