Superbowl

There is definitely poop to deal with, and the image of doing nothing but poop cleanup was one thing that kept me from doing this for a while.

The reality is that while you are indeed cleaning everyone's poop, it's pretty much always part of a bigger fun job. I probably give myself the quest poop job by dealing with the raptors since they shoot it onto things, so it's on walls and fake trees and other irregular shaped things. The plus side is since it isn't actual poop, it washes off fairly easily (usually) and I don't have to pick it up. I do believe more gets on me through splashing, but it isn't visible.

Mammal poop will be more what you're probably thinking of. Most of our bigger (and stinkier) poopers are the rabies vector animals, and we are banned from working with them unless we get vaccinated. The rest are typically tiny and primarily eat veggies, so they have small, solid, not stinky poop.

Most of the time is feeding everyone or prepping food. Bigger animals eat twice a day and get bigger meals, and babies get fed multiple times a day, so there's always someone to feed, and non-medical things with baby animals is the bulk of volunteer work, and the rest is general housekeeping like dishes, laundry, sweeping, trash, and food prep.

You will see many amazing animals that are the responsibility of people higher up, so you get the fun of seeing them without the responsibility.

Other than the heat of outdoor work, none of the things that generally ick me out have bothered me, and that's usually a lot of things. I'm there in service of others, and that takes over when I'm there. It's not like a job where you feel half the stuff is a waste of time, you see immediately every job is crucial to the health of the animals, so I ignore my hang ups and just do it. I think that is where the rewarding part really comes from, is I go beyond what I'd normally agree to do to help these animals while they are in need.