Thegirlwiththegiraffe
Skin art is a zoo’s who of Phoebe’s favourite animals
ZOOKEEPER Phoebe Dowens loves her charges so much she has them tattooed all over her body.
So, she has Bertus the greater one-horned rhino, red river hog Belle and Shafira the Rothschild’s giraffe inked on her skin.
The 29-year-old has worked with hundreds of beautiful and exotic animals during her career but these three – and soon-to-be-added Rotana the Malayan sun bear – hold a special place in her heart.
Phoebe, who spent seven years working at Edinburgh Zoo, said: “When you feed, enrich and care for animals on a daily basis they end up becoming part of your extended family and friendship group. You spend more time with them than you do with humans.
“Like with some of the people you meet in your life, certain animals can make a big impact due to their quirky personalities and loveable natures.
“Bertus, Belle, Shafira and Rotana all hold a very special were two of the most elegant endangered species conservation and gentle creatures I have ever and the unpredictable are a part worked with. of daily life.
“My next tattoo will be Rotana Phoebe, who has moved from the sun bear. He was found in a the capital’s zoo to Highland tiny cage in a private home in Wildlife Park, said it will be great Cambodia and was rehomed by for viewers to have a behind-thethe zoo in 2010 as part of its scenes glimpse at what staff do. work with Free the Bears. She said: “So many visitors
“He is such a chilled-out bear come up and say how cool my and you can’t help but fall in love job is and ask me all about what with him. If it weren’t for his I get up to during the day. extremely sharp teeth and huge “It is a cool job and, in my claws you would mistake him opinion, the best job in the “Rhino Bertus was my boy. He for a teddy bear.” whole world – but it is also had the loveliest nature and Phoebe is one of the stars of one of the most physically loved to splash about in the pool. new BBC series Inside the Zoo, demanding and it is not always
“He moved to a zoo in which follows the keepers at glamorous. Indonesia a few years ago and I both Edinburgh Zoo and “There is a lot of mucking out really miss him but he is the Highland Wildlife Park, near and heavy lifting. first rhino to take part in a Kingussie, as they care for some “Viewers will also get to see breeding programme over there, of Scotland’s most- loved how emotionally attached the so he’s making history. animals, including lion cubs, the keepers and vets become to the
“Last year, I got the UK’s youngest polar bear and a animals and how difficult it opportunity to spend a few particularly grumpy guinea fowl. can get when one of them is sick weeks working with the giraffes Narrated by Gail Porter, the or dies.” at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. series will look into a world Phoebe, who lives in Kingussie Shafira and her friend Acacia where state-of-the-art science, with her gardener boyfriend
They end up becoming part of your extended family place in my heart and having them tattooed on my body is my way of ensuring they will always be with me, even after they move on or I do.
“Belle was the first animal I fed when I started at the zoo in 2013. She is a right wee character and used to get excited when she saw me with the food bucket and her little tail would wag like crazy.
Scott, rescue dog Deacon, cat Simpkin and two guinea pigs, grew up in Leith and used to visit Edinburgh Zoo all the time with her family when she was young.
She said: “We had a annual pass for the zoo. I knew from when I was wee that I wanted to work with animals.
“I studied geography at Glasgow University and got an ordinary degree before switching to do journalism.
“During my time at college, I got a summer job as a temp on the info desk at Edinburgh Zoo and they kept me on.
“A job came up working with the primates in 2013, which I jumped at, and the rest is history.
“After a year with the primates, I moved to hoofstock and then to carnivores before making the big move to Highland Wildlife Park.
“I just love what I do and can’t see myself doing anything else.”
Inside the Zoo starts on BBC Scotland on Monday at 8pm.