Life of a zoo nurse pretty wild
In a summer series, the Herald talks to people whose jobs are outside the ordinary. Today: Working with animals
You might think your workplace is a zoo — but for Breeze Buchanan, it really is. While everyone else is at the beach and enjoying the sunshine, Auckland Zoo staff have to show up for work over summer to make sure their furry, slithering and scampering charges are fed, watered and healthy.
Buchanan, a zoo vet nurse, says her lifelong love of animals comes from her Department of Conservation staff parents and her childhood growing up on the Thames coast.
She has worked fulltime at the zoo’s vet hospital since 2016.
“[I] do the two things I absolutely love — nursing animals and being involved in conservation work. My job varies hugely from day to day, part of the reason I love it so much.
“Being able to develop a bond with my patients and see them regularly around the zoo is [incredible].”
Buchanan studied veterinary nursing at Massey University and last year gained a Certificate in Animal Management (Captive Wild Animals).
On any given work day she may come into contact with any one of the zoo’s 135 species — more than 1400 animals — helping with clinical and surgical procedures, anaesthetising creatures for health checks, taking blood samples or radiographs, post-operative care or dental procedures — even physiotherapy.
“In a recent week we stitched up a lace monitor that had a laceration, anaesthetised a serval for a health check and, with the help of an external dentist, carried out dental procedures on some of our cotton-top tamarins.
“That same week a sick green sea turtle found in Northland was flown down to us by [DoC], requiring blood samples, radiographs and a special rehabilitation tank set up. We [nurse] these turtles until our vets deem them healthy enough to be sent to Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Aquarium for the remainder of their rehabilitation.
“That same week, part of my job was to perform physiotherapy on a very sweet lame wallaby, as well as look after emperor tamarins in quarantine following their arrival from overseas.”
When she’s not at the zoo, Buchanan helps with field work around New Zealand, such as going to Motutapu Island in the Hauraki Gulf to take blood samples and perform health checks on critically endangered takahe¯.
“Working with such a dedicated team of zoo keepers and veterinary staff, where everyone is so devoted to not only the welfare of their animals and doing everything in their power to give them the best life possible, but also seeing . . . everyone pulling together to contribute to conservation projects in New Zealand and around the world has been aweinspiring,” Buchanan says. As to which animal is her favourite, Buchanan struggles to answer: “That changes from week to week depending on what animals we are looking after. Little penguins were a firm favourite last year when we were hand-raising an orphaned little penguin that was brought to us at just 10 days old after its parents were suspected to have been attacked by dogs. Oh, and the red panda and elephants are right up there too.”
Auckland Zoo supplies veterinary services to DoC’s Kakapo Recovery Programme and kakapo are another of Buchanan’s favourites.
The personality-loaded native parrot also brings its own challenges: “I was recently sprayed in the face with kakapo food while I was holding it to be tube-fed and had to stay as still as possible while the remainder was given to the kakapo . . . while the food was dripping down my face.”
Indeed, looking after our native birds is close to this Kiwi’s heart: “A very special moment for me was being involved in health checks on kiwi that were taken from the wild as eggs and seeing them released as [chicks] back on to the Coromandel. This is where I grew up and went on kiwi surveys as a child.”