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National Zookeeper Week celebrated at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- National Zookeeper Week is a time to celebrate the hard work keepers provide to animals in human care. Their jobs entail so much more than just cleaning up after the animals, and it's a passion.

"I love animals. I wanted to be able to take care of the individual and step in if they need anything and this is the perfect fit for me," said Jenny Quinn, one of the lead zookeepers at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

Quinn and her team care for more than 100 animals between two exhibits.

"Cleaning, care, water, double-checking things; it’s actually really important for a lot of reptiles to have the right temperature and humidity, so we mist them and make sure their lightbulbs are working, their heat lamps. We do a lot of training," said Quinn.

Part of the job is training the animals. They become ambassadors to help connect people with animals they normally wouldn't.

"A lot of people would not care about a snake, especially if they didn’t get to meet one, and if you don’t care about them what is your motivation to protect them? So their job is to go out and meet people and inspire people to take action and help conservation and help animals in any way they can," said Quinn.

From sharing their love of animals to educating the public, Quinn says it's important for people to know there's more to the job than they see.

"We do it because we love it not because it was the best job we could get. This is the best job in the world," said Quinn.

If you want to visit the zoo you still need to purchase tickets online ahead of time. You can visit their website to do so.

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Jessica Gruenling

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