Play Zookeeper For A Day

A new program at the Tulsa Zoo is giving customers the chance to play zookeeper for a day. News On 6 reporter Jeffrey Smith took the park up on the offer.

As part of the new "Keeping Up With the Keepers" program, you can take care of some of the animals like 9,000-pound elephant Sooky.

Everything from cleaning up her barn to shoveling her manure and even feeding her some of her favorite foods.

It gives customers a behind-the-scenes look at the life of a zookeeper.

"This is the backside of the exhibit. The stuff that people just don't normally get to see. It's a situation where they're like, wow, I didn't realize you had to do all this every single day," said Trent Veppert, elephant zookeeper.

Veppert has been a zookeeper here for almost a decade. He says working with the largest animal in the world means a lot of dirty work.

"Elephants are capable of defecating over 100 pounds a day," said Veppert.

You can learn a lot of interesting facts, do a lot of hard work and get right next to the animals.

Zookeepers say the program is fun, but it's also educational.

"As a kid, I was always like I wanted to be a zookeeper. Well, this is a chance for those kids to come back and see what its like," said Andrew Kluesner, zookeeper.

And after a full day of work, you'll have a new appreciation for all the hard work the zookeepers do.

If you want to participate in the new program, you have to be at least 16-years-old and it costs $35.

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