Valerie the African elephant is one of four pachyderms living at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo.
She and her peers receive daily baths administered by a team of trainers who have faced fierce competition to land their coveted jobs.
“The first year you’re just scooping poop,” says Patrick Abtey, an assistant elephant trainer who graduated with a B.S. in animal science from UC Davis. “Then you’re learning animal husbandry, feeding the animal, bathing the animal. Her bath is like a spa treatment; we like to exfoliate.”
The skin on an elephant’s back can be nearly three inches thick, so while Senior Elephant Trainer Andrew Barlow hoses Valerie down, trainer Josh Taugner scours her hide and tusks with an industrial scrub brush.
Carissa Arellanes is a senior animal trainer who oversees critters, like Chewy the 2-toed sloth, and writes the scripts for the educational animal shows at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.
After a few years, she turned her attention to wildlife.
“It’s amazing, the stuff we get to do and the interaction we have with the animals,” she says. “Education and conservation are a big part of the job, and when you see the kids expressions, when they’re up close to an animal, you know they’ll remember that experience forever.”
“Captain” Lee Munro was a fraud investigator for Nordstrom before doing a career about-face and taking a job as a diver cleaning dolphin pools at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo.
That was 20 years ago, and he has moved from dolphin show host to elephant and primate trainer to veterinary technician.
Now, as a wildlife trainer, his typical day is spent caring for and often walking the park’s elderly Bengal tiger, Kashmir.
The 21-year-old cat takes daily strolls, which help to maintain her activity levels and to keep her from losing too much muscle mass.
Additionally, the old girl’s kidneys don’t flush as well as they once did, so Kashmir’s trainers use her walking time as an opportunity to administer an IV of subcutaneous fluids.
Sylar the red fox needs constant stimulus and enrichment, so he has his own trainer, wildlifekeeper Teal Burger. Burger, who started her career as a seasonal park employee, also oversees giraffes, reptiles and birds, though these days she works almost exclusively with her cunning little fox.
In an effort to provide additional opportunities for exercise and play, Burger sometimes has Syler practice his commands while bouncing on a trampoline.
Marine Mammal Senior Trainer Abby Warner during a training session with Siku, one of the three walruses that live at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.
They sleep piled on top and against one another in a mound, though each one has his or her own specific spot (Siku takes an edge slot next to the wall).
They sleep piled on top and against one another in a mound, though each one has his or her own specific spot (Siku takes an edge slot next to the wall).
And they’re not always quick to rise. “We’ll come with food, and they’ll be like, ‘That’s cool, we’re good thanks,’ and choose to sleep instead of eat,” Warner says.
Scenes from a Zoo
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo