Cutie patooties sealion~!
It looks like an amazing job! I would love to work with animals like that every day ;w;

Out of curiosity where exactually do you work at?

Small theme park in the UK. :)

Very cool!
If you don't mind me asking, but how exactly do you get into that kind of work?
I've been thinking about starting off small and just working at a pet store or a animal shelter since i find working with animals so much fun :) (Which i'm sure you already know haha )

Lots of volunteering and work experience. Maybe an internship somewhere! For me, I got my job out of pure luck! Haha!

(Sorry for the overly late reply but)
Good idea! I used to volunteer alot at the animal shelter near my house.
I just recently got a job at a pet store and already I love it! Working with the animals is sooo much fun! ♡ ;w;
That awesome!! Getting your job out of luck and all!

You have such a cool job.
Granted working with elementary schoolers and kinder could be similar to corralling animals sometimes XD

Oh god yes.
Especially the parrots I work with as well...Might as well work with kids. XD

Hahaha your mention of parrots reminded me of the end of the year last year.. with the whole minion craze. OH GOD, gte one kid started and you have a whole classroom of 30 going off. It's torture and the reason I sort of hate minions now.
And with them having their own movie right before the school year starts back, save me....

Harbor Seal? :D

For a moment I thought it was Sea World and I was like NOOOO ;A;

Gosh I can't wait to go into my schooling and then into my career!! ;3; how's it feel working with such amazing creatures?

California sealion :)
And nothing wrong with Seaworld. haha.

And I love it, absolutely amazing animals and I feel absolutely honoured to work with them. :)

I don't agree with Sea World's history of practices with the Orcas nor with poor Tillikum. Although I am glad they are one of the leads in the USA for rehabilitating and rescuing animals that get strange or hurt on te Coasts, I just don't like their secrets they withhold or their ideals on animal care for the Orcas that clearly need help. :(

California Sealions are adorable ;0;

I'm going into Marine studies to be able to work with the Whale Sharks and Manta rays and many other species at the Aquarium near my home. <3 I can't wait to work with them and teach others about them. ;33; they don't have any large Pinnipeds but they do have two Sea Otters and my favorite; Asian Small Clawed River Otter!! >3<

How long do you train with the Seals? How many Trainers do they normally bond with in your facility?? Do you work in other areas or just with the Pinnipeds?

Each to their own with Seaworld. From my research and knowing many people and such whom work or have worked at a Seaworld facility, I have a completely different view about their practises and what not. Whilst I can respect those who do not agree with their facilities, I always like to know why and enlighten them on queries they may habve. :)

And love LOVE mantas <3 SO CUTE AND SQUISHY <3

I've been working with sealions for coming up to 2 years, 1 year being volunteering at a facility. At our facility, we only have 2 full time trainers (that's including myself) so just us. Haha. I also work with parrots and birds of prey. :) Absolutely love it, despite the hard work and constant cleaning, hehe!

I wanted to work for Sea World but I've been engrossing myself into weeks of studying the Blackfish documentaries and all their works and years of discoveries on their methods with the Orcas. Orcas are my favorite marine mammal in the world and I've been studying them for years. I think if Sea World had better practices and really worked hard to get Tilly into a better facility, I wouldn't have such a misguided thought about them. I love their work with the rehabilitation programs and I am proud that they put so much work and effort into saving animals and finding homes for larger mammals whom can't live in the wild anymore, but their work with Tillikum is what has me no longer wanting to work for them and choosing the route of Georgia Aquarium instead. I guess you can say I'm in a love / hate relationship with Sea World. ><

And, Oh goodness! I worked with small birds for a few years I only wish I could work with Parrots and Birds of Pray. They are some of the most intelligent and mischievous creatures. xD
It must be great working in a smaller facility!! That means having a stronger bond with your co-working animals, yeah? On a daily basis how much time do you spend with them? What happens during off-season tourist hours? O:

I know exactly what you mean with the hard work and cleaning. xD I used to co-run a horse camp in Michigan and we have over 50 horses on the farm and only a small handful of workers. LOOOOTS of cleaning and lovin' on the animals. -w- and tons more training and working with them day in and day out.

I LOVE Mantas!!! ;A; The first time I saw one up close this past spring, I about cried. Such beautiful babies. <33333 Have you ever seen a Bat Ray? They are absolutely ADORABLE. I got to feed them last month when my friends and I visited Sea World, San Diego.
If I had my choice on exactly which animals I want to work with forever and teach people about, it's sharks and rays. xD precious beebs!!

