#WeLoveYouTrainers: A Personal Story

People across social media are standing up for zoo and aquarium professionals by sharing some of their very own personal stories of how we empowered them to know and love animals through our love for the animals we care for daily and how we educate them on the same species they love so dearly. There were even a few posts by the actual trainers themselves as they share how grateful they were for the love and support of their fellow patrons and how much it meant to them, especially during these times of uncertainty.

It began with a post by a French patron who went by the username of “Mermaid_fight”. In their post, “Mermaid_fight” made a powerful statement about the marine zoological community’s commitment to care for their animals, maintain their habitats, and take part in research, education, and conservation efforts with the public. From there, they concluded the post with the hashtag #WeLoveYouTrainers, which took off right away with stories and testimonies from both zoo professionals and zoo patrons alike.

In response to this ongoing movement, I now share my personal story of how I spent several years working with animals before moving on to zoo and aquarium-based education because like they say, “this is the way”. So, without further due, here is my own #WeLoveYouTrainers story.

How it all began

Growing up in New England and visiting Cape Cod and the New Hampshire Seacoast for as long as I can remember, I have always had a deep-found love for marine wildlife, especially for marine mammals. During the spring and fall months, my family would often go out whale watching off the coast of Massachusetts seeing humpbacks, fin whales, minkes, right whales, and dolphins in their natural habitat.

However, when I was five years old, SeaWorld Orlando invited my family to go backstage to meet their dolphins and false killer whales after a show. There, I got to take part in a private training session with the dolphins at the Whale and Dolphin Theater. There, that was when I knew I wanted to work with animals one day.

How I gained experience

The first time I worked with animals directly was when I was an equestrian at ten years of age. For the next few years, I would gain hands-on experience working with horses every Tuesday and Thursday after school. While I did no horse shows, I learned how to train and care for horses along with riding them for about an hour. I had a lot of fun working with the horses and bonding with them whenever I was grooming them or just talking to them from the comforts of their stalls.

The horse that I loved working with the most was Star. She was an elderly lady who would often come up to you whenever you came up to her stall for the sake of wanting to say “hello” to you before letting you give her a rubdown on her neck. I also loved working with another horse named Keanan, who was my riding horse for most sessions. I knew her for getting all excited over taking part in riding sessions by showing off her trouts and cantors whenever we worked together. Yet, it didn’t last forever though as Star herself would pass away just a couple of years later. While I considered looking to continue my equestrian studies, it would be impossible once I came down sick with a chronic illness at age 12.

After I fell ill, I decided I wanted to try a shot at working with both exotic and marine mammals to gain additional experience to help me become a marine mammal trainer one day. So, starting in eighth grade, I took part in the Adventure Camp Programs at the SeaWorld parks in both Orlando and San Antonio, and at Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay. There, I got to enjoy the mentorship of several keepers, educators, and trainers who all taught me how to maintain animal habitats, train the animals who called the facilities their home and care for them on so many levels. I even got to enjoy the lectures they would do on all the various species we were working with on that day, and it helped me gain more knowledge about them on so many levels.

Some animals I got to work with as a camper over the years included dolphins, orcas, belugas, rhinos, gorillas, sharks, sea lions, seals, giraffes, birds, and a walrus. From there on, that was when I realized I wanted to work with many animals, not just marine mammals, because I simply fell in love with every animal that I got to work with. Other memorable experiences I got to enjoy included swimming in a medical pool at Shamu Stadium in Orlando, taking a plunge in the Penguin Encounter’s 40-degree pool in San Antonio, and hugging an orca named Keet when he was still living in Texas.

Around the same time as my camp experiences, I was also fortunate enough to gain some additional marine mammal experience in the Florida Keys, one of which would ultimately lead to a future internship in college. The first of such experiences was a wish trip to Theater of the Sea after a trainer accepted my request to do a job shadow at the facility.

Like me, Jennifer Manuel (Hathaway), the trainer who I job shadowed at the little marine mammal facility, also suffered from the same chronic illness as I did and that made me feel so much better about the fact that despite having such a debilitating illness, I could still be able to work with animals. My job shadow experience with Jen involved helping with a sea turtle feeding, painting with a rescued dolphin, having a small part in a dolphin show, and working with an elderly sea lion named Classy. Jen would eventually become my “main” mentor throughout the career, and I still keep in touch with her to this day.

