My day as a zookeeper: L is for Leopard and Lion

Zoos are not, apparently, entirely about cute furry creatures that you can stroke. And, although I have been a servant to cats in the past - you really don't own cats, they employ you - there is a difference between cats that can scar, and cats that can kill.

See, I can make beds if I have the right motivation...

Despite the recent unfortunate incident when a keeper was mauled to death, my next task was to enter the lion enclosure to do some tidying. Their indoor enclosure needs to be cleaned regularly, the windows washed from the inside, the floor swept and hosed down, and the bed changed. So, having made absolutely sure that the big cats were securely outside, I was handed a large broom and got on with my work.

This must have come as something of a surprise to those zoo visitors walking past, as I wasn't in uniform, but I set to work with gusto, bagging the used straw, sweeping the floor and hosing it down very thoroughly. It isn't glamorous, and is a reminder that zookeepers work very hard indeed, doing an array of hard, quite boring jobs behind the scenes.

I was to get rather closer to the other cat, an Amur Leopard, as I was due to work with it. Enrichment is a key part of the zoo routine. Animals can easily become bored in captivity, and encouraging them to act as they might in the wild is key in avoiding the sort of psychological trauma that zoo animals suffered from in the past.

Here, kitty, kitty, kitty...

I was to work on the cat's reactions, armed only with two sticks, one with a ball on the end, the other with meat. The leopard came to the meshed window, and I tapped on a part of it with one stick. If she followed the stick, I was allowed to give her some horsemeat as a reward.

Getting too close to the window comes highly unrecommended, but she is astonishingly attractive. And, without zoos, these very rare creatures would be even rarer. It is a consolation, as even a zoo fan like myself understands and accepts that life as a zoo exhibit for a creature as large as this is not ideal. However, as lifeboats for rare species, I do believe that zoos - especially well-run ones - play a vital role.

Next, M, which is for insanely cute...