Georgia Aquarium has several adult Manta Rays (they are HUGE) and 3 whale sharks. ;w; whom are ten times bigger than the Mantas and GOSH they are GORGEOUS creatures.

Tilikum is always the case with most people. XD And seriously, dont take your facts and such from Blackfish. And I'm not just saying it from a Pro-Seaworld POV. Their facts are incorrect and misleading. From watching it myself, it can be extremely misleading and seems very informative about the whole situation with Tilli, but for one quick fact, not one of those people in that video worked with Tilikum or even got close to him or what not.

I do agree with you though with the fact of I think they SHOULD be doing more for him, but I think it's very restricted what they can do, especially with all the recent blacklash. It is a very difficult situation for everyone.

I spend probably an equal amount of time with both the birds and sealions. During show days, I probably spend about 2/3 hours with each section. Closed days between open days, I spend longer as I will be training and such with them. When park is closed for the season, they all have 'time off' essiently. So for our sea lions, we feed them and pretty much let them outside all day with access to the sea lion house so they can choose where they want to go. Birds are kept outside for most the day in large aviaries, but they do that every day just minus show times and training during closed days.

We have over 20 parrots and 6 birds of prey. Cleaning is horrendous. XD

Love LOVE sharks. Love LOVE rays. Would love to see Whale Sharks upclose. <3

Yeah, when people think of Tilly they always are like OH NO D8. Which they should be. I saw Blackfish and it then just started me into buying and reading all other books with POV of breeding captive Orcas, training them and keeping them for shows vs rehabilitating them or possibly start funding a better place for the ones like Tilly, whom really don't live well with the other Orcas and certainly can't be 'tamed' as the trainers and facility would like. :( I just feel sorry for the big guy.. he had a rough life and with creatures like Orcas that can lead to a LOT of long term issues psychologically. But yes, I do agree that there are some very misleading points in Blackfish which is why I started reading other books and finding sources. Like I said though, I don't hate Sea World as a whole, I just think sometimes they put the park's entertainment / customers first vs putting the animals first which should always be the top priority especially with over 8 ton mammals. ;w; I honestly wish that some people would stop fighting against Sea World and but at the same time I wish Sea World would do what they can to find him just a bigger habitat with a better family pod. ;; I feel like they need more experts vs. park workers.


Oh goodness, so you pretty much work year round almost everyday, huh? ;w; I'd love to work with Pinnipeds all day. They have some wild personalities. xD What kind of training / schooling did you go to in order to get this job? Personally for me I'll be going in for a minor in Psychology and a Major in Biology with plenty of marine and animal studies in the mix. How do newer sealions react to huge crowds? I know it's a lot of rewarding and coaxing. Do you guys do practice shows for newer babies?

What sort of Birds of Pray do you look after? I can't imagine it's like a Secretary bird or anything. xD But that would be HELLA rad if you guys did have them!

I COMPLETELY understand bird cleaning. I worked (unfortunately) for PetSmart in the small animals department for a couple years and day in and day out I cleaned after all the little finches, parakeets, conures and doves... -.- they are so messy. And SOOO sassy.

You should DEFS hit up the Georgia Aquarium if you're ever out this way. A lot of people will hit it up on like Monday after FWA x3 That's what I'll be doing in the spring. Their whale sharks.. oh buy. I could sit for hours and watch them. ;w;

My future career will be pretty much taking care of the big tank where the whale sharks, reef sharks, manta rays, etc. live and teaching folk all about them. GOTTA GET FIT!

Now see, I completely agree with they focus on the park more. Whilst I believe they do invest alot in their animals, the people who care the most about them are the ones who work with the animals. Whilst I can understand the 'higher uppers' have to keep the park as their top priority (due to park attendance obviously funding staff, facilities ect) they could show a little more care for the animals which keep guests coming back.

All year yes. For me, I would extremely lucky. Whilst I did not have the degrees and such a normal animal keeper/trainer would have, I have ALOT of animal caring and training experience under my belt. Haha. I volunteered with multiple facilities, ranging from sea lions to dogs, coatis to horses. XD
We currently have a younger sea lion who is training up to be in shows, and he's a pain in the butt. Haha. Especially this time of year as he is still young so has not been castrated just yet. SO, all those hormones are kicking about. XD But he is in shows, just for very short periods of time. We started him with smaller crowds but now has no problem doing behaviours in front of a full house.

We have barn owls, a European eagle owl, Indian house crow and a turkey vulture. We are a very small facility and we have the only animals on park, so it is alot of work.

I do really want to go to GA. Heard lots of good things about it. But of course, being across the pond, it's not as easy as that. Haha.