Two years later, during my junior year of high school, I took part in a “Dolphin Lab” course at the Dolphin Research Center in Grassy Key. There, both an educator and a senior trainer taught me. It was also the most immersive experience I had in terms of pre-college animal training experiences because aside from learning so much about cetacean biology and behavior, I was truly living like a dolphin trainer. I was not just swimming with the dolphins there, I was also learning basic dolphin husbandry skills and conducting training sessions with them.

The one dolphin I got to work with was AJ, a resident dolphin who often took part in research at the facility and the sire of two calves named Tanner and Luna. AJ was an easy-going dolphin who enjoyed living in lagoons with most of the members of the DRC family. He would often spend time with either of his buddies or son Tanner unless he was trying to “flirt” around with the girls. While he was not much of a vocal animal, AJ did like to wave back at the guests who waved at him. Not to mention that he also loved to learn new behaviors from the trainers and was always eager to learn new things from them.

Working with AJ during my brief time at DRC helped me learn about how building a relationship with an animal under your care can take time and trust because after all when you are training an animal, it’s all based on mutual respect between trainer and animal working together under the same sun and moon. You don’t force an almost 1200-pound mammal to do anything because that’s impossible to do so, and I wish the activists who insist that we “force” animals to perform behaviors in public would understand this.

College Internships: The Big Deal

A year after I graduated from high school, I looked into interning at different facilities across the country. While I wanted to intern at a facility on the West Coast, because of my medical situation, this was not possible. So, I had to limit my options to just facilities on the East Coast. By that time, I was already a freshman in college who was studying psychology and knew that the only way I could gain more hands-on experiences at a zoological facility to build up my resume was through internships. This was where my first internship at Clearwater Marine Aquarium came into play.

In 2011, I began my first internship at Clearwater Marine Aquarium with its hospitality department. Most of my duties involved doing touch tank presentations, displaying various animal skulls, shark teeth, and turtle shells, and one of Winter the dolphin’s prosthetic tails. Around the same time, I developed the idea of writing a blog about my internship experiences at the aquarium. It would mainly be an educational blog that focused on the resident animals at Clearwater Marine Aquarium, how they were doing, and what goes on behind-the-scenes at a scientifically accredited facility.

After getting approval from both my supervisor and the aquarium’s marketing department, The Winter Dolphin Chronicles was born on WordPress and its conception would attract a handful of followers who often sent me emails that were full of questions about dolphin biology, facilities, animal-related careers, and more. This was also when I realized I loved writing and educating people about marine wildlife as much as I loved caring for and training animals since I had always felt like I wasn’t doing enough for my sister zoo and aquarium professionals in empowering the public to care about wildlife.

The next year, during the 2012-2013 Christmas season, I was back in the Florida Keys, but only this time, I was interning at Theater of the Sea. This was when I was truly living like a marine mammal trainer, even though I was just an intern. Despite that, I was helping with mock swim and husbandry sessions whenever they needed help and I loved every minute. I also got to enjoy having some new mentors at the park who taught me everything I needed to know on how to be a good zoo professional and ensure that all the animals under our care were living the best lives possible even though they all lived in a lagoon that was once part of an old railroad system.

While I loved working with all the dolphins at Theater of the Sea for different reasons, my favorite dolphin to work with there would have to be Skipper. When I first met him, Skipper was a stubborn three-year-old calf. His mother, Nicky, had transferred to another facility for breeding purposes. As a result, Skipper only listened to a few trainers who worked with him closely, well, that was until I helped with his sessions. It all started with me just randomly whistling on the job right in front of him, which then caused him to vocalize along with the tune and that motivated him to take part in training sessions with the other dolphins he shared his section of the lagoon with.

As time passed, I started opting to take part in sessions with Skipper, hoping it would help him grow with the other trainers in his mother’s brief absence. I based my help on the fact that dolphin calves will mimic any behaviors that their mothers may display during the six years they stay with them. As for my relationship with Skipper himself, well, it had come to a point where every time I came over to help the trainers with his sessions, he would get so excited by getting all vocal over it. By the time I returned home to New Hampshire the following January, Skipper was now taking part in shows.

