Female Cambridge graduate applies to work at zoo to clean up feces and look after animals, causing controversy

Graduated from UK but 25 years old decided to return to Thuong Hai, applying for a job in the role of animal caretaker.

Ma Ya (25 years old) is an excellent student who graduated from Nanjing Foreign Language School (China), then went to study abroad in the UK. After completing her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences at Imperial College London, she continued her master's degree at the University of Cambridge, with a major research topic in veterinary medicine, especially bone cancer in animals.

After returning home, she worked at a biopharmaceutical company. In February 2024, Ma Ya applied to work at the Shanghai Zoo as an animal caretaker.

"I came to work at the Shanghai Zoo in February 2024. At first, I took care of elephants, feeding them grass, then took care of hippos and rhinos. After a while, I switched to taking care of tigers, leopards, lynxes, foxes, wolves... Now I'm working in the herbivore area, raising deer and sheep," Ma Ya shared and said she wanted to come to Shanghai to change her living environment and do the job she loves.

The 25-year-old girl loves working at the zoo. (Photo: QQ)

At first, Ma Nha found it difficult to interact with animals, afraid of their smell, but then everything got back on track.

Her daily routine starts at 8am. First, she checks the herbivore area, which has 64 animals and 8 species. She mainly observes whether they are healthy or have any unusual behaviour. Not a single detail is overlooked as it can indicate the health of the animal. This usually takes her 20 minutes.

After that, she cleans their cages, which is the most time-consuming part of the job. Although the herbivores’ droppings are not too smelly, there is a lot of them, making cleaning quite a chore. She cleans them all up and puts them in the trash. A specialist will transport them to the designated location. Three staff members take turns cleaning each area for 2 hours.

After finishing work, Ma Ya and her colleagues fed them. Herbivores eat twice a day. In autumn and winter, their food is quite simple, mainly hay and pellets. In spring and summer, the food is more abundant and feeding takes more time. It took Ma Ya the whole morning to complete this work, according to QQ.

The work is hard but helps her accumulate a lot of practical experience. (Photo: QQ)

In the afternoon, she continued to inspect the zoo. If there were any sick animals, they would be isolated and vets would be called in. She would monitor the feeding of the animals by tourists . If visitors asked about the animals, Ma Ya would explain to them. If there were plans to renovate the exhibition area, she would need to be involved in the design process.

5pm every day, she can go home.

Ma Ya's parents supported her becoming a zoo employee. "Both my parents majored in foreign languages and their jobs had nothing to do with biology, but they both supported my interest. When I went to Shanghai to interview for a job at the zoo, I was a little nervous, but my parents told me to go ahead," Ma Ya said.

Last Tet, she stayed at the company and did not return home, but her parents were very understanding and supportive. Her parents felt that their daughter was healthier and stronger when working outdoors.

Ma Ya said that she is very interested in this job. Every day she finds something new in the job. She realizes that theory and practice are very different. At the zoo, she has learned a lot of experience, knows the health conditions of each animal and how to treat them.

Thanks to her study abroad experience, Ma Ya contributed to the design of the red panda exhibition area at the Shanghai headquarters, which was highly appreciated and became an excellent project. "This is my great achievement after 1 year of working here," she said proudly. Talking about the future, Ma Ya said she needs to accumulate more practical experience before starting scientific research.

Every morning, Ma Nha cleans the barn and feeds the animals. (Photo: QQ)

Her story after being shared on social media received many comments from the online community. Many people thought that a master’s degree holder doing this job was really inappropriate, a waste of talent. Others praised her for daring to pursue her passion.

Shanghai Zoo management said that in recent years, many highly educated people have applied for jobs at the zoo, including graduates from famous universities at home and abroad such as Cornell University (USA) and the University of Melbourne (Australia). All of them have to undergo at least 6 months of probation as animal caretakers.

(Source: Vietnamnet)

Link: https://vietnamnet.vn/nu-thac-si-cambridge-xin-vao-so-thu-don-phan-trong-coi-dong-vat-gay-tranh-cai-2373341.html

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/nu-thac-si-cambridge-xin-vao-so-thu-don-phan-trong-coi-dong-vat-gay-tronh-cai-ar927282.html