When I was not doing sessions with Skipper and the other dolphins at the park, I was helping the trainers out with their little sea lion family. The facility had five California sea lions-Mimi, her two sons Wilbur and Tucker, and two then-four-year-old females named Bella and Jett. While I did work with all the sea lions in various ways, I primarily worked with Bella and Mimi. Mimi was an elderly sea lion who used to do shows all the time before her old age enabled her to only do interaction sessions with both guests and trainers. We aimed these sessions at keeping Mimi healthy in her old age.

Another sea lion I got to work with was Bella, who stranded as a young pup off the coast of Southern California. Because of having a neurological disorder, they declared Bella to be “non-releasable” by the federal government, and as a result, they sent her to live at Theater of the Sea. The first time I got to work with her was shortly after I passed an exam to move on to the next level in my internship.

It was a warm December afternoon when Rachel, my instructor, and the park’s intern coordinator informed me we were going over to the sea lion habitat. Here I was being like “okay”, assuming that I was just watching a session with one of the sea lions until I got there. This was when Amy, one of the senior trainers at the park informed me that Rachel and I were going to do a mock swim session with Bella, and man, I was super excited about it even though I tried the best I could to stay professional about it at the same time. So, we took part in the mock swim session and I can tell you for a sea lion who lives with a disorder that causes her to bob her head around all the time, Bella was a trooper who saw waterwork sessions as playtime with her trainers. She was an affectionate animal who loved to play fetch with you like a dog whenever you had that baton on you. It was such a pleasure to do free swim sessions with her.

When I was not working with the dolphins and sea lions, I was lucky enough to work with stingrays, alligators (well, I helped a trainer out with teaching one how to paint), two disabled sea turtles named Jana and Qazi, and even helped with a dolphin show by demonstrating some of our target training practices with the animals. While I enjoyed every moment of my time working in the Keys atlas, it couldn’t last forever. This was because once again, I had to return home to New Hampshire to continue my studies. It was hard for me to leave because at that point; I became very close with all the trainers who were now a big part of my family and I didn’t want to leave them. However, thanks to social media, I have stayed in touch with them to this day.

Months passed, and I had just accepted an offer to do a dolphin training and care internship at Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Sarasota. Just days before I left Islamorada, Rachel had encouraged me to look into doing my next internship there. So, not long after I returned home, I applied for an internship there and got the position. The position in question involved caring for the aquarium’s sole resident pantropical spotted dolphin named Moonshine. He stranded as a two-year-old calf in 2003 off the coast of Grassy Key, Florida. There, they rehabilitated him at a local facility before they moved him to another rehab facility in Miami before being sent to Mote to continue treatment. In 2005, the United States National Marine Fisheries Services, which overlooks the protection of marine mammals in both the wild and in human care, declared Moonshine to be non-releasable, because of his age at the time of his original stranding and a chronic liver condition that required long-term medical care. He would eventually remain at Mote until his passing in 2015.

Moonshine was a very laid-back dolphin who loved to come right up to you whenever you were maintaining his habitat. For example, like with Skipper, whenever I whistled a little tune on the job, Moonshine would vocalize along as I was cleaning up debris from the pool he called home. He also loved his toys so much, that he would often use them to show off whatever behaviors he displayed throughout the day, especially during training sessions. To Moonshine, every training session we did with him was a game, and since he was the only dolphin at Mote, it was our job to give him the best life possible because we were his pod after all.

While we would have loved to give Moonshine another dolphin companion to keep him company, this was impossible. This was because as the only pantropical spotted dolphin in a zoological facility in the western hemisphere, Moonshine could only share his habitat with dolphins who were a smaller or similar species, and most dolphins that live in western facilities were all bottlenose dolphins, which can almost weight up to 1,200 pounds while a pantropical spotted dolphin-like Moonshine can only weight up to 400 pounds. This makes the two species incompatible together in a zoological setting. However, over the years, Moonshine has enjoyed the companionship of a spinner dolphin and a rough-toothed dolphin. Both dolphins stranded, but could never return to the wild for different reasons.

What made the Mote internship different from my previous two college internships was the fact that Moonshine was more than just another resident rescue animal; he was also a research animal who took part in a study on his species. The study in question was one that was being done on object recognition in his species, and Mary, who was my mentor during the internship, led it. My task during these research sessions was to hold a pole that contained several colored shapes attached to it and place it in the water when it was time for Moonshine to “answer” the question Mary asked him. What was the question you asked? Well, she would show him a single colored shape and he would “answer” her question by matching the shape that was hanging from my pole to the one she showed him seconds earlier.

The research aspect of the internship gave me a better appreciation for the field I was in because while I have always known that trainers and zookeepers played a huge role in zoo-based animal research, being a part of it gave me a better understanding of our purpose to better understand animals in ways that might never be possible to do in a wild setting. While the rise of drones have helped researchers conduct better surveys on the health and status of wild populations, zoos and aquariums have always and will continue to provide a safer, and better option for researchers from all walks of life to learn more about marine animals like dolphins, and find better ways to better protect their species, their ever-shrinking habitats, and even find better ways to improve the living conditions of animals that live at poorly managed facilities. This also includes working with local communities to ensure that all conservation and animal welfare efforts go into effect.

While Moonshine was the animal I worked with at Mote, I also got to do some job shadowing with different departments as well. The first of these job shadow experiences was with the sea turtle department where I got to help with a training session, which just involved research on turtle behavior. They conducted it with an Australian-born turtle researcher who trained the two female loggerheads under her care to respond to buzz like sounds as part of her study on how noise pollution was affecting migratory patterns. These girls were probably the smartest turtles I have ever met, and they loved interacting with people behind the glass walls out of curiosity. Next, I shadowed the manatee department, and that too was probably one of my favorite job shadow experiences I ever experienced because I loved the whole research aspect of it all. Hugh and Buffett, the aquarium’s two resident manatees, were adorable.

If I were honest about my time at Mote, it was also a healing experience for me as well because that same year as my internship there, the anti-zoo “documentary” Blackfish was in theaters. After people either saw the movie in theaters or on demand, they would go onto my social media pages and harass the hell out of me.

What was my “crime”? Working with marine mammals, of course. Every time I went on either my Facebook, or Twitter, they would bombard me with messages from extremists that contained name-calling, death threats, and even the occasional comment from someone who told me to “go to hell”.

It was bad enough that the movie, like Death at SeaWorld before it, was profiting off the death of Dawn Brancheau, a childhood mentor of mine. Yet, the cyberbullying and psychological abuse I was receiving online from people who knew nothing about animal care or the conservation work we were doing on behalf of the species that were under our care continued. It was so frustrating that it made me cry because I just wanted to work with animals and inspire people to care about their wild counterparts. Still, how could I pull off a public presentation during a training session without coming close to having a panic attack, knowing that some guests might have watched Blackfish and believed everything those disgruntled “ex-trainers” said? In time, during the three-month internship, Mote became my haven away from the bullying I was putting up with on social media.

After I came home from Florida the following January, I took a break from interning and focused on finishing up my education, which I did. I graduated with an Associate’s from Nashua Community College in 2015 and earned my Bachelor’s in Psychology from Rivier University in 2018.

Too Sick To Work With Dolphins? No Problem.

After coming home from Florida, I experienced a series of health issues that did more than cause me to undergo infusions. They also caused me to rethink my career path, too. It was not the physical demands of being a marine mammal trainer that caused me to have ongoing health issues, but the effects of having a chronic childhood illness. There was nothing more painful than having to wake up with painful leg cramps and lower back pain every morning. It was also bad enough I had moments of worrying about abdominal bleeding, which caused me to become bedridden from time to time. These things were giving me so much anxiety to the point where it was taking a huge toll on my family, including my parents. After the doctor diagnosed me with anemia, I made a mutual decision to put my career plans on hold in favor of finding a better treatment for the blood disorder.

Putting my entire life on hold was not a straightforward decision for me personally. However, if I wanted to work with animals again, I had to put my health above everything else. Yet, despite the situation, I still wanted to work at a zoo or aquarium, and that’s where the change began. That was where seeking a career in wildlife education came into play. By that point, I was already earning a living as a writer by working from home, but to me; it wasn’t enough.

Luckily for me, New England was home to a very diverse marine ecosystem (The Gulf of Maine) that had changed little in the last 10,000 years and had recently provided a newfound haven for marine mammal-eating great white sharks thanks to its ever-growing grey seal population. The Gulf of Maine is also home to the North Atlantic right whale, one of the world’s most endangered marine mammals that has become known as a “state marine mammal” in Massachusetts. Yet, despite being protected under federal law, the Gulf of Maine’s fragile ecosystem’s threatened by habitat loss, pollution, noise pollution, overfishing, and the effects of climate change.

Since I couldn’t work with animals at a zoo or aquarium until my anemia was under control, I turned to wildlife education. I ended up liking the idea because as much as I enjoy creating that bond with the animals I got to work with over the years, I also get a lot of joy from educating people about the animal species they might never get to encounter in the wild. This is especially when marine mammals spend most of their time below the surface of the ocean, making the underwater part of their lives a mystery to many people, including the scientists who study them out at sea.

In 2019, I started my wildlife education journey by volunteering for New England Aquarium’s World Oceans Day Expo as a Blue Corps volunteer. This experience involved teaching people about how plastic waste can be harmful to animals when they come into contact with it. For example, when sea turtles consume plastic bags after mistaking them for food, not only do they choke to death, but they also starve to death as well. Some plastic wastes can take several centuries to biodegrade, which puts additional wildlife like cetaceans and marine birds, at risk of suffering from permanent injuries because of contact with the ever-floating trash.

Not long after that, I volunteered at the Blue Ocean Society in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, where I continued to educate people about the effects of marine plastic pollution and how they can reduce their use of plastic waste. In addition, I also educated people about the animals that called the Gulf of Maine their home from the smallest of crabs to the largest of whales. Whenever someone asked me a question about wildlife, I was so happy to answer their question to where I always ended up feeling so proud of myself. Whenever someone came over to one of our little touch tanks to meet one of the little crabs, I would tell them about these little crabs and how some of them are “invasive” to New England waters and so on.

Volunteering in Hampton gave me a better appreciation for the tide pool animals and it helped me learn more about how they’re affected by plastic pollution more than the large sharks and marine mammals. This is all because many of these tide pool animals are filter feeders that feed on plankton, which makes them some of the biggest components of the marine food chain. For example, plankton will get consumed by filter-feeding clams and oysters, which get consumed by crabs, which get consumed by sea turtles that get preyed upon by either great white sharks or transient killer whales. Plastic pollution does not affect a singular species, it affects an entire ecosystem.

After the 2019 season at Blue Ocean Society concluded, I decided I was going to continue pursuing wildlife education at the New England Aquarium. It took so many attempts to get accepted for a volunteer position, but in the end, it was worth it because, by the time December came around, I got the position. The position in question involved working with the aquarium’s education department at the Edge of the Sea habitat and sharing animal-related props with guests at the Giant Ocean Habitat (Tank). I officially began work there in February 2020, but then the COVID-19 Pandemic broke out and it forced me to leave.

Now?

Since the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic, I have focused on writing articles on animals, zoos, and aquariums. While I would still prefer to be at the aquarium until I’m vaccinated and the pandemic ends.

When the Black Lives Matter Movement took flight in June, it inspired me to share the stories of women of color who were part of the zoo and aquarium community by giving them a voice. September’s Hispanic Heritage Month inspired me to interview Latina zoo professionals in my still ongoing series of interviews with these amazing women. My hope from this project is that all young girls of color can feel inspired by the stories of women from their communities to want to work with animals too.

I hope that once my anemia is under control, I can start working with animals again, but for now, I feel right at home educating people about wildlife in a zoo or aquarium setting. I also plan to continue writing about both wildlife and the zoo community on my Vocal platform because I enjoy it. When I am not writing, educating people, or working with animals, I’m cosplaying, drawing, reading, looking up healthier recipes for my family, and working out by doing some kickboxing, and martial arts.

Any Advice?

For anyone who is looking into working with animals, my advice would be this: work hard, stay in touch with your fellow mentors, and always offer to work holiday shifts when necessary. One thing about my internships was that I worked holiday shifts because I wanted my co-workers and mentors to celebrate the holidays with their families. Also, working out and practicing your swimming skills can help build up your strength because working with animals means you are going to have to do a lot of heavy lifting and it’s a big part of the job.

Another tip I would love to give to you guys would be is to always read up on animal biology and behavior, practice your writing skills, be humble, and of course, be kind. Also, don’t be afraid to help your co-workers out when they need it the most. It might actually help you down the road.

Thank you for letting me share my story and may you all accomplish your dreams and stay healthy. After all, this is the way.